BigOven

I think it is awesome that you can access BigOven.com from the iPhone.  I wish I could sync my recipe list from my BigOven software to BigOven.com so I can search that from my iPhone.  I have a number of recipes in BigOven which I don't own the copyright to, so can't upload to BigOven for the public to consume.  However, it would be very useful if I could upload them for my own viewing (ie private recipe) and seach those from my iPhone.

I agree.  I love the idea of having BigOven on my iPhone since it is much easier to have on my kitchen counter than my laptop; and that way I don't have to print out the recipes.  But I also have refrained from posting many recipes on BigOven.com because of copyright.  90% or more of my recipes are from cookbooks and magazines and I put them into my BigOven software so I have all the recipes I've tried and liked in one place.  If I could alone view them so as not to infringe any copyright laws, that would make the app 100 times more useful for me!

 Recipes cannot be copyrighted. Collections of recipes can be, but only as the collection. So it is ok to pass on recipes you like to others as long as you do not copy the entire collection.

See: http://www.accidentalhedonist.com/index.php/2006/08/07/copyrights_and_recipes

for more information on  recipes and copyright.

 

To clarify,

Unique recipe content such as photographs and detailed prose can be copyrighted, but a simple list of ingredients and unembellished instructions cannot.

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html

Mere listings of ingredients as in recipes, formulas, compounds, or prescriptions are not subject to copyright protection. However, when a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection.

Protection under the copyright law (title 17 of the United States Code, section 102) extends only to “original works of authorship” that are fixed in a tangible form (a copy). “Original” means merely that the author produced the work by his own intellectual effort, as distinguished from copying an existing work. Copyright protection may extend to a description, explanation, or illustration, assuming that the requirements of the copyright law are met.

For information on how to register, see SL-35. For further information on copyright, deposit requirements, and registration procedures, see Circular 1, Copyright Basics. The deposit requirements depend on whether the work has been published at the time of registration:

• If the work is unpublished, one complete copy
• If the work was first published in the United States on or after January 1, 1978, two complete copies of the best edition
• If the work was first published in the United States before January 1, 1978, two complete copies as first published
• If the work was first published outside the United States, one complete copy of the work as first published
• If the work is a contribution to a collective work, and published after January 1, 1978, one complete copy of the best edition of the collective work or a photocopy of the contribution itself as it was published in the collective work

Copyright protects only the particular manner of an author’s expression in literary, artistic, or musical form. Copyright protection does not extend to names, titles, short phrases, ideas, systems, or methods.

Even so, I would be more inclined to post recipes to Big Oven if I could make them private or viewable to my list of friends.  I don't want them to necessarily be included in the big pool of recipes.

I was excited to learn about the iPhone version of BigOven. Uploading our family cookbook and searching our recipes at the supermarket sounds really cool. But then I ran into a BIG PROBLEM after registering and signing in. NO MACINTOSH VERSION AVAILABLE. YUCKO! I like the BigOven concept but I'm not willing to suffer Windows in order to access it. Sure do hope there is a Mac version in the works.

Me, too - downloaded the iPhone app and was excited about desktop version...UNTIL I found out no Mac version available.. will wait for that... don't want to pollute the Mac with any conversion s/w... so when is the Mac version coming..........??????

 Look for the iPhone app and the website (which can be fully and freely accessed from Safari or Firefox on any Mac) to get more and more powerful.  We can not make any commitment on a Mac-specific version at this time.  We love the Mac, and may someday get to a dedicated app there, but we're much more likely to do so after the website is more fully built out.  Thanks for your enthusiasm and support!

I have had Big Oven for several years and love it. I recently switched from a Windows Mobile phone to an IPhone and miss my shopping list sync! It would be lovely to have that again.

 Please check my recent post (rave) in the Help/Fixes section about the Grocery Gadgets app that will import your shopping list into iPhone. It's fantastic.

:)

Thanks, yes, we're looking into grocery list features here for the mobile/web...

I have to say I was a bit disappointed by the iPhone app.  It is cool that you can search the database but it could be so more.  As others have mentioned syncing to the local copy and shopping lists would be a start. 

At the very minimum I'd like to see your "love" and "try" lists cached locally.  AT&T has such terrible coverage you never know if you'll even be able to get the recipes when you need them.  Case and point, I was in a local grocery a few days ago and wanted to grab the ingredients for a recipe and couldn't get a connection.  

 

Thanks!

We totally agree that it can be a whole lot more, and it will be.  The free iPhone App was released in October of '08, and is not yet a year old.  We've got a pretty good plan for new features over the coming year, and are building out some of the infrastructure that will support it.  Thanks!