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[angela]

A group that I am in is thinking of compiling recipes for a cookbook that we will sell as a fundraiser.  Many of the recipes that members love are from cookbooks that are copyrighted like Betty Crocker or Better Homes and Gardens.  If we use recipes that are from these cookbooks, do we have to pay a fee or get special permission?

[JSonnabend]

If you copy recipes verbatim from cookbooks, chances are you'll be infringing someone's copyrights.

[Wiscagent]

You might write to the publisher and ask for permission to copy a few of their recipes for a fund raiser.  I'm guessing that this is for a charitable cause.

The publisher may be willing to grant you permission to print a limited number of copies of a few of their recipes at no charge.  The publisher may require you to attribute the recipe to their book.

This kind of request is not unusual.  It provides some free advertizing for the book.

[guest]

I was taught in law school (2 years ago) that recipes themselves are not available for copyright protection, but compilations of recipes in a cook book, for example, can be protected by copyrights.

A recipe is just a list of instructions, which, I believe, can not be copyrighted.  I'm sure that there is some case law on point.

[Isaac]

Some recipes are not copyrightable, but IMO it is certainly
possible to express the instructions of how to prepare food
in such a way that the description is creative and copyrightable.
But the copyright on such expression would not prevent someone
from extracting the list of ingredients and expressing the
cooking instructions in a strictly utilitarian manner that
would not be protectable by copyright.

[JSonnabend]

A recipe is just a list of instructions, which, I believe, can not be copyrighted.

The recipe itself is likely not copyrightable, as it is essentially an idea.  Particular expressions of that idea, however, may be subject to copyright protection.