What legal protection is not provided for ideas, specific words, or recipes?

The correct answer is related to the nature of copyright protection. Copyright law provides protection for the expression of ideas but does not extend to the ideas themselves. This means that while a specific artwork, a written piece, or a musical composition can be protected under copyright, just having an idea or a concept does not qualify for such protection. As a result, general ideas, specific words (unless they are part of a protected work), and recipes that merely list ingredients and methods without a unique expression cannot be copyrighted.

In contrast, patents provide protection for inventions and can cover new processes, machines, or compositions of matter, but not merely ideas or expressions. Trademarks protect symbols, names, and slogans used to identify goods or services, while licensing is a legal mechanism for granting permission to use a protected work or property. Each of these legal protections serves a different purpose but does not cover the realm of ideas in the same way that copyright specifically governs the expression of such ideas.