The Common Law

When you write a movie script (or any literary work for that matter), do you need to copyright your idea so that no one else will steal your concept?

As discussed in last week's column, copyright protects original works of authorship, including literary works, dramatic works, and motion pictures. Copyrighted work is considered to be under copyright protection the moment that it is fixed in a tangible form. As a practical matter, the written expression of a movie script would be protected by copyright as soon as it is written down, recorded on tape, or saved to a disk.

Even though copyright protection is automatic, registration of the copyrighted material with the U.S. Copyright Office may still be recommended in certain situations. Some people choose to register because they prefer to have the facts of their copyright on public record and they like to have the certificate of registration. Registered works may be eligible for statutory damages or attorney's fees if a copyright infringement issue needs to be litigated.

Be aware that copyright protects expression and not ideas. Ideas and discoveries are not protected by copyright law, although the way in which the they are expressed might be.

For example, a detailed movie script that begins: "Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider, becoming Spider-Man. ..." would be protected expression. Someone else that wanted to use that exact expression would generally need to get the author's permission to do so.

Alternatively, the general concept of developing a story about "a young man that accidentally gains super powers and must learn to deal with his new responsibility" would usually be considered an unprotected idea. People are free to take that general concept and use it in their own work (think Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, or the Hulk).

For more information on copyright law, be sure to check out www.copyright.gov.