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Ideas and expression in copyright

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Copyright law does not protect an idea itself. United States copyright law only protects the particular expression of an idea. For example, the idea of a story involving a dramatic relationship between the teenagers to two feuding families is not itself protectable under copyright laws. But particular expressions of this story, such as Romeo & Juliet or West Side Story, are protected under copyright law. The more abstract the concept, the less likely it is protected under copyright law.

This distinction becomes important in the software world. Back in 1879, the U.S. Supreme Court found that a collection of bookkeeping ledgers was not copyrightable in Baker v. Selden, 101 U.S. 99. Taking this forward to the digital age, the idea of a spreadsheet or word processing program is not able to be copyrighted. Copyright protects the exact code that makes up the program, as this is considered the expression. But copyright law does not protect the functionality or general purpose of the software.

This means that if a competitor can independently create a program that offers the same functions, there is less likely to be a viable copyright infringement claim. Our team has worked with many software developers to protect and commercialize their intellectual property rights.

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