Idea Expression Dichotomy

Last time we discussed that a work needs to be original to have a copyright protection. Another very important and interesting aspect of the copyright law is that copyright only protects the expression and not the underlying idea. The intended aim of the copyright law is to promote development of science and culture. By giving monopoly rights to the underlying idea will be detrimental to the development of the society.

For example if you write a research paper to solve integral equations. Then you will get a copyright protection over the paper, I cannot reproduce it without your permission but your copyright on the paper cannot prevent me from using the underlying method to solve the integral equation. Similarly in case of computer programs, the copyright protection over your code cannot prevent other people from writing a another program which performs similar task.

Also copyright does not prevent others from independently coming up with similar ideas and publishing them. This came up in the landmark case of Baker vs Selden. Charles Selden came up with a book keeping system and wrote a book describing it, though he was unsuccessful in selling either the book or the book keeping system. A few years later another person W.C.M. Baker wrote a book describing a very similar system and he was very successful in selling his book. The wife of late Charles Selden filed a copyright infringement case against Baker. The court passed a judgment in favor of Baker and said: “The copyright of a book on book-keeping cannot secure the exclusive right to make, sell, and use account books prepared upon the plan set forth in such a book.”

Unfortunately the line between idea and expression isn’t very clear. Suppose you write a novel, I read it and in my own words write another novel which has a similar story as your novel. Can I claim that I’ve only copied the idea and not the expression? Not exactly, you can seek a copyright infringement claiming that I have copied the structure, sequence and organization of the plot expressed in your novel. There have been cases in case of music copyright were a musician has to pay damages for subconsciously copying the melody of a song he had heard decades ago.