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I. COPYRIGHT: CASES AND MATERIALS
This of course does not mean that every stray mention of an idea by one person to another is
protected. To succeed in his claim the plaintiff must establish not only that the occasion of
communication was confidential, but also that the content of the idea was clearly identifiable,
original, of potential commercial attractiveness and capable of being realised in actuality. With
these limitations, I consider there is no basis for the fears of counsel for the defendants that
authors’ freedom to develop ideas will be unduly stultified.That the idea could be seen as a concept which had commercial attractiveness for a television
programme and was something which was capable of being realised as an actuality is clearly
proved ... Its originality is also clearly proved ... This originality ... lies in the slant or twist the
plaintiffs’ idea gave to well-known concepts. ...I also reject counsel for the defendants’ argument that, whatever its original status, the plaintiffs’
idea lost its confidentiality once they disclosed it to others ... Since such disclosure to others
was plainly also in confidence, confidentiality remained intact. ...I hold that Thames were in breach of confidence in using the idea in the making and screening
of the two Rock Follies series, all of which took place after May 1975.[The court ordered an assessment of damages caused by the breach to be paid to the plaintiffs.]- CONSEQUENCES OF THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN IDEAS
AND EXPRESSION
- The author is the person responsible for the work’s expression
Donoghue v. Allied Newspapers Ltd [1938] Ch. 106 (U.K.: High Court)[Donoghue, a well-known jockey, agreed to give exclusive interviews to the
News of the Worldnewspaper for a series of articles dealing with his horse-
racing career. The newspaper’s journalist, Felstead, wrote up drafts of the
articles from notes he took at the interviews. He showed the drafts to
Donoghue and sometimes changed them as a result of comments Donoghue
made. The articles were duly published, partly as though they were actual
dialogues between Donoghue and Felstead.
Felstead later wished to republish the articles in another paper called
Guide and Ideas. The News of the Worldconsented but Donoghue objected,
claiming that he was the author and copyright owner of the interviews. He sued
for an injunction and damages after one of the articles was published against
his wishes.]MR JUSTICE FARWELL:[T]here is no copyright in an idea, or in ideas. A person may have a brilliant idea for a story, or
for a picture, or for a play, and one which appears to him to be original; but if he communicates
that idea to an author or an artist or a playwright, the production which is the result of the
communication of the idea to the author or the artist or the playwright is the copyright of the
person who has clothed the idea in form, whether by means of a picture, a play, or a book, and
the owner of the idea has no rights in that product.