Copyright protection limits

An author writes a book on a unique way he has devised of looking at human development through a number of distinct stages. What is copyrighted, merely the way the author described the stages of development (the expression) or does the copyright protect the author's unique paradigm of the stages of developement as well? What is the line that distinguishes between the expression and the ideas and concepts? For example, if the stages could be described by the chapter titles, are the chapter titles protected?

Could someone else familiar with the author's paradigm come along a write a book about it even though they don't use the same wording to describe it? Must they give acknowledgement or pay royalties to the author?

Could someone give lectures or presentations using the author's paradigm without acknowledgement?

What is the difference, in these cases between plagiarism and copyright infringement?

Mark Jones
MSibley[_at_]aol.com Received on Sat Mar 02 1996 - 21:50:28 GMT