Re: Some Thoughts on Copyright Term

From: C.E. Petit, Esq. <cepetit[_at_]usa.net>
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 07:53:23 -0600

On 13.11.98, Jeremy G. Byrne <jeremy[_at_]iz.org> wrote:
>
> On 13/11/98, Jessica Litman <litman[_at_]mindspring.com> wrote:
> >
> > [Kimba vs Lion King:]
> > Notwithstanding some suggestive surface similarities
> > [...]
> > I was hard-pressed to find anything that even the most expansive
> > interpretation of the scope of copyright-protected expression wouldn't
> > put firmly and uncontroversially on the "idea" side of the line.
>
> "Kimba the White Lion":
> - Hero is a young white lion king, Kimba
> - Father murdered; son leaves the country, returning to claim his
> kingdom
> - Hero is advised by father's friends, a self-serious avian and a wise
> mandrill baboon, and is accompanied by a pair of slapstick sidekicks
> - Principal villain is Claw, a dark-maned lion with attendant hyenas
>
> "The Lion King":
> - Hero is a young white lion king, Simba
> - Father murdered; son leaves the country, returning to claim his
> kingdom
> - Hero is advised by father's friends, a self-serious avian and a wise
> mandrill baboon, and is accompanied by a pair of slapstick sidekicks
> - Principal villain is Scar, a dark-maned lion with attendant hyenas
>
> Tesuko openly admitted drawing on Disney's work ("Bambi", for example)
> as inspiration for his own work. It's a pity Disney chose not to
> acknowledge their debt in turn.

At the level of abstraction Jeremy has chosen, there is no creativity. Example: Whether we consider them creative or not, genre romances are individual enough to get copyright protection. However, one can make a comparison at about this level of abstraction among randomly chosen books and come up with this kind of similarity about a third of the time, if not more.

This level of abstraction doesn't even qualify as a plot outline. It's a theme or idea outline at best--and the copyright code (rightly, IMHO) does not protect themes or ideas.

---

C.E. Petit, Esq.			cepetit[_at_]usa.net
Human Kinetics Publishers		Champaign, Illinois

(this posting is a personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect my employer's) Received on Sun Nov 15 1998 - 20:34:18 GMT