What happens when someone believes a movie is based on their original idea? What sets one Zombie film apart from another? In this episode of IP Goes Pop! intellectual property attorney and host, Michael Snyder, is joined by his fellow shareholder at Volpe Koenig, Joseph Gushue, for a trip to a Hollywood writer's room.
Michael and Joe explore the intellectual property issues surrounding the stories that make it to the silver screen, and who really created them.
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Timestamps
1:42 What IP is involved when someone believes that their movie idea was stolen?
03:00 Idea/Expression Dichotomy
03:47 Merger Doctrine
Merger of an "idea" and an "expression"
- Blair Witch Project
- Cloverfield
07:38 Scenes à Faire Doctrine - "that which must be done"
- "The wacky neighbor"
- "The angry, gruff or clueless boss"
- "First time in the big city/ fish out of water"
11:07 "Twin" Movies
- Volcano & Dante's Peak
- Dracula Movies
- Zombie Movies
- Armageddon & Deep Impact
- Braveheart & Robb Roy
19:07 Esplanade Prods. v. Walt Disney Co.
- "Looney" versus Zootopia
- Animals in a "human" setting
- But is that enough for copyright infringement?
27:09 Buchwald v. Paramount Pictures, Corp., (1990 Cal. App. LEXIS 634)
- "King for a Day" versus Coming to America
- Both stories of finding love in America
- Kings with very different personalities
Originally Published by Volpe and Koenig, February 2021
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