Making Sense of the Copyrightability of Plots: A Case Study in the Ontology of Art

Expressing Ideas: A Reply to Roger A. Shiner

“…As such, it seems reasonable to suggest, idea and expression will have "merged," and as a matter of law an expression that has merged with its idea cannot be copyrighted. 6 Contrary to Shiner's reconstruction, I simply do not know what it would mean for something to be too richly detailed to qualify as a plot.…”

“…The only expert decision needed is that of the court, as the decision is a legal decision. 4 The introduction of plots as well as expressions as beneficiaries of copyright protection constitutes an unnecessary redundancy. There is a passage in Hand's opinion in Nichols where he does talk about plots.…”

“…What I suggest is that a literary plot expresses a chronology. 4 In reconstructing my argument, Shiner restates my initial objection to Judge Learned Hand's "pattern test" as follows: "Intuitively, plots should be in principle protected by copyright. But they cannot be.…”