The Register: A US man is attempting to patent a storyline...which is normally covered by copyright. Copyright covers the expression of an idea, but an idea can be expressed in many different ways. Patents, on the other hand, give exclusive rights to an underlying idea.
Will the patent be granted? "He points to a November, 2004 article in the Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society, A Potentially New IP: Storyline Patents to support his case. He says that the article argued that binding case law strongly suggests that methods of performing and displaying fictional plots, whether found in motion pictures, novels, television shows, or commercials, are statutory subject matter, like computer software and business methods".
This idea goes against the grain for a number of reasons... first, todays culture is built on the remnants of past culture. This sort of patent would prevent tomorrows culture building on todays, and there's no telling what this would prevent. After all, Mickey Mouse was a derivation of a derivation made within a few years of the original.
The second problem is that the storyline is not really "art". Just about anyone can come up with a story, but it's the way the story is expressed that makes it interesting. Also, the storyline that is the subject of the patent application (read the Reg piece for the outline) doesn't actually have a conclusion, so it can't really be considered a storyline.
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