Making a cocktail (copyright law/adaptation/change/novel)
Making a cocktail (copyright law/adaptation/change/novel)
Li Dongtao
Description: The expression of an idea may not be changed by different words.
The case
I see changes
This is a case about “change”.
The plaintiff is the author of the novel D & T that was published in 1987.
The defendant is author of the novel T & D that was published in 1999.
The two novels were written in Zhanghuiti type: A type of traditional Chinese novel that composed of several chapters with each chapter headed by a couplet giving the fist of its content. LDT
Comparing T & D with D & T, the plaintiff found so many similarities, including the arrangement of main characters and stories, he could say that the T & D was a retelling of D & T in reverse chronological order in which the names of the characters and concrete words had been changed.
The plaintiff sued the defendant for copyright infringement.
The defendant argued that the copyright infringement was not established because of the different content of the two novels.
Analysis
The copyright infringement is established.
In theory, copyright law protects the expression of an idea, rather than the idea itself. Sometimes, however, it is difficult to define the expression of an idea
There is a special problem in this case: about two novels, similar in arrangement of main characters and stories, but with different words and names of characters and retold in reverse chronological order.
Let’s imagine the two novels as two cocktails: one chapter, one spectrum, and the concrete stories（the expression of an idea）are colors of the liquids/ingredients in it.
Though the liquids/ingredients being used (the words and names of characters in each chapter) may be the different, but the plot is the same, the color of the wine is the same.
The novel D & T may be a combination of red, yellow, green, blue and purple colored cocktail, while the novel T & D may be a combination of purple, blue, green, yellow and red colored cocktail.
As a result, the expression of ideas in the two novels is similar.
The expression of idea in a novel was the arrangement of main characters and stories, not just a chronological order with different concrete words and names of the characters.
In short, see T & D, with a question of copyright infringement in mind.
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[1] Change POEM by Phaswa at www.poetry.com/poem/135690/change
