Farwell LJ said of the Copyright Acts: ‘The Act creates a monopoly, and in such a case there must be certainty in the subject-matter of such monopoly in order to avoid injustice to the rest of the world.’ Copyright subsists in different categories of work, in particular, in literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, but in order to obtain copyright protection it is necessary for the work to be in some tangible form because there is no protection for ideas.
Judges:
Farwell J
Citations:
[1908] 1 KB 821
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Approved – Green v Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand PC 18-Jul-1989
Format of TV show not copyrightable
Court of Appeal of New Zealand – The plaintiff had developed the program ‘Opportunity Knocks’ on British television. He claimed copyright in the general structure or format of a similar television programme in New Zealand, and also in passing off. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Intellectual Property
Updated: 02 May 2022; Ref: scu.424773