| Protecting Your Ideas |
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| Sandra Richmond | |
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Page 1 of 2 If you have a great idea for a film, you can’t keep it to yourself. You’ll inevitably have to tell people about it, whether you’re looking for a co-producer, pitching a distributor or interviewing writers. When you do, you might be worried about someone stealing your great idea.And ideas can be hard to protect. They’re not protected by copyright, which applies to only the recorded expression of an idea in, say, a poem or short story. In other words, copyright won’t protect the underlying concept for your film, but it may protect the dialogue in the novel or script your film will be based on. The film industry recognizes ideas are valuable – people will option (and pay for) original concepts. But ideas are given legal protection only in certain circumstances. Legal ProtectionFor example, if you tell someone your idea during a business meeting to see if they’re interested in participating in your project, the person might have an obligation of confidentiality to you. But this applies only if your idea is confidential (i.e., it’s not publicly known) and novel or original (e.g., it has some distinctive elements and is sufficiently developed), and there is a reason for the person to have that kind of obligation to you (e.g., arising from the business relationship).Or, for example, if you’re pitching someone your idea may be protected if there is an implied contract between you and the person you pitched. If it’s clear that you were offering your idea “for sale”, that the person you told accepted it on that condition and that the person later used your idea in a recognizable form without your permission, you can claim the person breached an implied contract with you. Continued... |
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