CanadianFilmMaker - Protecting Your Ideas

Protecting Your Ideas

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What you can do

Here are some things you can do to help protect your idea when you’re discussing it with, or submitting it to, other people. But use some judgment about when, how and whether you do them – you have to balance concern about protecting your idea against not offending the people you might want to work with by suggesting that you don’t trust them and are prepared to sue them if they steal your idea.

Put it in writing. Copyright will protect the recorded expression of your idea, even if it won’t protect the idea itself. It’s modest protection for the idea, but it might help – especially if someone steals not just your idea, but your whole proposal! Put a copyright notice (© - your name and the date you first created the work) on your proposal or one-sheet. (If you don’t have written materials for a meeting, send them later.)
Include in your proposal any novel or distinctive features of the film. The more developed or “expressed” an idea is – and the more elements copied – the easier it may be to establish that someone else didn’t come up with that particular idea independently or that your proposal is protected by copyright.
Write “Confidential” on your written materials.
Keep your idea confidential. Don’t post it on the internet and don’t discuss it in public. It’s hard to argue your idea should be treated as confidential when you’ve been talking about it in a crowded restaurant.
If you’re meeting with someone, mention near the beginning of the meeting the purpose of your discussions (e.g., to discuss story editing, or co-producing) and that the discussions are confidential, to make clear that you’re offering the person your idea in confidence on the basis that he or she isn’t going to use it without negotiating with you.
After the meeting, write up notes of when and where it was, who was there and what was said, and keep it in a file with a copy of the materials you gave to the person. It will help provide evidence of what you discussed at the meeting. You can also send an e-mail thanking the person for meeting with you and for keeping the discussion confidential.

Why sign a submission release?

You may be worried about protecting an idea you’re disclosing to someone else, but the people receiving the proposal may be just as concerned. They’re taking a risk that if they ever work on a project that’s even slightly similar to your idea, you’ll sue them for stealing your idea, even if they came up with their similar idea independently or someone else brought it to them. (It’s not unheard of for people to overestimate just how original their ideas are.)

These types of claims have become common – especially for successful productions – so many people, especially studios and broadcasters, won’t accept unsolicited material or will refuse to accept submissions unless you sign a release.

“Submission releases” generally have you acknowledge that your material may be similar to material that other people have submitted or will submit, and agree that the reviewing party can use any part of your material without compensation to you if they decide they have an independent legal right to do so (for example, because it’s not novel or was independently created by them or someone else). Some releases also restrict you to arbitration if there’s a dispute (excluding lawsuits in court) and limit the amount of money you can get if you win the dispute. It may seem unfair, but signing a submission release may be the only way to get your project in front of someone.

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