Source: http://www.ivanhoffman.com/preemption.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 20:22:27+00:00

Document:
This issue is a very significant one since if the claim is “pre-empted” by the copyright law, you may not have a claim if you are not pitching a copyrightable work. Ideas cannot be copyrighted. Moreover, even if your treatment contains copyrightable elements, if the user has not used your copyrightable elements but has merely taken the “idea,” if the federal law governs, you may have no claim to pursue since there has been no infringement of your copyrightable elements. Additionally, there may be varying statutes of limitation applicable under different state’s laws while the copyright law requires litigation to be filed within 3 years from any infringement. Moreover, claims under state law can be filed in state court but copyright claims must be filed in federal court. Damages may be very different under state vs. federal law. And there may be other differences as well.
In 1981, Plaintiff Larry Montz, a parapsychologist, conceived of an idea for a television show that would follow a team of paranormal investigators conducting field investigations. As envisioned, each episode would follow the team to different real-world locations, where they would use magnetometers, infrared cameras, and other devices to investigate reports of paranormal activity. According to the complaint, from 1996 to 2003, Montz and Plaintiff Daena Smoller, a publicist and a producer, pitched Montz's idea to television studios, producers, and their representatives, including representatives of NBC and the Sci–Fi channel. A number of meetings and discussions took place, and Montz and Smoller presented screenplays, videos, and other materials relating to their proposed show. Ultimately, the studios indicated that they were not interested.
Three years later, in November 2006, Montz and Smoller filed a complaint against Pilgrim Films & Television, Inc., NBC Universal Inc., Craig Piligian, Jason Conrad Hawes, and ten unknown defendants in federal district court, alleging copyright infringement, breach of implied contract, breach of confidence, and several other causes of action. According to the complaint, after the meetings with Montz and Smoller, NBC partnered with Piligian and Pilgrim to produce a series on the Sci–Fi Channel based on the plaintiffs' materials. The show, called Ghost Hunters, starred Hawes as the leader of a team of investigators who travel across the country to study paranormal activity.
c. that, by accepting the Plaintiffs' disclosure of its concept, the Defendants accepted and agreed to abide by the foregoing terms.
The Plaintiffs presented their ideas for the “Ghost Hunter” Concept to the Defendants' [sic] in confidence, pursuant to the custom and practice of the entertainment industry, for the express purpose of offering to partner with the Defendants in the production, broadcast and distribution of the Concept. Accordingly, the Plaintiffs justifiably expected to receive a share of any profits and credit that might be derived from the exploitation of its ideas and concepts for the Concept.
Id. at ¶ 47. The dissent appears to overlook these clear allegations that compensation was expected in accord with industry practice.
Plaintiffs also alleged that defendants breached their confidential relationship “by taking Plaintiffs' novel ideas and concepts, exploiting those ideas and concepts, and profiting therefrom to the Plaintiffs' exclusion?” Id. at ¶ 59. The complaint therefore alleged a claim under California law of breach of confidence.
The Court then went over custom in the film and television industry and cited the California Supreme Court case of Desny vs. Wilder from 1956 which established an “implied-in-fact” contract under these circumstances.
Writers in the Hollywood film industry often submit scripts to producers, or set up meetings with them, in the hope of selling them scripts and concepts for movies. The practice has carried over into television. Since the writer is looking for someone to turn the written work into an entertainment production, writers often pitch scripts or concepts to producers with the understanding that the writer will be paid if the material is used. Since an idea cannot be copyrighted, a concept for a film or television show cannot be protected by a copyright. 17 U.S.C. § 102. But the concept can still be stolen if the studio violates an implied contract to pay the writer for using it.
Accordingly, the major focus of litigation has been on the second prong of the preemption test: whether the asserted state right is equivalent to any of the exclusive rights within the general scope of copyright. See Grosso, 368 F.3d at 968. To survive preemption, a state cause of action must assert rights that are qualitatively different from the rights protected by copyright. In Grosso, we held that the rights created under California law emanating from Desny were qualitatively different from the rights protected by federal copyright law because a Desny claim includes an added element: an agreement to pay for use of the disclosed ideas. Id. at 967, 968; Nimmer at § 19D.03 [C]. Contract claims generally survive preemption because they require proof of such an extra element. See Benay, 607 F.3d at 629. The extra element, the implied agreement of payment for use of a concept, is a personal one, between the parties.
The California Courts of Appeal have uniformly concluded that Desny claims are not preempted because they flow from agreements and understandings different from the monopoly protection of copyright law. See Rokos v. Peck, 182 Cal.App.3d 604, 617 (1986) (“[T]he rights flowing from such an agreement are qualitatively different from copyright protection, and their recognition creates no monopoly in the ideas involved.”); see also Durgom v. Janowiak, 74 Cal.App. 4th 178, 186–87 (1999). The California decisions focus on the personal nature of the relationship formed in idea submission cases: “The creation of an implied-in-fact contract between an author, on the one hand, and an agent, producer, or director, on the other hand, is of such a personal nature that it is effective only between the contracting parties.” Rokos, 182 Cal.App.3d at 617 (citing Chandler v. Roach, 156 Cal.App.2d 435, 441 (1957)). Thus, it is unlike a copyright that is a public monopoly. See also ProCD, Inc. v. Zeidenberg, 86 F.3d 1447, 1454 (7th Cir.1996) (“A copyright is a right against the world. Contracts, by contrast, generally affect only their parties; strangers may do as they please, so contracts do not create ‘exclusive rights.’ ”). The rights protected under federal copyright law are not the same as the rights asserted in a Desny claim, and the California state courts have recognized this consistently over the decades.
The Court concluded that the plaintiffs had sufficiently pleaded the requisite elements to allow the contract claim to proceed.
Defendants argue that the complaint fails to allege sufficient facts to make out a claim for breach of implied contract. They assert that it lacks any allegation (1) that Montz and Smoller disclosed their idea for sale, (2) that they expected to be reasonably compensated for the idea, and (3) that defendants knew the conditions on which it was offered. Yet the complaint makes all three allegations and closely tracks the complaint we found sufficient in Grosso.
Defendants similarly argue that Montz and Smoller failed to allege sufficient facts to make out their claim for breach of confidence. They argue that there is no allegation (1) that plaintiffs disclosed “confidential and novel information,” and (2) that defendants knew it was supposed to be kept confidential. See Entm't Research Grp., Inc. v. Genesis Creative Grp., Inc., 122 F.3d 1211, 1227 (9th Cir.1997). But the complaint clearly contains these allegations as well.
If you are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to “take a meeting” with one of your projects, make certain that you have legally protected yourself. Protecting your expression in the form of obtaining federal copyright protection can be another layer of such protection. In all instances, consult an attorney with experience in these matters.

References: § 102
 § 19
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.