Opinion ID: 657247
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Idea-Expression Dichotomy

Text: 34 One of the fundamental tenets of copyright law is that protection extends only to the author's original expression and not to the ideas embodied in that expression. 17 U.S.C. Sec. 102(b) codifies this tenet by denying copyright to ideas, concepts and principles. Numerous cases have expounded on the idea-expression dichotomy. See e.g., Feist, 499 U.S. at 344-51, 111 S.Ct. at 1287-90 (dicta); Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enterprises, 471 U.S. 539, 556-57, 105 S.Ct. 2218, 2228-29, 85 L.Ed.2d 588 (1985); Baker v. Selden, 101 U.S. 99, 104, 107, 25 L.Ed. 841 (1879); Autoskill, 994 F.2d at 1491. Distinguishing between ideas and the expression of those ideas is not an easy endeavor, and given the varying nature of computer programs it must necessarily be ad hoc. With the framework provided by the abstractions test, however, we believe that a court can adequately filter out the ideas of a program. For example, the main purpose or function of a program will always be an unprotectable idea. See Whelan, 797 F.2d at 1236, 1238; Paperback, 740 F.Supp. at 65. Likewise, each module may typically be described by its individual purpose or function, and the basic function or purpose of a module will nearly always be an unprotectable idea or process. At the other end of the abstractions spectrum, source and object code, which are the literal elements of a program, will almost always be found to be protectable expression unless the doctrines of merger and scenes a faire come into play. See Altai, 982 F.2d at 702; Johnson Controls, Inc. v. Phoenix Control Systems, Inc., 886 F.2d 1173, 1175 (9th Cir.1989); Whelan, 797 F.2d at 1233. The intermediate levels of abstraction, such as structure, sequence, organization, and the like, are less prone to generalizations. While the structure of one program may be unprotectable because it constitutes an idea, the organization and arrangement of another program may be expressive and thereby protectable. And, of course, within a program certain structural elements may be protectable expression while other elements are unprotectable ideas. 35