Opinion ID: 203730
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Statutory Exclusion for Processes and Systems

Text: The copyright statute excludes from protection the processes and systems described in a work. See 17 U.S.C. § 102(b). When Congress revised the copyright code in 1976, it recognized that [§ ] 102(b) in no way enlarges or contracts the scope of copyright protection under the present law. Its purpose is to restate, in the context of the new single Federal system of copyright, that the basic dichotomy between expression and idea remains unchanged. H.R.Rep. No. 94-1476, reprinted in 1976 U.S.C.C.A.N. 5659, 5670 (1976). That idea/expression dichotomy is the most fundamental axiom of copyright law, Feist, 499 U.S. at 344, 111 S.Ct. 1282, and assures authors the right to their original expression, but encourages others to build freely upon the ideas and information conveyed by a work, id. at 349-50, 111 S.Ct. 1282. That is, descriptions of a process or system are copyrightable, but the underlying process or system itself is not. See Matthews v. Freedman, 157 F.3d 25, 27 (1st Cir.1998) ([C]opyright protects the original expressions of ideas but not the ideas expressed.). At least one circuit court has rejected as absurd the argument that management training materials contain no protectable expression because they teach a noncopyrightable process. See Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. v. Leadership Software, Inc., 12 F.3d 527, 534 (5th Cir. 1994). Thus, to the extent that SMS's works teach a process or system for effective communication and negotiation, others may freely describe that process or system by using their own original expression. But others may not appropriate SMS's expression when describing that process or system. Here, the district court improperly denied copyright protection to large portions of SMS's works because it, in an error of law, found they focus on concepts and teach a noncopyrightable process. Situation Mgmt., 535 F.Supp.2d at 240; see also id. at 241 (finding that the structure or essence of SMS's works is not copyrightable because, unlike a work of fiction that has a plot and characters, they merely discuss processes and ideas). The fact that SMS's works describe processes or systems does not make their expression noncopyrightable. See Feist, 499 U.S. at 350-51, 111 S.Ct. 1282 (holding that a factual compilation may be entitled to copyright protection if it features an original selection or arrangement of facts even though the underlying facts themselves are noncopyrightable). SMS's creative choices in describing those processes and systems, including the works' overall arrangement and structure, are subject to copyright protection. See id. (recognizing that the original selection and arrangement of noncopyrightable elements is entitled to copyright protection). The district court's analysis did what we cautioned against in CMM Cable, 97 F.3d at 1515: it lost sight of the expressiveness of the works as a whole by focusing too closely on their noncopyrightable elements. Because the original selection and arrangement of noncopyrightable elements is itself copyrightable, the district court also erred in limiting the narrow copyright protection it allowed for SMS's works to little more than [their] original text and formatting. Situation Mgmt., 535 F.Supp.2d at 241. There are numerous ways to teach the concepts and processes disclosed in SMS's works and so SMS need not show `near identity' between the works at issue to prove copyright infringement. Concrete Mach. Co. v. Classic Lawn Ornaments, Inc., 843 F.2d 600, 606 (1st Cir. 1988) (quoting Sid & Marty Krofft Television Prods., Inc. v. McDonald's Corp., 562 F.2d 1157, 1167 (9th Cir.1977)). This is not a situation where the idea and expression have merged because there is essentially only one way to express an idea, making copying of the expression permissible. Id. Because of its legal error, the court's resulting factual conclusions regarding substantial similarity are clearly erroneous. These determinations are vacated and may be determined at a new trial.