Nowadays, information can spread faster and much widely than in the past by Internet under the background of globalization. Information globalization makes it convenient for people in different countries to enjoy diverse TV programs producing by foreign countries whenever they want. However, it causes some problems as well. For example, when a TV show becomes popular in a specific area, the message of success of this TV program will spread all over the world and attract media companies beyond this specific area imitating the TV program to reach the same success and gain profit. Consequently, during this global commercial competition, international disputes on whether these similar TV programs constitute intellectual infringement or not arise.
The main reason resulting in these disputes are the different ways to understand a principle of copyright: idea-expression dichotomy (Supreme Court of the United States, 1879), which means separating the protectable expression from the idea. Whether the formats of TV programs belong to the scope of “expression” seems to be the main argument in copyright infringement of TV programs. …show more content…
After explaining the background of global commercial competition in media field and definition of idea-expression dichotomy, in the second part, author will introduce two opposite points toward whether similar TV programs constitute intellectual infringement or not. Afterward, this essay will analyze the intellectual infringements in copyright of TV program in the third part by distinguishing common elements from original formats and giving definition of the word “expression”. At the end of the third part, author will attempt to tread the line between reference and plagiarism and suggest some actions to protect the unique form/expression of a TV program, such as treading the line between reference and plagiarism, stipulating some protectable formats and establishing global cooperative
The main reason resulting in these disputes are the different ways to understand a principle of copyright: idea-expression dichotomy (Supreme Court of the United States, 1879), which means separating the protectable expression from the idea. Whether the formats of TV programs belong to the scope of “expression” seems to be the main argument in copyright infringement of TV programs. …show more content…
After explaining the background of global commercial competition in media field and definition of idea-expression dichotomy, in the second part, author will introduce two opposite points toward whether similar TV programs constitute intellectual infringement or not. Afterward, this essay will analyze the intellectual infringements in copyright of TV program in the third part by distinguishing common elements from original formats and giving definition of the word “expression”. At the end of the third part, author will attempt to tread the line between reference and plagiarism and suggest some actions to protect the unique form/expression of a TV program, such as treading the line between reference and plagiarism, stipulating some protectable formats and establishing global cooperative