The Myth of the Idea/Expression Dichotomy in Copyright Law

Patents and copyrights approach, nearer than any other class of cases belonging to forensic discussions, to what may be called the meta-physics of the law, where the distinctions are, or at least may be, very subtle and refined, and, sometimes, almost evanescent.-Justice Joseph Story 1 (9th Cir.1977) (citing Mazer v. Stein, 347 U.S. 201, 217-18 (1954) and Baker v. Selden, 101 U.S. 99, 102-03 (1879)).Cf.Ashton Tate Corp. v. Ross, 728 F. Supp.597, 601 (N.D. Cal.1989) ("The foundation of federal copyright law is that only expressions of ideas, not the ideas themselves, give rise to protected interests.").4.