Editing Idea–expression distinction (section)

{{Short description|Concept in copyright law}}
{{Use American English|date = March 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = March 2019}}
{{Globalize|date=August 2020}}
{{Intellectual property}}

The '''idea–expression distinction''' or '''idea–expression dichotomy''' is a [[legal doctrine]] in the [[United States]] that limits the scope of [[copyright]] protection by differentiating an [[idea]] from the expression or manifestation of that idea.

Unlike [[patent]]s, which may confer [[Property|proprietary]] rights in relation to general ideas and concepts ''per se'' when construed as methods, copyrights cannot confer such rights.  An [[adventure novel]] provides an illustration of the concept. Copyright may subsist in the work as a whole, in the particular story or characters involved, or in any [[art]]work contained in the book, but generally not in the idea or [[genre]] of the story. Copyright, therefore, may not subsist in the idea of a man venturing out on a [[quest]], but may subsist in a particular story that follows that pattern. Similarly, if the methods or processes described in a work are [[patentability|patentable]], they may be the subject of various [[claim (patent)|patent claims]], which may or may not be broad enough to cover other methods or processes based on the same idea. [[Arthur C. Clarke]], for example, sufficiently described the concept of a communications satellite (a [[geostationary satellite]] used as a [[telecommunications]] relay) in a 1945 paper that was not considered patentable in 1954 when it was developed at [[Bell Labs]].