Law Commons^™

What Do We Do With A Doctrine Like Merger? A Look At The Imminent Collision Of The Dmca And Idea/Expression Dichotomy, Matthew J. Faust

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

With the introduction of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), courts are now faced with the unsettling issue that copyright holders can receive damages even though copyright infringement did not occur. This comment begins its analysis of this issue with a brief overview of basic copyright infringement fundamentals, the different approaches and numerous tests that circuit courts have applied, and the idea/expression dichotomy, including the merger doctrine and the scenes a faire doctrine. The author then explores the collision between the DMCA and the idea/expression dichotomy by showing how the DMCA has impacted copyright law and how it intersects with …