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Dog-Eat-Dog: The Paradox Between The Ninth Circuit’S Treatment Of Idea Submission Cases And The Harsh Reality Of Show Business, Brigid S. Mcnally

Brigid S. McNally

Hollywood is much akin to an oligarchy, with most of its power concentrated in a few top studios. The creative sides of the entertainment industry—namely screenwriters— have become the unfortunate victims of this power imbalance. In an effort to recognize the woes of these screenwriters and mitigate the unfair nature of this unequal bargaining power, the Ninth Circuit has sought to safeguard the interests of screenwriters through its interpretation of implied-in-fact contracts. Despite the 1976 revisions to the Copyright Act, which now afford protection to these screenwriters, the Ninth Circuit continues to reaffirm the usage of implied-in-fact “Desny” claims as …