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[jamiecrane]

Hi,
I wrote a story almost 20 years ago, and the idea was pretty original.
I submitted it to a lot of magazines and contests, I never got it published though ( I almost did ).
Well, several years later, a TV show came on the air, and it was very similar to the idea I had.
It was never copyrighted, but I did have lots of witnesses. Do I have intellectual property rights?
Do I have a chance?
Thanks.

[Isaac]

You cannot protect ideas via copyright.  What you can protect
is your creative work expressing those ideas.  Also, even
20 years ago, copyright law was such that once expression was
captured in fixed form it was protectable by copyright although
it is required that you register the copyright before filing
suit.

But to prove copyright you would have to show actual copying
of protectable expression.  The ideas are not copyrightable,
and even if some of your actual words were duplicated in the
story you see on TV, in order to prove copying you'll have to
prove that the alleged copiers had some access to your work.
If they independently came up with the same words, that would not
constitute copyright infringement.

I don't have enough facts to say whether you have a case, but
I guess I'm pessimistic.