Idea-theft claims are rampant in Hollywood. Aspiring writers submit ideas to producers and studios in the hope of landing the windfall of a hit television show or motion picture. Claims often result due to “that obsessive conviction, so common among authors…, that all similarities between their works and any others which appear later must inevitably be ascribed to plagiarism.” See Litchfield v. Spielberg, 736 F.2d 1352, 1358 (9th Cir. 1984).
On May 4, in a decision closely watched by the entertainment industry, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Montz v. Pilgrim Films & Television Inc., 2011 U.S. App. Lexis 9099, at *4 (9th Cir. May 4, 2011), issued an en banc decision holding that breach-of-implied-contract claims arising from purported idea theft are not pre-empted under § 301 of the U.S. Copyright Act.
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