{"pk":60222,"title":"Substantial Similarity in Literary Infringement Cases: A Chart for Turbid Waters","subtitle":null,"abstract":"As home to that fictional piece of real estate known as Hollywood,\n \nthe Ninth Circuit has dealt with the copyright law issue of substantial\n \nsimilarity more than any other jurisdiction, yet it has not developed\n \nuseful principles for analyzing it. This article examines the history of\n \nthe Ninth Circuit's two-step test for substantial similarity in literary infringement\n \ncases, showing how a quirk in the evolution of the test has\n \ncreated a confusing and ineffectual body of law on the subject. The article\n \nargues that the courts have underestimated the complexity of the\n \nissue and have given too much credit to their own judgment, unaided\n \nby expert input. The absence of a genuine understanding of the issue\n \nhas led courts to look for substantial similarity where it cannot be\n \nfound: in the individual elements of literary works. The article presents\n \na proposed rule to re-direct the court's inquiry from the individual\n \nelements of the work, where copyright protection cannot be found,\n \nto the artistic structure of the work, where it must be found if it exists at\n \nall.","language":"en","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[],"section":"Articles","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0m10v6t3","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Robert","middle_name":"F.","last_name":"Helfing","name_suffix":"","institution":"","department":""}],"date_submitted":"2015-04-25T09:35:08-07:00","date_accepted":"2015-04-25T09:35:08-07:00","date_published":"2013-12-31T16:00:00-08:00","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/uclalaw_elr/article/60222/galley/46181/download/"}]}