With nearly four decades in the region, Paul, Weiss has long been recognized as a leader and legal innovator among international law firms in Asia. Our Asia based partners have been consistently ranked in the top tier of practitioners in their areas of expertise.
The Merger Doctrine
June 6, 2005 Full PDF
Lew Clayton's article, "The Merger Doctrine" was featured in the June 6 National Law Journal and translated into Chinese in the September 30 China Legal Watch. The article examines the inherent tensions among basic principles of copyright law. Lew explains that under the doctrine of "merger," where an idea can effectively be expressed in only one way, copyright protection will yield to the principle that ideas may not be monopolized. He reviews two recent circuit court decisions concerning classification systems where the courts found that "idea" merged with "expression," denying copyright protection. Lew concludes that it is unlikely that there will ever be a clear test to separate public domain "ideas" and protectable "expression." He indicates that courts will continue to be skeptical about copyright claims based on mechanical classification systems and receptive to the argument that creativity should be rewarded with a copyright. Susanna Buergel assisted in the preparation of this article.