Unfair Competition - Common Law Copyright

In California the so-called “common law copyright” has been codified at California Civil Code sections 980 et seq. As a result of amendments to the Civil Code in 1947, “[t]he Legislature [] abrogated the rule of protectibility of an idea and California now accepts the traditional theory of protectible property under common law copyright.” Weitzenkorn v. Lesser, 40 Cal. 2d 778, 789 (1953); see also Carpenter Foundation v. Oakes, 26 Cal. App. 3d 784, 793 (1972) (“A review of the pertinent sections of the Civil Code, 980 through 985, describes the rights and liabilities that inhere in what is generally referred to as ‘common-law copyright.’”).

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