Hollywood’s practices have come under scrutiny in the wake of the Time’s Up/MeToo movement, the growing chorus of discontent around under-representation, and more recently, abusive behavior. In this series, I dive into the concept of Idea Theft.

TL;DR: If this has happened to you and you want to submit feedback, here’s a form/survey/poll.

Idea theft may be defined in many ways. In this series, I am focusing on instances where someone else takes your work – be it an idea, concept, project, book, script and so on – and develops it without your involvement, let alone any credit or compensation. Of course, it should be stated that those works are not the same.

For starters, the general rule of law is “knowledge, truths ascertained, conceptions, and ideas are free as the air,” according to International News Services v. Associated Press, 1918. As with anything, context matters and according to the Berne Convention, the rights granted to a script or a book are considerably far more ranging than someone with a mere idea.

In November 2020, we launched “The Academy” to explore ethics in business and discuss practical applications of legal theory. This combines a couple of my passions: 

If at any time you’d like to contact me, you can use the last field at the bottom of this form. Here’s what to expect in the days to come.

Part I: Hollywood’s Other Dirty Secret: Idea Theft

Part II: Hollywood is About Ideas & Relationships; Equality & Justice Be Damned

Part III: The Many Ways People Are Intimidated to Shut Up

Part IV: The Pen is Mightier than the Sword

Part V: Storytelling & Gaslighting

Part VI: Copyright Infringement Precedents

Part VII: Damages

Part VIII: Prescription & Statute of Limitations

Part IX: Discovery & Depositions & the Destruction of Evidence

Coming next

15. Jurisdiction & Venue

16. Ethical vs Legal

17. Perspective

18. No Safe Passage

19. No Honor: In Search for Leadership, Integrity & Character

20. Conclusion

If at any time you’d like to contact me, you can use the last field at the bottom of this form. We will be publishing each section shortly.