The High Court of Cassation and Justice ruled that the copyright regarding the format of an entertainment program based on the idea of zodiac signs cannot make part of the plaintiff’s patrimony, given the general character of the request. That is inasmuch as, in accordance with the provisions of Art. 7 of Law no. 8/1996, the object of copyright can only be constituted of an actual form of expression, which meets the criterion of originality, whatever the method of creation or the method and form of expression might be, and independent of the value or destination of the original intellectual creative work in the literary, artistic or scientific field. In this regard, the High Court further maintained that the idea or the concept of an entertainment program – audiovisual work – with astrological themes or zodiac signs, cannot represent the object of a copyright also on the strength of the provisions of Art. 9 letter a) of Law no. 8/1996, according to which “the following cannot benefit from the legal protection of copyright: a) ideas, theories, concepts, scientific discoveries, procedures, methods of functioning or mathematic concepts as such and inventions, contained in an opera, whatever the means of taking over, of writing, of explaining or of expressing”.
(Decision no. 340 of the 30th of January, 2015, given at appeal by the 1st Civil Division of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, covering the declaration of the existence of copyright)
:: The Source: JURIDICE.ro
