COLOMBIA
IDEAS ARE NOT PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
The Colombian Copyright Office reminded that ideas are not protected by copyright upon deciding an infringement action filed by the actor and writer Fabio Ivan Restrepo Cifuentes against film director Victor Gaviria Gonzalez and Viga Producciones S.A., by means of a ruling dated December 6th 2017
The plaintiff stated that the audiovisual work entitled “La Mujer del Animal” (The Animal’s Woman) made by Victor Gaviria Gonzalez and Viga Producciones S.A. infringed his rights over the literary work “Verdugo de Verdugos” (Executioner of Executioners) since he told the story contained in his literary work to Mr. Gaviria who later narrated it through the audiovisual work of his authorship without Mr. Restrepo’s consent.
However, Mr. Gaviria argued that the audiovisual work was based in an original story created by him making reference to real life story of a neighbor of a popular neighborhood of Medellin known as “El Animal” (The Animal) who was introduced to him by the plaintiff but the story was the consequence of his own research.
The Colombian Copyright Office ruled that ideas as such are not protected by copyright but rather their form of expression and denied all claims.