LARRY MONTZ; DAENA SMOLLER, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. PILGRIM FILMS & TELEVISION, INC.; NBC UNIVERSAL, INC.; CRAIG PILIGIAN; JASON CONRAD HAWES; UNIVERSAL TELEVISION NETWORKS, Defendants-Appellees., 649 F.3d 975

Summary

Copyright law did not preempt a contract claim where plaintiff alleged a bilateral expectation that he would be compensated for use of the idea, the essential element of a Desny claim that separated it from preempted claims for the use of copyrighted material. Desny claims were not preempted because they flowed from agreements and understandings different from the monopoly protection of copyright law. A copyright was a right against the world, but contracts, by contrast, generally affected only their parties. The court reaffirmed the rule that copyright law did not preempt an implied contractual claim to compensation for use of a submitted idea. Plaintiffs' claim for breach of confidence also survived copyright preemption. The claim protected the duty of trust or confidential relationship between the parties, an extra element that made it qualitatively different from a copyright claim. Further, plaintiffs' complaint sufficiently alleged the elements of both claims.