By: H.W. Pfabe | May 05, 2017

I was recently having a conversation with one of my clients, who is a very nice and talented comic book artist and writer. We were discussing different elements that can be protected by Copyright, and I mentioned “scènes à faire.”

 

Coincidentally, just a week later, Marvel brings us our newest installment of “MARVEL at the Law!” with a new court ruling, and another lesson in Intellectual Property Protection.

 

  

WHAT IS A SCÈNE À FAIRE?

 

A scène à faire is a scene or story element which is extremely common to the genre of the story.

 

It may be so common that it is almost obligatory to include it, but it is at least so common that one cannot look at it and identify a single source that it has been copied...