First Circuit Hearts Oprah

So a woman from Saugus named Darlene Tracy filed a lawsuit against Oprah Winfrey a while back, claiming that Oprah had stolen her idea for a television show called "The Philanthropist" when she put Oprah's Big Give on the air. The trial court ruled against Ms. Tracy and she took an appeal in the First Circuit. Yesterday the First Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Ms. Tracy's claims in Tracy v. Winfrey, First Cir. No. 07-1630.

The First Circuit's decision is brief, but it's interesting that they make no mention of a bedrock principle of copyright law: that you can't copyright an idea. And if you think about this notion for even a second or two, it makes quite a bit of sense.