BUSL250 Presentation

In this case, Coco had developed an idea for a completely new and novel television game show that would be cheap to produce and have great public appeal.
Coco had a private meeting with a television producer and explained the idea in detail to the producer in the hope that the producer would assist Coco in making the idea a television reality. Coco hadn’t put the idea in writing because she was concerned it might fall into the hands of people who would exploit the idea before she could, although she had discussed the idea with a trusted friend before approaching the producer.
Without further reference or credit to Coco, the producer packaged the new game and sold it to a major television network. It became an international success.
The Copyright Act 1968 protects the original expression of ideas, rather than just an idea itself. In this case Coco had not documented the idea in a material form and therefore cannot acquire copyright protection.
However she can sue for “breach of confidence”. Breach of confidence is a sort of safety net for ideas that are not expressed in a material form.
Breach of confidence is a tort that protects ideas and intellectual property that is commercially significant, not trivial or public knowledge, and is potentially worth some value. If the idea was expressed verbally to a party and that party uses the information without permission, one can sue them for breach of confidence if the context was clear that the information was secret.
In this case it is clear that there is a breach of confidence because the idea is commercially significant, not trivial as it is sold off to a major television network, and the idea was clearly a secret as the meeting was private and Coco had only discusses the idea with a trusted friend before approaching the producer.
A similar case is the case of Fraser vs Thames Television.
Where, three female actors formed a rock group. Fraser was their manager and together they thought of an idea for a TV show. They took the idea to Thames Television and signed a contract. Like in the case of Coco, The TV show idea was never written down, only oral expressed. Thames excluded Fraser and the group and hired four different actors and TV show was successful. Fraser successfully sued.
Based on the facts presented in this question and case law, Coco has a strong case for “breach of confidence”. With her friend as a witness could sue the television producer and seek remedies such as injunctions, interim orders, Damages or an account of profits.