The Doctrine of Similar Scenes in Cinematic Works

The copyright law establishes exclusive material rights for all creators of cinematic works as a common practice. This right includes all plans, scenes, and sequences within the work.  However, all literary and artistic works, especially cinema, often contain subjects and situations that naturally derive from dominant themes and basic ideas. Accordingly, copyright protection would lead to an unjust unlimitedly authorization for the creator of these works. The doctrine of similar scenes acts as a restrictive principle supporting literary and artistic works. It states that elements of a work which are commonplace and customary, or contain conditions and characteristics that are integral and typical within a specific style of literary and artistic work do not fall under copyright protection. This doctrine guarantees that creators of cinematic works cannot monopolize themes, ordinary scenes, cliché characters, and common storylines. Therefore, this research aims to clarify the elements and characteristics of this doctrine in copyright law. Through using judicial approach, I seek to address how and to what extent this doctrine is employed in cinematic works. The findings reveals that the doctrine of similar scenes in cinematic works permits the removal of copyright support for similar and common scenes and plans in a specific style and genre that do not originate from the creator's active imagination and lack originality. Moreover, it encourages creators of cinematic works to produce higher-quality works.