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COPYRIGHT DOES NOT PRO-TECT COMBINATION OF IDEAS WITH THEIR EXPRESSION
Article 10-1 of the Copyright Law explicitly provides that copyright protection extends only to the expression of a work, and not to any idea, procedure, production process, system, method of operation, concept, principle or discovery expressed in the work. But it has been an issue whether the Copyright Law protects works in which the possible modes of expression are very limited, or there is only one possible mode of expression, such that the expression and the ideas expressed are combined and inseparable.
In a case of alleged copyright infringement, the Prosecutors' Office of the Taipei District Court, citing the copyright merger doctrine (i.e. merger of idea and expression), determined that a work in which the possible modes of expression are extremely limited cannot enjoy copyright pro-tection. The author of the work concerned peti-tioned for review of this decision, and for inves-tigation of the case to be continued.
On review, the Prosecutors' Office was still of the opinion that the work could not enjoy copy-right protection. This opinion was upheld by the Prosecutors' Office of the Taiwan High Court, to which the case was referred.