Nash v. CBS
Facts
Nash wrote several books asserting that John Dillinger did not die at the Biograph Theater and instead survived, relocated to the west coast, and lived for decades. CBS later aired The Dillinger Print, an episode of Simon and Simon built around the idea that Dillinger may have survived and incorporating several factual details Nash had used, including discrepancies between Dillinger's features and the corpse and the notion of planted fingerprints. The episode did not copy Nash's language, narration, or arrangement of material, but used its own fictional detective plot and presentation. Nash claimed the episode infringed his copyrights in the books.
Issue
Does a television program infringe the copyright in nonfiction books by copying the author's historical theory and supporting factual assertions, while not copying the author's actual words, arrangement, or presentation? More specifically, are Nash's asserted facts and analysis about Dillinger's survival protected expression or unprotectable historical ideas and facts under copyright law?
Rule
Copyright in nonfiction works does not extend to historical facts, ideas, discoveries, or theories, regardless of the form in which they are described. An author of a historical or purportedly factual work has rights only in expression, such as the author's words and original arrangement or presentation of facts, not in the underlying truth or asserted facts themselves. Courts must avoid both extremes of abstraction by neither granting control over all similar treatments of history nor allowing wholesale appropriation of protected expression.
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