Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckieTigger
Yes, of course. Everybody will get it a little bit different. Unless you are copying whole sentences or paragraphs, it will get hard to decide if you used the story. If you take LOTR, for example, and retell it in your own words (not directly copied), you will still see that it is simply retelling (or rewriting) the whole story and should be easy to detect. Still would depend on the judge whether you infringed on copyright or not. And since it is unclear where the line should be definitely drawn, that would be a strong argument for copyrights that expire after a while, as to not tie up the court system forever on ever increasing amount of forever copyright.
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This is the major issue. I've read a number of books where a particular character, situation or plot twist sounded a lot like something I had read in a different book. It's really the norm. But since infringement depends on what a lawyer can convince a judge or jury, there is no absolute guideline. These lawsuits can drag on for years. Sure, one can say "Oh, you can't copyright wizard schools", but one never knows what a jury is going to decide.