The intellectual content (the "ideas" or "facts") of the writing
is not an issue for copyright protection. Originality and creativity
of a writing's content, to the extent it can be separated
from originality of expression, is irrelevant to copyright law. If
this aspect of the writing is creative and original, it may be open
to other types of protection (e.g., common law protection of
ideas, patents, and trade secrets) Actions for infringement of
ideas are not preempted by the federal copyright law. Nevertheless,
any idea abstracted from a protectible writing remains
itself an expression. Thus, unoriginal or uncreative expressions
are not covered by federal law, and therefore misappropriation
of unprotectible expression is not subject to federal law. But any
original and creative statements of the intellectual content of
other writings are protectible. The issue for copyright law is only
creativity and originality of expression, not what is being expressed.
But since form and content are integral to the same
entity (a writing), courts will need to make value judgments as
to which type of protection, if any, to provide.