Second Circuit: Merger doctrine bars copyright in commodities settlement prices
The Second Circuit issued a decision yesterday applying the merger doctrine of copyright to settlement prices on a mercantile exchange. The court affirmed summary judgment holding that the settlement prices were not copyrightable, because the expression of the prices (a single number) merged with the idea that was expressed (the fair market value for each contract). Because the expressions of the idea and the idea were so similar, the court concluded "that granting the copyright would bar others from expressing the underlying idea."
More detail of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. v. IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. after the jump.
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