The legal doctrine establishing that copyright protects only the original tangible expression of ideas, leaving the underlying concepts, algorithms, facts, and functional methods free in the public domain.
Interactive Crucible: Merger Doctrine Filtration
MERGER APPLIES · UNPROTECTABLE
Number of Alternate Ways to Express the Underlying Idea:1 alternative paths
Doctrine of Merger Triggered: Because there are virtually no other ways to express this concept, the expression merges with the idea and is denied copyright protection to prevent a monopoly over the idea itself.
Operational Jurisprudential Axiom:
“Monopolize the poem, never the rhyme scheme; protect the code, never the logic.”
Canonical Precedent:
Baker v. Selden, 101 U.S. 99 (1879)
Archival Notes:
Codified in Section 102(b) as the constitutional firewall between copyright and patent regimes.