Easy to prove, but then whatcha gonna do? Well, you can't sue. However, I'm guessing -- based on what you wrote -- that if you have the backing of the Guild, you can shame and embarrass a studio if you can prove it stole your idea, and that might well be enough to deter a reputable company from using an idea. ) Edit: And judging from the number of remakes and sequels being made by studios, they are in desperate need of skilled script writers. Last thing they want is for the Guild to sort of "blacklist" them. :)

My hubby wrote a novel last year, and even though he doesn't think it will sell because it serves a rather small niche audience, I still insisted that register the work with the US Copyright Office. There are lots of unscrupulous people in every industry who will try to take advantage of gullible and/or trusting individuals. It's just so much easier to deal with them if you've registered beforehand. Plus, if you ever find work that you've released on the web appearing on another server. if your takedown letter includes the registration number of your work, it generally disappears pretty quickly because you've shown that you're serious, can get a lawyer to defend you, and it will cost them if they don't take it down -- whereas if you don't have a registration number, it's showing them the exact opposite.

Actually you can sue... well, at least you can here in the United States. Some people sue whether they have a leg to stand on or not. But, the registration serves basically the same purpose as a copyright, which is to put a timestamp on the creation of your screenplay. you're not suing for actual copyright violation, you're suing for copyright infringement. You can't honestly tell me that if a company put out several films starring Harry Stone, an orphan boy learning sorcery by attending a wizarding school in North Carolina, that it wouldn't raise a red flag? Now, if that's where the similarity begins and ends, j.k. Rowling hasn't got a leg to stand on. on the other hand if the similarities run deeper than that, a court may see it differently. On the other hand, take Ghostbusters. Harvey Comics sued the film makers because the ghost in the logo design, looked too much like Fatso, one of the Ghostly Trio that appeared in the Casper comic books. They lost. The court ruled that there are only so many ways to depict a ghost and the logo ghost was generic enough that it didn't infringe upon Harvey's copyright.