unfortunately the person suing posted on face book the proposal...at that point it is fair game for any writer to steal the idea. if the author can prove that Chelsea had special access to the idea then there might be a law suit. but the moment the person proposed in an open forum like face book they took away the few protections they had on there idea for a book.....that is why before publishing most authors are carful about who has access to there drafts and if they are published a lot of times will have you sign something if you are a beta reader.
Not being a facebook user, I do not know what is meant by a facebook message. But it sounds like he sent the message to a specific person, and did not post it for all to see.
Perhaps I misread the article - I thought that the proposal had been sent via facebook, but did not understand it had been posted in an open forum on facebook.
Assuming you are correct (and I am wrong - AGAIN! LOL), there is no case here.
“but the moment the person proposed in an open forum like face book they took away the few protections they had on there idea for a book.....”
You are mixing patent and copyright law. Question is whether the “expression of the idea” was “fixed in a tangible medium of expression.” An author posting on Facebook does not negate rights. Lots of facts will have to be considered. Wouldn’t be surprised that Chelsea’s ghost writers liberally borrowed from whatever sources they could find. Doubt Chelsea wrote much.
The plaintiff’s suit may be based on common law copyright.
Common law copyright is the legal doctrine which grants copyright protection based on common law of various jurisdictions, rather than through protection of statutory law.
unfortunately the person suing posted on face book the proposal...at that point it is fair game for any writer to steal the idea.
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re-read the article ,, he sent a message on FB to the publisher ,, it wasn’t public... the publisher seems to have forwarded it to Chelsea’s ghostwriters and told them to run with it...
Chelsea owes him the money but she can probably recoup the award from the publisher if he didn’t disclose the outline/story was not his... This is intellectual property theft pure and simple.