| The Scope of Scenes a Faire In Gates Rubber Co. v. Bando Chemical Industries, Ltd., 9 F.3d 823 (10th Cir. 1993), the court defined the scene a faire doctrine expansively: Under the scenes a faire doctrine, we deny protection to those expressions that are standard, stock, or common to a particular topic or that necessarily follow from a common theme or setting.... The scenes a faire doctrine also excludes from protection those elements of a program that have been dictated by external factors.... In the area of computer programs these external factors may include: hardware standards and mechanical specifications ... software standards and compatibility requirements ... computer manufacturer design standards, target industry practices and demands ... and computer industry programming practices.... Id. at 838 (footnote and citations omitted). Under this formulation of the scenes a faire doctrine, should Compaq v. Procom have come out differently? |