Are Ideas Protected By Copyright Law?

If you have a great idea for a new movie, television series or product and you want to pitch it to someone, how can you protect your idea from being stolen? Similarly, if you receive an unsolicited idea from an acquaintance, do you have to pay them to use the idea?

While the expression of ideas is protected by copyright law, ideas themselves are generally not copyrightable (or protectible by other forms of intellectual property law, such as patent or trademark law). Which may leave you wondering, how can there be so many lawsuits related to idea theft, particularly in the entertainment and technology industries?

Most of these claims are based on contract law instead of intellectual property law.