Idea-expression divide

Imagine you have a favorite story you like to tell your friends. You can tell it in different ways - you can use different words, different characters, and different settings. The idea of the story is what you want to tell your friends, but the way you tell it is the expression.

Now imagine you write a book about your story. You want people to read your book and understand your story, but you also want them to appreciate the way you tell it. The law says that your story idea cannot be protected because it is too general and broad, but your expression can be protected by copyright. This means that if someone else reads your book and copies the way you told your story, they could be breaking the law by infringing your copyright.

So in summary, the idea-expression divide is a way of understanding that ideas can't be protected, but the way we express them can be. It's like having a secret recipe for your favorite cookies - anyone can make cookies, but they can't copy your exact recipe and call it their own.