body: I read in the wikipedia article of the movie ["A Fistful of Dollars"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fistful_of_Dollars) that the producers were sued by the producer of Yojimbo, the Japanese movie from which the plot line was borrowed, and that the lawsuit was "successful".
  
  
  I guess I don't understand how a story can be copyrighted, since a story is an idea, not a form of expression. How is it that the Japanese filmakers won the lawsuit.
  
  
  
title: Yojimbo lawsuit, copyright a story?