What is “scenes a faire?”

“Scenes a faire” is a term that refers to characters, places, story elements, language, etc, which are standard to some general theme or topic, and are often an indispensable part of that theme or topic. Such scenes a faire is not capable of being protected by copyright. For example, a science fiction story may have robots, high-tech gadgets, spaceships, a hero fighting adversity against a domineering leader, etc. These are all scenes a faire and not protectable by copyright. However, the application and expression of these elements in any given story would be protectable.