Cain v. Universal Pictures Co. (1942) was the first case in the United States to define the doctrine of "scènes à faire" as it applies to copyright law.

The studio began production in 1939, then found that they needed to adapt the plot to include a scene with the two stars, Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer.

After the film was released as When Tomorrow Comes, James M. Cain sued Universal Pictures, the scriptwriter and the movie director for copyright violation.

He introduced the French term "scènes à faire" for these similarities, saying "it was inevitable that incidents like these and others which are, necessarily, associated with such a situation should force themselves upon the writer in developing the theme."

"[5] The concept has been extended to computer software, where some aspects may be dictated by the problem to be solved or by standards that must be met, or may be common programming techniques.