What are the rules regarding the use of titles? Are titles of books that are out of print off limits? How about titles from different genres? Different media? Does adding or removing an article from the title change it enough to satisfy any copyright protection?
Thanks,
Brian
Posted by Kolona (Member # 1438) on :
In the same vein, while I would think using song lyrics within a book would necessitate securing an "OK" from the copyright holder, what about simply mentioning the title of a song? Or the first or any one line from a song? (Especially an old song.) Is securing the "OK" something the author does or the publisher? Is there a clearinghouse for this sort of thing?
[This message has been edited by Kolona (edited August 29, 2002).]
Posted by Rahl22 (Member # 1411) on :
Titles are free game as long as they have not been trademarked. Lyrics, on the other hand, are within a work and are thus the author's intellectual property. So, you'd need to have permission.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
Why would you want to use someone else's title anyway?
Posted by reid (Member # 1425) on :
I wouldn’t want to reuse the title of a work of fiction. However, there are many common scientific phrases that might make cool titles for science fiction novels, but they have already been used in nonfiction books. For example, “In Silico”, “Schroedinger’s Cat”, “Chaos Theory”.
Or how about a widely recognized quotation that has already been used? I think “Sound and Fury” would make a great title, but is that unique enough from Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury”?
Likewise, what about biblical phrases? There are many of these that would make great SF titles, but which have already been taken by books on theology and philosophy.
Regards,
Brian
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
The purpose of a title is to attract readers and buyers, right?
If you have a title that has already been used for a successful book (like THE SOUND AND THE FURY), you could have some readers angry at you for "advertising" your book as something that is it not.
If the book is not well known, you're probably safer.
Titles can't be copyrighted, but they can be trademarked. So, if in doubt, contact the copyright owner.
Posted by JOHN (Member # 1343) on :
Song titles are also sometimes zesty, and if you name something after a line in a song could you be sued? Like if I wanted to write a story called, "Excuse, Me While I Kiss the Sky..." could I be sued? I didn't use the lyric in it's entirity. Just wondering.
JOHN!
[This message has been edited by JOHN (edited August 30, 2002).]
Posted by Wen Spencer (Member # 1509) on :
So far my publisher hasn't liked any of my titles, has tried to change them all, and for reasons that had nothing to do with me decided to keep them.
Publishers like catchy titles that are easy to remember and to write down. DSOFSIPDOHF is a bad one because no one is going to spell it right. They also will run your title up against the Amazon.com search engine and if too many hits come back, regardless of the genre, they'll wont want to use that. Because of this my next book will be titled BITTER WATERS, and not NATIVE SON.
Also your editor might love the title, and her/his boss will hate it, and then its up to how much they love/hate it as to if it gets changed.
Wen
Posted by birdcastle (Member # 1508) on :
Wen, as someone who cannot think up a title in the first place, I actually take heart in your comments. Now I don't have to bother with the (supreme for me) mental effort to think up a really great title, since it's not going to fly anyway!
birdcastle
Posted by pam on :
One publisher wants 5 titles submitted with the manuscript. Which is hard, when you think that you have THE title already.