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Are Book/Story Titles Copyrighted?

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  • 11-11-2010 12:41am
    #1
    St._Andalou
    Closed Accounts Posts: 327 ✭✭


    Hi all, just a quick question. I've tried looking through legal stuff but I can't come up with a definitive answer.

    Are titles for books, movies, short stories copyrighted?

    I'm entering a story into a competition. I Googled the title and it turns out there's a film (a really obscure one) with the same name. The title is a phrase.

    Example: say your title is "Woman In A Tree" (just for example, something vague). If you found out there was already a film, etc. with the same name, are you infringing on their copyright by calling your story or novel the same thing?


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    #2
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,252 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    I don't think so. There are thousands of films and songs with the same name and I've never heard of it being a problem, so I guess the same applies to book/story titles. Some titles are so short it would be ridiculous if they were copyrighted.


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    #3
    bigsmokewriting
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 169 ✭✭bigsmokewriting


    Nope! Can't copyright a title*. :)

    *unless it's a trademark, but that's slightly different, usually not an issue


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    #4
    Orion
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,807 ✭✭✭✭Orion


    Back in the 80s there were three songs called Power of Love in the top 10 at the same time. A title is just a title - the story is your copyright.


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    #5
    St._Andalou
    Closed Accounts Posts: 327 ✭✭St._Andalou


    OK, thanks all for the replies! That's good to know.


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    #6
    goose2005
    Registered Users Posts: 4,798 ✭✭✭goose2005


    If the title is just some common words, no. But you couldn't call it "Harry Potter and the X", for example.


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    #7
    EileenG
    Registered Users Posts: 5,775 ✭✭✭EileenG


    If you had a series of books with a character called Harry Potter, you probably could. But you'd have to go to a lot of trouble to make sure people don't confuse your Harry Potter with the more famous one.


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    #8
    Borak
    Closed Accounts Posts: 47 ✭Borak


    St._Andalou wrote: »
    Hi all, just a quick question. I've tried looking through legal stuff but I can't come up with a definitive answer.

    Are titles for books, movies, short stories copyrighted?

    I'm entering a story into a competition. I Googled the title and it turns out there's a film (a really obscure one) with the same name. The title is a phrase.

    Example: say your title is "Woman In A Tree" (just for example, something vague). If you found out there was already a film, etc. with the same name, are you infringing on their copyright by calling your story or novel the same thing?

    I don't think you can copyright a name, but if your story is like EXTREMELY similar to that of a movie or another novel, then yes, I think you could get into legal trouble as I think there is some sort of disclaimer in books before contents page.


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