Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Book titles

This is topic Book titles in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by tnwilz (Member # 4080) on :

Does anyone know what the law is book titles? What if your book title is the same as a published book a few years ago in a different genre?

Posted by Doctor (Member # 7736) on :

I think anything goes provided it isn't "Harry Potter and the ...." or some kind of obvious trademark.

Posted by TaleSpinner (Member # 5638) on :

It seems not to be illegal:

quote:
Barnes has his own experience of titles doubling up. "Originally, Talking it Over was called Love, Etc. I then discovered one day when I was walking past a second-hand book barrow in a London street, a book of that title and my heart just fell. It was by an American writer called Bel Kaufman, who was the author of a bestseller called Up the Down Staircase. Her Love, Etc. was out of print but I didn't feel I could use it. I came up with Talking it Over but by that time I had already given my French publishers the title of Love, Etc. and they refused to change it. To add to the confusion, a film of that book came out, also called Love, Etc. When I wrote the sequel, 10 years later, in Britain I decided that Kaufman's title had lapsed into forgettingness and decided to use it, except in France, where the book was called Dix Ans Apres [Ten Years Later]."

More at http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/19/1071337141618.html

Whether the risk of confusion is one worth taking is, of course, a matter for the author and publisher.

I suppose you could even do a new twist on an old title -- "iRobot" ?

Pat

Posted by tnwilz (Member # 4080) on :

I had an idea and was thinking of a title that uses the word Half-breed. Of course that word has been used in the titles of books and films (even a song) quite a bit. Still, I'm sure I could think of a variation that is somewhat unique.

Tracy

Posted by Chaldea (Member # 4707) on :

As I understand, titles can't be copyrighted. Doesn't make sense to me, but there it is. You might try googling "copyright law," or "copyright rules," and see what advice is there.

Posted by TaleSpinner (Member # 5638) on :

US Copyright Office: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html

You can't copyright a title.

But you can try to protect it (or elements of it) as a trade mark. Wiley has registered "For Dummies", "Webster's New World" and others as trade marks, for example.
http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/Section/Legal-and-Copyright-Notices.id-100099.html

Hope this helps,
Pat

[This message has been edited by TaleSpinner (edited May 05, 2008).]

Posted by JamieFord (Member # 3112) on :

(What if your book title is the same as a published book a few years ago in a different genre?)

I'd change it. You'll want a nice clean search if someone is looking for your book online.

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

In the last two-maybe-three years, I've seen four books that use the title Here, There, and Everywhere---only two of them had anything to do with the Beatles.

So if you want to call your book Great Expectations or The Colour Out of Space or A Midsummer Night's Dream, go right ahead---so long as you're not representing yourself as Dickens or Lovecraft or Shakespeare. Apparently it's legal.