where can I copyright a title?

pest22o

pest22o

Well-known member
I have few scripts I've written and i dont want anyone taking there name where can I check if they've been taken or if i can copyright them?
 
You can't copyright titles but you can look them up on www.imdb.com and see if another film is out there with the same title. A movie titled, "It Takes A Thief" currently in development with Will Smith attached, was once the title to a television series. Really, don't worry 'bout the title whether or not it was once used, worry 'bout that the title embodies the script in either a single word or phrase.
 
I've heard stories of huge studio's buying out little indies because they have a similar name/concept. So yes you can name your movie whatever you want, but you may (depending on your publicity) get thrown some cash to either change your name or buy your idea.
 
huh? does that mean i can name my movie transformers or pirates of the carribean? because M. night shymalan had to change the village from the woods?
 
You can't copyright a title. That's ridiculous. If your film is rated by the mpaa then no other film can have that title if they go that route, too. But vice versa if you want to call your film Gone With The Wind. This is as far as you can go with this.

You can't own an idea or a title, no more than you can own a name. Now if you're name is Vanessa Williams and you want to register with SAG, you have to add a middle initial. Get how this works? It's just like our thugs at the MPAA. If you register or sign up with some 3rd party then they can request such a thing.
 
and yes, virginia, you can call your film 'transformers' but you'd still get a cease and desist from fox. and the legal fees for you would outweigh your budget so you'll probably cower and call your film something else. this all is making me think that hollywood basically runs like a mafia with lawyers as thugs.

(spellcheck isn't work, sorry for any typos)
 
No, you can't copyright a book or script title but you might be able to trademark a larger intellectual property. For example, Walt Disney has a couple dozen on their POTC franchise for everything from the ride in their parks to the plastic sword you buy your kid at WalMart.

Same with Transformers. There are more than a dozen of those - including the film title for purposes of theatrical, television and ancillary distribution.

To the contrary, you can absolutely copyright an idea or device. But you have to be smarter than the knob to get it done.

e
 
I'm sure 'Transformers' is a legally licensed trademark, so you couldn't title your movie 'Transformers'. Same for 'Star Wars', 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', maybe even 'Titanic'. There were a number of movies titled 'Titanic' that came out BEFORE the James Cameron version, but none since.

So you could probably trademark your title, but I'm guessing that would be prohibitively expensive, and maybe not all that easy. All you can really do is hope no one else has a movie out with the same title, or comes out with one in the near future.
 
so if Titanic was able to do it? that really means anyone can, becuase I have perfect title for this movie and I was looking on IMDB and saw that theres some other movie back in 92 titled the same, some crappy movie no one ever heard of.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top