Anything Goes : Rules/laws around a movie title? by Jeanne Young

Jeanne Young

Rules/laws around a movie title?

Someone approached me regarding our film title saying that we may have a conflict because their webisode has the same title. Is this a problem? I am grateful for any advice. Thank you:)

Shawn Speake

Titles are concept based. If your concept is different, you're fine. I went through this with one of my movies, ROCKSTAR. Of course, there's the Mark Walberg movie with the same title. But because my movie, ROCKSTAR, is about AMERICAN IDOL, I can use the title.

Jeanne Young

Thank you Shawn:) I just needed some clarification...this is what I thought...Paramount tried to block everybody else from using the title "Fatal Attraction", didn't work...if they can't do it, nobody can, lol:)

Ken Shaw

Reminds me of an old story of when the Marx Bros. did, 'A Night in Casablanca'.....Well as 'Casablanca' had already come out and went ballistic at the Marx Bros. for using 'Casablanca'. The way I remember reading about it, Groucho argued that if they were blocked from using that word, then the doors were open for others to claim rights of the words, 'A', night', and 'in'. Marx Bros. won.

Laddie Ervin

MPAA subscribers are obliged to avoid using titles registered (via MPAA) to other subscribers. You can not copyright a title. In some circumstances, titles can become trademarks, usually if ancillary goods are sold. Is the creator or distributor of the webseries an MPAA member? Are you? If not, you probably have little-nothing to worry about. However, you can't legally use the name of another well known (marketed) production on your own project if you are distributing it and your use could cause consumer confusion. For instance. You can't rush a 90 minute sci-fi movie called "Interstellar" to market two weeks before Chris Nolan's film hits home video. Actually, you COULD, but the Hollywood film's distributor could, and probably would, serve you with a cease and desist order and a court could order all of your product in the field to be destroyed.

Jeanne Young

Thank you Laddie for the information:) Love your name.

Nicholas Jordan

with enough {$} any major can do about what they want so what I do is make sincere-effort not to do look-alike—somewhere I heard title cannot be subject to Title 37 protections, yet any commercially-produced property is the work of the owner, thus is subject to IP protections ▬ you get this type of problem-case that is in it for the money and cares not a whit about valuation and property, go with what Laddie Ervin says as that is procedure.

RA Iam

I am finding to register my title, but nowhere I couldn't see any helpful information. Can someone please guide me.

Thanks

R

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