Screenwriting : Issues with same titles by Conrad Ekeke

Well, you can't copyright a title, so it's not plagiarism. It's more an issue of avoiding audience confusion or perhaps market confusion. There are lots of songs, albums, movies, books, TV series, works of art, etc, with similar or exact titles, yet clearly they are different properties in their subject/tone/medium/form and perhaps time period in which they were created. For a film example, there are two movies titled "The Revenant": the latest Oscar winning film about legendary frontiersman, Hugh Glass; and a lesser known film, from 2009, a dark comedy about a soldier who's been killed in action under mysterious circumstances in Irag, but then he "awakens" after his funeral and realizes he is a zombie/vampire—they never quite clarify what he is. Anyway... Same title, very different films. ;)

Relevant: http://johnaugust.com/2011/you-cant-copyright-titles, or Google "register a movie title."

I think I've seen such titles on Imdb by different screenwriters. But it can be confusing too if one has to claim plagiarism based on title...

You might not want to use these movie titles, though. Inside Out (9 movies), Fair Game, Hide and Seek, Rush, The Patriot (4 movies)

When I copyrighted a script 20 years ago, 2 years later I decided to change its title and re-copyright it... got a letter from the Copyright Office saying 'no need.' Didn't stop 'em from cashing my check though. Sigh...

I don't think titles can be copyrighted-if it can be proven that someone came up with the same title and a similar execution based upon exposure to your script, I think you would have a case. But yes there are a number of movies with the same title. I'm struggling with that now regarding my current project. As was mentioned above, one wants to avoid being redundant-but if the other movies with the same title are older (and not widely known) using it again may not be an issue.

I agree - can't copyright a title. That being said, you wouldn't want to call your movie "Jaws" or anything, just because...

You cannot copyright titles. Period. Conrad, a title alone is not enough to be copyrighted, therefore you cannot "claim plagiarism" based solely on title. ...You may be confusing this with trademark (TM) or (R), which is a different thing. Do read the John August article Regina posted. Thanks Regina!

The 2009 title "The Revenant" sounds like the plot to the 1974 film "Dead of Night" aka "Deathdream". Instead of Iraq, the soldier was in Vietnam. And perhaps "Deathdream" came about because "Dead of Night" is also the title of a 1945 film-and probably others.

In all, we can conclude that titles don't play much when considering any literary work of arts? Or should we say it all depend on what story we're telling. Thanks for the link Regina and these comments are more helpful than you might think. Learned more than I doubted

When thinking about films, a "catchy" title gets my attention-but what is considered catchy varies with the individual-language and culture also play a part; especially if you are looking at international distribution. When it comes to the finished film, it's been suggested to choose something that begins with a number or a letter at the beginning of the alphabet so viewers come upon it quickly when scrolling through streaming or VOD menus. I don't think it's that important for a theatrical release.

Jim, that's genius. Brilliant idea.

I agree with Conrad. Jim, brilliant idea... and confirmation that my new script's title is on target as it begins with a number - 8000

Hahahah, yes Brian that's the whole point.

Even though titles cannot be copyrighted, and thus reuse of titles occurs, titles can be protected by trademarks, and there is the question whether the title's previous use brings positive association to the audience's mind.

Yes Anne, that last part is also an excellent issue. Especially when you have a good idea but the previous one was just some dumb movie no one gets to see the end.