Need copyright help.?

Question

I am writing a book and need to obtain the copyright. I checked the Govt. website for titles already under protection and found it a bit confusing.
Suppose the title of my book was:
Dancing Around, a New Twist on Footwork
When I did a search on "Dancing Around", it had already been taken. When I did a search for Dancing Around, a New Twist on Footwork, nothing came up.
I am wondering if anyone knows if there could be a problem since Dancing Around has already been taken? Thanks.

Answer 1

I would love to see this list. If you could, can you e mail it to me at [e-mail]? Because I have never heard of such a thing and I just spent ten minutes at the Copyright website and cannot find any such thing.

Copyrights are not generally not extended to titles for the reason that it would be unfair to another person who wrote a completely different work but the title was equally appropriate. To my knowledge titles are not copyrighted. In fact I could probably name you 50 books that have the same tile.

The other thing is you must realize that once you sign that author's contract, you lost all rights to a say in the title of the book or the content. A publisher has the right to change the title and alter the content without your permission. Standard author's contract. That is the price you pay for selling a book. They will run the title and content through their legal department and make the decisions. Of course if the other book with the same name happens to be The DaVinci Code or The Kite Runner, you can count on the publisher changing it. However with a book that isn't the blockbuster that they are, they will probably allow the same title. Many books do.

I also checked Amazon and came up with no book called Dancing Around. There are plenty of books with those words in them, but none that is just that.

This information might also interest you.

"Copyright Law Protection

While the copyright law will generally protect the contents of a book, the title of that particular book will not be protected. The purpose of the copyright law is to protect the author's creative expression. Although nothing in the Copyright Act specifically precludes protection for titles, Copyright Office Regulations and judicial decisions have made it clear that titles are only the equivalent of short slogans and therefore a title does not contain sufficient expression to be worthy of copyright protection. At least one reason that courts are hesitant to grant titles copyright protection is because they fear that by doing so they will prevent the title's use by others for whom that particular title may be equally appropriate.

Trademark and Unfair Competition Law Protection

Titles can be protected under the common law of unregistered marks, statutory trademark law and unfair competition law. An important factor in determining the applicability of such protection depends upon whether protection is sought for a single title or a series title. The objective of title protection is to ensure that another publisher does not use a specific title in a manner that will create a likelihood of confusion regarding the source of the publication in the minds of the purchasing public.

Unfair competition law is the body of federal and state law whose primary purpose is to prevent false representations concerning the source of goods. Individual states under the common law of unfair competition have provided protection to literary titles under the passing off and misappropriation doctrines. Misappropriation has been defined by one court as the "taking and use of another's property for the sole purpose of capitalizing unfairly on the good will and reputation of the property owner".

Also I probably say this 30 times a day or more. DO NOT APPLY FOR A COPYRIGHT OF YOUR WORK! There is nothing that annoys publishers and agents more than getting a copyrighted manuscript. It is an almost sure rejection. It tells a publisher "I don't trust you." Believe me, publishers and agents have no interest in stealing your work. As of the copyright laws of 1979, you own your material the moment you write it. It is automatic. And all you have to do to protect that copyright is NOT post it online or share with people. Once you do, all bets are off. There is no copyright police to protect you. As I say here daily. A COPYRIGHT IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE BADASS LAYWER YOU PAY TO PROTECT IT. So unless you plan on spending thousands and thousands to protect your copyright - don't share with anyone. Even the so called "poorman's copyright" isn't worth the 42 cent stamp. I know at least 10 ways to beat it which I teach to students. Spare yourself the heartache and keep your work to yourself on a secure computer - and burn a new updated copy each night.

If you would please send me that list, because apparently it does not come from the copyright office. Thanks


----
They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.

Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.

Pax - C

Answer 2

When you enter the keywords, the system will show you all records containing those keywords - also, it will show whether the search results span multiple pages. If no results are found, that means no data is already in the system matching that. But keep in mind: the LOC Copyright Office usually runs about 6-months or more behind in processing (so just because it's not popping up, does not mean it won't ever show up) - so send your work to be copyrighted ASAP after all writing, editing and designing is completed.

Answer 3

Titles are not copryightable, only complete works are.

Copyrights are essentially a civil law, which means you must be in a position to pay lawyers to protect your rights (that's $5,000 minimum fee).

Generally unpublished works are protected by statutory copyrights which endure forever

Formally unpublished copyrights under law endure for the lifetime of the author plus 60-90 years depending on nation.

Thus an unpublished work formally copyrighed under law by a living author expires 60-90 years after their death, published or not.

While an unpublished copyright never formally published transfers to children and grandchildren and is subject to formally published copyright laws.

Thus if a work is never published in an authors lifetime and great grandchildren get it published the copyright endures for 60-90 years after publication, while if a living author formally copyrights it under law it becomes public domain after 60-90 years of the death of the author.

So I guess it is a matter of if you want rights to expire after your death or if you want to pass some rights own to distant survivors.

Kafka's writings were not published until after his death, thus they remain in copyright for at least 50 or 75 years from the date of publication.

If he had formally copyrighted them it would be 50 or 75 years from the date of his death.

In some instances this doesn't amount to a bag of beans, in other instances it means heirs might have financial benefits 200 years after your death

Under law it would be illegal for THEM to claim authorship, but NOT copyright.

Thus copyright is limited to a maximum of 90 years in the US if you are already dead.

Answer 4

I think you should be fine. According to the government, copyright protects the intellectual property that a book is comprised of, but NOT the title.

From the feds...
Q: How do I copyright a name, title, slogan or logo?
A: Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases.