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fpw   12-05-2004, 12:42 PM
#1
Biggles Wrote:Don't authors (or their publishers) take steps to avoid stealing book titles?

First off, you can't copyright a title.

Second, the swipe is usually inadvertent.

I plead guilty with Nightworld -- I'd forgotten that years earlier Robert Bloch had written a novel called Night World.

BTW, Cussler's Black Wind has a completely different plot.

FPW
FAQ
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nonsun blob a   12-05-2004, 12:53 PM
#2
i'm guessing it was just a coincidence, and that they've never heard of fpw's black wind.
This post was last modified: 12-05-2004, 12:58 PM by nonsun blob a.

[Image: bloodmachine2cc.gif]
flyboy707   12-05-2004, 03:14 PM
#3
[QUOTE=Alan]The SOB has gone too far this time.:mad:

I am probably about to get pounded here, but I saw this book being advertised just prior to its release and didn't really think twice about it....this was only three days after I had just added a 1st ed/1st pr mint hardback of FPW's Blackwind to my collection. I had read the synopsis about Cussler's Blackwind and thought, "Okay same title, about Japan, different plot"......no big deal.

After I read this thread this morning (before FPW's reply), I thought, "Okay, FPW shares the same title with Robert Bloch...no big deal there, either."

Then I remembered that FPW and H.P. Lovecraft both have published books called "The Tomb" (although, the publisher forced the title on FPW)....again, no big deal that the titles are the same....at least to me.

Am I missing something larger here?

"There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other that you can boast about it."
Maggers   12-05-2004, 03:24 PM
#4
flyboy707 Wrote:I am probably about to get pounded here, but I saw this book being advertised just prior to its release and didn't really think twice about it....this was only three days after I had just added a 1st ed/1st pr mint hardback of FPW's Blackwind to my collection. I had read the synopsis about Cussler's Blackwind and thought, "Okay same title, about Japan, different plot"......no big deal.

After I read this thread this morning (before FPW's reply), I thought, "Okay, FPW shares the same title with Robert Bloch...no big deal there, either."

Then I remembered that FPW and H.P. Lovecraft both have published books called "The Tomb" (although, the publisher forced the title on FPW)....again, no big deal that the titles are the same....at least to me.

Am I missing something larger here?

No, Flyboy, I don't think you're missing anything here. I think what's more important is the story. If the story was lifted, then there's cause for alarm. But what's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, to misquote a genius.

Reading is freedom.
The mind soars, no earthly cares,
no limitations.
A Maggers Haiku, 2005


Years ago my mother used to say to me... "In this world, Elwood, you can be oh so smart or oh so pleasant."
Well, for years I was smart.
I recommend pleasant.
You may quote me.

Elwood P. Dowd

Bluesman Mike Lindner   12-05-2004, 07:48 PM
#5
Alan Wrote:The SOB has gone too far this time.:mad:

[Image: 0399152598.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg]

John Keel, who's been a professional writer since the age of 16, once told me that the convention is to avoid lifting a published title for 3 years after the original publication. I don't know if anybody knows, or cares, about this courtesy anymore.
Bluesman Mike Lindner   12-05-2004, 07:50 PM
#6
Alan Wrote:The SOB has gone too far this time.:mad:

[Image: 0399152598.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg]

John Keel, who's been a professional writer since the age of 16, once told me that the convention is to avoid lifting a published title for 3 years after the original publication. I don't know if anybody knows, or cares, about this courtesy anymore. In any case, Clive doesn't too severe a beating for this one.
Bluesman Mike Lindner   12-05-2004, 08:04 PM
#7
Biggles Wrote:Don't authors (or their publishers) take steps to avoid stealing book titles?

Naw. There have been plenty of songs called "Love," for example. It used to be that you couldn't even copyright ideas, just the arrangement of words used to express them. But Murray Leinster got a nice piece of coin from the producers of the film ALIEN for ripping-off his story BLACK DESTROYER (or so I've heard...) BLACK DESTROYER was Leinster's first published fiction, so maybe he felt a little propriatorial about it. So I guess I should think twice before submitting my THE CRYPT manuscript, featuring Handyman Hank, to a publisher...
flyboy707   12-05-2004, 10:05 PM
#8
Bluesman Mike Lindner Wrote:Naw. There have been plenty of songs called "Love," for example. It used to be that you couldn't even copyright ideas, just the arrangement of words used to express them. But Murray Leinster got a nice piece of coin from the producers of the film ALIEN for ripping-off his story BLACK DESTROYER (or so I've heard...) BLACK DESTROYER was Leinster's first published fiction, so maybe he felt a little propriatorial about it. So I guess I should think twice before submitting my THE CRYPT manuscript, featuring Handyman Hank, to a publisher...

Seems like we are getting off the initial comment. I don't reallt think that any of the titles "Blackwind", "Night World" or "The Tomb" are rip-offs, infringements etc of any of the writers associated with them. All three of these examples cited may have the same title, but that is where the similiarities end. All of them have different plots, wrtitng stles etc....

"There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other that you can boast about it."
Alan   12-05-2004, 10:11 PM
#9
flyboy707 Wrote:[QUOTE=Alan]The SOB has gone too far this time.:mad:

I am probably about to get pounded here, but I saw this book being advertised just prior to its release and didn't really think twice about it....this was only three days after I had just added a 1st ed/1st pr mint hardback of FPW's Blackwind to my collection. I had read the synopsis about Cussler's Blackwind and thought, "Okay same title, about Japan, different plot"......no big deal.

After I read this thread this morning (before FPW's reply), I thought, "Okay, FPW shares the same title with Robert Bloch...no big deal there, either."

Then I remembered that FPW and H.P. Lovecraft both have published books called "The Tomb" (although, the publisher forced the title on FPW)....again, no big deal that the titles are the same....at least to me.

Am I missing something larger here?

No, I'm just a bad comedian. I saw the book at Target last night and thought it was funny.
flyboy707   12-05-2004, 10:45 PM
#10
Alan Wrote:No, I'm just a bad comedian. I saw the book at Target last night and thought it was funny.


Excellent ! (read it like C. Montgomery Burns would say it) Wink

"There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other that you can boast about it."
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