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...

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....

[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.

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)

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...

Mike, I think that was A.E. van Vogt whose first published story was DARK DESTROYER. (..and who gave the name to Abe's "sporting goods" store)

James Cameron also wound up paying Harlan Ellison some hefty coin and inserting a credit into the video release of TERMINATOR for appropriating some elements from two of Ellison's OUTER LIMITS scripts ("Demon with a Glass Hand" and "Soldier".)

And while we're on the subject of the ALIEN series...

Forgive me if this has been brought up before, but...

Has anyone else noticed how close the scene in ALIENS (released in 1986) where Ripley enters the alien queen's egg chamber to rescue the little girl is to a certain scene in THE TOMB (published in 1984) where a certain protagonist we all know and love enters the Rakoshi's egg chamber to rescue a little girl...?

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.

Mike, you know John Keel? Cool! I think I read all his books, they scared the bejesus out of me when I was a kid - THE EIGHTH TOWER, STRANGE CREATURES FROM TIME AND SPACE, THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES, OUR HAUNTED PLANET...

It's one thing to use the same or similar title if the words are common like the once discussed in this thread. I find it truly annoying when an uncommon word or name is the title. Case in point: Steven Brust's fourth book in his fantasy series was titled "Taltos" after the main character's last name. Anne Rice titled one of her "vampire" books "Taltos" for unknown reasons (I've read only one of her books and will stay away from them forever more.) Brust beat Rice by many years, but she still (amazingly) sells books.

As a plug, the Vlad Taltos series is fantastic. Highly recommended.

It's coincidence of common words. If you are compelled to cry foul, you would also have to accuse FPW (or his publisher anyway ) of stealing the title The Tomb from H.P. Lovecraft. And we know this was not the case.

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...

Handyman Hank...I love that guy, he's kinda like that "Even-outer" dude

keith the elder

It's coincidence of common words. If you are compelled to cry foul, you would also have to accuse FPW (or his publisher anyway ) of stealing the title The Tomb from H.P. Lovecraft. And we know this was not the case.

I agree with this...this is what I posted earlier about the same subject:


"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?"