Story Title

[Bruin Fisher]

I just discovered from Wikipedia that Agatha Christie wrote a short story called 'The Manhood of Edward Robinson'.

I want to write a story with that title!

[Cole Parker]

Odd. I thought I'd read all her stuff, but that's a new on on me.

C

[Cole Parker]

.

[E.J.]

Also made into a tv show in the UK.

Probably shown on PBS in the US

IMBD link

[colinian]

I just discovered from Wikipedia that Agatha Christie wrote a short story called 'The Manhood of Edward Robinson'.

I want to write a story with that title!

As long as Agatha's title hasn't been trademarked, you can go ahead and write your story using the same title, Bruin. Now, I'm using U.S. law; I have no idea what the copyright law in other countries allows or forbids.

You can go to www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html though it's down right now due to Hurricane Irene. The summary listed in a Google search listing reads:

Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. In some cases, these things may be protected as trademarks.

I'm looking forward to reading 'The Manhood of Edward Robinson' by Bruin Fisher. I'm assuming that it's going to be quite impressive.

Colin

[Cole Parker]

Why not simply protect yourself from bother and make the one with the impressive manhood Edwin Robertson?

C

[Bruin Fisher]

Edwin Robertson is a nicer name. Now you've got me thinking...

[colinian]

Why not simply protect yourself from bother and make the one with the impressive manhood Edwin Robertson?

The problem with using a name for the title of a book is that the book might be thought of as a biography, and unless you're a famous author the title of the book might be confused as the author's name.

BTW, UK copyright law re titles is basically the same as U.S. copyright law. EU copyright law is a stinking mess with their attempt to use it to block Google Books.

Colin

[Camy]

... 'The Manhood of Edward Robinson'.

I want to write a story with that title!

Will there be photographs?

[vwl]

Based on my conversation with an attorney friend a few years back, there is no prohibition on using the same title for a book (or a movie). Just go on Amazon or IMDB.com and search for a commonly named title. I just searched for "The River," and two exact matches appeared on the first page on Amazon.

The contents, of course, can be copyrighted.