This posting does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and the posting attorney, and you are urged to engage a qualified attorney who is licensed to practice in the relevant jurisdiction. (If you are interested in learning more about the Title Registration Bureau, the MPAA can be reached at 818.995.6600 and you will want to ask for "title registration" department.)įrom a practical standpoint, the best way to keep control of your catchy title, is to register any websites you think you'd want to use, try to get your screenplay set up without circulating the catchy title (to minimize others having access to it), and then start using the catchy title only when you are ready to actually release the film.Īny answer or other information posted above is general in nature and is not intended, nor should it be construed, as legal advice. And, while the MPAA has created a Title Registry Bureau, only members of the MPAA (the 6 major studios) and other “subscribers” who pay a fee and agree to be bound by the Bureau’s rules, can take advantage of the service. Also, titles alone are not protected by copyright law. You cannot trademark the name of a single work of art - that is, the name of one book or one screenplay is typically not something that can be protected via trademark. The decision as to whether and when to apply for trademark registration is one of dozens of decisions that anyone who writes a screenplay will need to make, and these decisions need to be made in collaboration with investors and legal counsel. You need to work with IP counsel and business counsel for developing strategies to commercialize and generate revenues from your screenplay. Most importantly, however, you should not be doing any of this by yourself. Especially when you attempt to develop investors to commercialize your screenplay, you will want to impress upon them the various streams of revenues in addition to the film or television show, itself, and trademark protection can be a very important factor in investment decisions. Most big studio production companies time the release of these products into commerce with the release of the film itself and, therefore, the title is not merely relevant to a single film or copyrighted work, but to many other related products and services. Movies are no longer a single product-most movies are associated with many other ancillary products, such as musical soundtracks, sheet music of the songs in the movie, book versions of the screenplay, merchandise (fashion, shoes etc), posters, food, and many others. If you intend to develop a series of works using the catch phrase, or if you intend to develop lines of merchandise (books, t-shirts, mugs, shoes, music compilations, soundtracks, foreign language versions, etc) under the brand of the "catchy title", then you should seriously consider obtaining trademark protection. While it is true that you cannot trademark the name of a single work such as a screenplay, there may be many legitimate grounds to obtain trademark protection for this catchy title, at least on an intend to use basis. I have to dissent in part from my learned colleagues.
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