# Question about "Director's Trademark" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-directors-trademark/273271 "2004-11-05T21:50:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-directors-trademark/273271/1 "2004-11-05T21:50:38Z")
The IMDb frequently has entries for “directors trademark.” Some examples: Almost every James Cameron movie: > [@](#): > > Director Trademark: [James Cameron] [nuke] Does this mean that a movie cannot show a nuclear explosion unless it’s directed by James Cameron? [The Patriot](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0187393/trivia): > [@](#): > > Director Trademark: [Roland Emmerich] [44] Seen in the tavern where Martin recruits for his militia, also seen on a wine bottle label I don’t even know what that means or why he would even bother with trademarking it. [Jurassic Park](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0107290/trivia) > [@](#): > > Director Trademark: [Steven Spielberg] [music] > > Director Trademark: [Steven Spielberg] [stars] > > Director Trademark: [Steven Spielberg] [father] Grant hates the idea of being a father. Again, I have no idea what this means - no movie can show stars? No movie can have a plot about a man not wanting to be a father? No movie can use the Jurassic Park music? Or are they trademarking these shots so that they get paid if someone else uses them? I guess I don’t understand what they’re trying to protect here. Why would Roland Emmerich trademark the number 44? ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-directors-trademark/273271/2 "2004-11-05T21:56:09Z")
Geez, literal much? It just means that it’s someting that the director inserts in most of his films, not that he _actually_ trademarked it. Spielberg films often have men struggling with fatherhood. The number 44 appears somewhere in most Emmerich films, for whatever reason. Alfred Hitchcock’s “trademark” was his cameo. It just means that there is something, some plot device, some object that has meaning to the director, and is inserted into most of his/her films. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-directors-trademark/273271/3 "2004-11-05T21:57:16Z")
I don’t know if you’re joking, but it doesn’t literally mean that the director has trademarked it. It just means that it’s something that the director features in many of his films. Trademarks are one of the ways that you can look at a film and clearly see that the film was made by a particular director - much like Hitchcock’s cameos or John Landis’s [“See You Next Wednesday”](http://homepage.ntlworld.com/timothy.moore/synw.com/snw.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-directors-trademark/273271/4 "2004-11-05T21:58:08Z")
You’re being too literal. A “Director’s Trademark” is something that usually shows up in one of their movies. Think Spielberg & the number 2038. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-directors-trademark/273271/5 "2004-11-05T21:59:17Z")
Erm, [1138](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0066434/combined). I would have to get the number wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-directors-trademark/273271/6 "2004-11-05T22:01:24Z")
I don’t believe that’s a trademark in the legal sense - it’s more of just something a director does in most movies. John Woo and doves is another example - it’s not that no one else is allowed to have doves in slow-motion in their movies, it’s just that John Woo traditionally does so - a trademark, if you will. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-directors-trademark/273271/7 "2004-11-05T22:13:24Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > Geez, literal much? No, I actually didn’t know, but thanks for your patronizing smarminess. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-directors-trademark/273271/8 "2004-11-05T23:28:42Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Think Spielberg & the number 2038. > [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Erm, 1138. I would have to get the number wrong. Not only did you get the number wrong, you got the director wrong as well. THX 1138 was directed by George Lucas, and it’s a Lucas trademark to have the number 1138 featured in his films. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-directors-trademark/273271/9 "2004-11-05T23:33:52Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > Alfred Hitchcock’s “trademark” was his cameo. It just means that there is something, some plot device, some object that has meaning to the director, and is inserted into most of his/her films. Everyone wondered how he was going to be able to make a cameo in _Lifeboat_. He’s on the newspaper in a weight loss ad. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-directors-trademark/273271/10 "2004-11-06T00:20:52Z")
Some of the ones listed on IMDB are really crappy though. Stars? Music? This more what I think of: Director Trademark: [John Woo] [doves] ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-directors-trademark/273271/11 "2004-11-06T00:50:12Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > Some of the ones listed on IMDB are really crappy though. Stars? Actually, Spielberg does have shooting or falling stars in quite a few of his films…