I think “No Reply” would have been the appropriate response
A link to the column you’re commenting on is appreciated. This appears to be the one: How come people steal song titles and nothing happens? - The Straight Dope
bibliophage
moderator CCC
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) can be somewhat picky about titles that are similar but far from identical. The 1998 movie Playing by Heart had an original title of Dancing About Architecture but this was vetoed because of the release in the same year of Dancing at Lughnasa. See this 2005 piece from Slate Magazine for this and other fascinating details concerning similar and exact duplicate movie titles.
In 2000 Dancing at the Blue Iguana passed MPAA scrutiny unmolested, presumably because the two year time lapse rendered the title uncontentious.
While this is not the forum for unsolicited opinions unsupported by facts, I think anyone who believes the title Dancing About Architecture can detract from, or be confused with Dancing at Lughnasa, needs to recalibrate his parameters for detraction and confusion.
I hate it when that happens. I was just listening to a song on the radio, but the DJ was unable to tell me what it was - he said someone stole the title, so now we just have to call it “Bop bop, be, bop”.
A propos
How come people steal song titles and nothing happens? - The Straight Dope
I was once in a bookstore (it was a science-fiction bookstore on Chambers St., just west of W. Broadway in NYC) and saw two books with the same title sitting next to each other on a shelf. The title was “Sideshow” and one of the authors was Sherri Tepper and the other was a man whose name also began with “Te”. I thought is was bizarre, but I since found out that titles cannot be copyrighted.
I imagine there are hundreds, if not thousands of books simply called “Calculus”.
A propos
How come people steal song titles and nothing happens? - The Straight Dope
I was once in a bookstore (it was a science-fiction bookstore on Chambers St., just west of W. Broadway in NYC) and saw two books with the same title sitting next to each other on a shelf. The title was “Sideshow” and one of the authors was Sherri Tepper and the other was a man whose name also began with “Te”. I thought is was bizarre, but I since found out that titles cannot be copyrighted.
I imagine there are hundreds, if not thousands of books simply called “Calculus”.
I dunno. In 1996 there was a movie Crash directed by Cronenberg and another in 2004 by Haggis. When the latter got all the Oscar fuss, I went to Netflix and checked out the only one there at the time, Cronenberg’s. Confused the hell out of me, it did. Perhaps MPAA figured eight years was enough time to prevent confusion.
While I don’t have the same problem with the Dancing Movies as the MPAA did, because they are really so dissimilar in title, I do believe the organisation should veto the use of any exact title previously released. Like, ever.
Surely it’s not beyond the wit of man to invent something new that still appeals to the marketplace.