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paresh
Member
Does anyone know if the title of a CD can be copyrighted? Or can more than one person's CD have the same album title? Thanks
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RobertN
New member
I dont think people copyright the names of cds.
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sjjohnston
New member
paresh said:
A title isn't protected by copyright.
It may be protected in other ways, e.g. as a trademark. Unless the title is very famous, or could be taken as an untrue statement as to the "origin" of what you're selling, you're most likely okay.
Example (from a slightly different world):
You can name a movie "The Island" (as at least 7 people have)
You can't name a movie "Harry Potter and the Island" (unless J.K. Rowling says so, anyway).
Another title you want to avoid:
"The Beatles' Greatest Hits"
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glynb
Balladeer
I think it's down to historical precedent and passing off. if you call you album 'Sgt.Peppers Lonely hearts Club Band' you could be accused of passing off your album as the other better known one and trading off the other's reputation, so that's a no no. If you called your album 'pepper Club' you'd probably get away with it as it's suficiently different so as not to mislead people.
BTW, if you could show that someone in the year 1748 wrote an opera called 'Sgt.Peppers Lonely hearts Club Band' then you might be able to succesfully defend yourself!
I think you're pretty safe with one or two word titles, but when it gets to a well known catch phrase which some other artist/label has spent money promoting then you may be in trouble.
BTW, if you could show that someone in the year 1748 wrote an opera called 'Sgt.Peppers Lonely hearts Club Band' then you might be able to succesfully defend yourself!
I think you're pretty safe with one or two word titles, but when it gets to a well known catch phrase which some other artist/label has spent money promoting then you may be in trouble.
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Jack Real
New member
Hi
I don't know the answer but I think some CDs has the same title. I think the industry won't accept two CDs with the same title in a short timeframe. In the 80s, a Canadian group called "Harlequin" was about to release an album called "Crimes of Passion" because a lot of songs were related to the subject. They didn't kept the name of the album secret and the first thing you know, Pat Benettar (a much bigger star) released an album called "Crimes of Passion" even if the songs were not related to the subject. The group Harlequin had to re-title their album "Love crimes".
/Jack Real.
I don't know the answer but I think some CDs has the same title. I think the industry won't accept two CDs with the same title in a short timeframe. In the 80s, a Canadian group called "Harlequin" was about to release an album called "Crimes of Passion" because a lot of songs were related to the subject. They didn't kept the name of the album secret and the first thing you know, Pat Benettar (a much bigger star) released an album called "Crimes of Passion" even if the songs were not related to the subject. The group Harlequin had to re-title their album "Love crimes".
/Jack Real.
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mrface2112
Well-known member
There was an issue back in the late 80s/early 90s with a couple metal groups too. One band was called "Hurricane" which came first, and the other was "Hurricane Alice".....and "Hurricane Alice" ended up having to change their name to "Herricane Alice" or something like that due to some action filed by Hurricane (or their label, etc).
I also remember the band Green Jello, who had a song about the 3 Pigs back in the early 90s.....they got sued by Jello (or whoever their parent company is) for trademark infringement, and had to change their name to Green Jelly. Of course, there are a number of "Green Jello" cds floating around out there from before they got popular.
the moral is that no one notices until you're famous and there's money to be made off you.
cheers,
wade
I also remember the band Green Jello, who had a song about the 3 Pigs back in the early 90s.....they got sued by Jello (or whoever their parent company is) for trademark infringement, and had to change their name to Green Jelly. Of course, there are a number of "Green Jello" cds floating around out there from before they got popular.
the moral is that no one notices until you're famous and there's money to be made off you.
cheers,
wade
IronFlippy
Dedicated To My Member
From what I know, names can't be copyrighted, although you can trademark it. Not sure if this is true for album names, but I do know it's true for band names. I read an article about it last year, but can't seem to find it now.
http://www.copyright.gov/
That should have your answer somewhere.
http://www.copyright.gov/
That should have your answer somewhere.