We Don’t Know Where To Begin

June 21st, 2004 · No Comments
by Booksquare

Okay, we do; we simply thought this story would die a rapid death. We never imagined it would flare back to life over the weekend. Let us begin with a tale of two books, both on our shelves. Both in distribution. Both sporting the same title. A rapid scan of Amazon reveals the title, in this case, isn’t particularly original. Copyright violation, coincidence, profiteering, or satire (as The Elegant Variation suggests in the specific case we’re discussing here)? Copyright for titles is a complex concept, and legal precedent suggests authors will not prevail on this point. Thus we find ourselves particularly bemused by Ray Bradbury’s little snit about “his” title being appropriated by Michael Moore for the film Farenheit 9/11.. How is it that Bradbury’s agent and/or business manager hasn’t gently taken him aside and explained how this title thing works (or, rather, how is it that Bradbury doesn’t know — we hate to be cynical before our first cup of coffee, but this feels a bit like self promotion…something we wouldn’t expect from one of our heroes).

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