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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Marty Rudnick <mrudnick@marturo.com> |
| Subject | Re: Musical litigation question |
| Date | Thu, 17 Jun 2004 13:55:14 -0700 (BST) |
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Hi,
I've heard that you can't copyright a title -- period. So this tale, as described, is a bit confusing.
Marty
---- audities@smoe.org wrote:
>
> Whilst on a Father's Day shopping mission, I picked up a little something
> for myself, namely the 2004 release The Essential Jacksons, which covers the
> Jackson 5 after they moved to Epic Records. One of the tracks on here is
> "This Place Hotel". It was originally titled "Heartbreak Hotel", but the
> band was sued by the writers of the Elvis Presley hit. So the title changed
> -- but the song didn't -- Michael's still singing about Heartbreak Hotel.
> I'm perplexed. First, how can a title be copyrighted, or at least one that
> isn't that original (not like the song was called "Sun Zoom Spark", for
> example). Second, what legal value is there in just changing the title -- I
> suppose that there was some consumer confusion claim involved, but even that
> seems weak, IMO.
>
> Just wonderin'
>
> Mike Bennett
>
>
>
> Record reviews and more at http://fufkin.com
>
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