Post by account_disabled on Dec 28, 2023 4:52:32 GMT
A few years ago I bought a horror novel by Jeff Long called Descent into Hell . Some time later I bought another novel, by Doris Lessing, also entitled Descent into Hell . This made me smile and I went to check the original titles, a little different from the Italian translation. Today I discovered that in total there are 6 books in Italian entitled Descent into Hell (5 novels and a comic): Descent to Hell by Charles Williams, Castelvecchi, 2014 ( Descent to Hell , Faber and Faber, 1937) Descent into Hell by Doris Lessing, Fanucci, 2009 ( Briefing for a Descent Into Hell , Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1971) Descent into Hell by Jeff Long, Newton & Compton, 2000 ( The Descent , Crown Publishers, 1999) Descent into
Hell by Alessandro Russi, self-published, 2012 Descent into Hell (The Tube 2) by Scilla Bonfiglioli and Michela Pierpaoli, Delos Digital, 2015 Descent into Hell by Garth Ennis and Goran Sudžuka, SaldaPress, 2019 ( A Walk Through Hell , Aftershock, 2018) Even the first cantica of Dante's Comedy could have been titled Descent into Hell , after all, but the Special Data Supreme was more concise, also because then he should have titled the last cantica "Ascension into Paradise" and who knows for Purgatory. Equal titles: a frequent phenomenon Even Stephen King wrote a book, in 2013, whose title, Joyland , had already been used by Emily Schultz in 2005. In that case Schultz had a surge in sales of her first novel (and among buyers there he was also the King). Under US law, titles cannot be protected by copyright , so it is likely that two or more authors use the same title.
Apparently this is also the case in the UK, because “a title is not long enough to constitute a literary work”. But is this always true? Try publishing a novel called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and then tell me how it went. In this case there is trademark infringement, of course. It has nothing to do with Rowling being famous. Umberto Eco published the novel The Prague Cemetery , but anyone will be able to publish a book with the same title, talking about the history of that cemetery, for example. I believe that even in Italy the titles cannot be registered, even if no one would ever dream of writing a book entitled The Betrothed , I Malavoglia , The Conscience of Zeno or even Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis . These titles have long entered the minds of readers, literary sites and blogs have talked about them, so it would only be harmful to use one of those titles. Easily duplicated book titles If you title a horror novel, for example, Possession , it will not be difficult to find, sooner or later, an erotic novel with the same title.
Hell by Alessandro Russi, self-published, 2012 Descent into Hell (The Tube 2) by Scilla Bonfiglioli and Michela Pierpaoli, Delos Digital, 2015 Descent into Hell by Garth Ennis and Goran Sudžuka, SaldaPress, 2019 ( A Walk Through Hell , Aftershock, 2018) Even the first cantica of Dante's Comedy could have been titled Descent into Hell , after all, but the Special Data Supreme was more concise, also because then he should have titled the last cantica "Ascension into Paradise" and who knows for Purgatory. Equal titles: a frequent phenomenon Even Stephen King wrote a book, in 2013, whose title, Joyland , had already been used by Emily Schultz in 2005. In that case Schultz had a surge in sales of her first novel (and among buyers there he was also the King). Under US law, titles cannot be protected by copyright , so it is likely that two or more authors use the same title.
Apparently this is also the case in the UK, because “a title is not long enough to constitute a literary work”. But is this always true? Try publishing a novel called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and then tell me how it went. In this case there is trademark infringement, of course. It has nothing to do with Rowling being famous. Umberto Eco published the novel The Prague Cemetery , but anyone will be able to publish a book with the same title, talking about the history of that cemetery, for example. I believe that even in Italy the titles cannot be registered, even if no one would ever dream of writing a book entitled The Betrothed , I Malavoglia , The Conscience of Zeno or even Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis . These titles have long entered the minds of readers, literary sites and blogs have talked about them, so it would only be harmful to use one of those titles. Easily duplicated book titles If you title a horror novel, for example, Possession , it will not be difficult to find, sooner or later, an erotic novel with the same title.