Can a TV own an episode title

[Mikey]

I always wondered about different TV shows using the same episode titles.

Example --- The Immunity Syndrome

Used by both Star Trek Classic and Space 1999

Could Roddenberry have sued 1999 if he wanted too ?

[YANOULI]

I don't know but if he could it would be interesting to see if it could apply to song titles too.

[JPkempo]

Song titles, Albums, books, and TV shows.
Yet two actors can't have the same name.

[monkey tennis]

I wouldn't imagine so..
Wouldn't it be like trying to Copyright the Title of a Chapter in a Book.
I mean as long as the content is different wouldn't it be ok.

There are quite a few shows that do seem to have the same title's
None spring to mind at the moment.

[Boris71]

I think you could get away with claiming copyright if a charaters name was in it like Spocks Brain or enterpise incident, or if it referd to a race of aliens like klingons or romulans, otherwise I think you would be on ropey ground

[johnmiic]

I think the power really lies with the writers. The Writers Guild America is very powerful and their powers to protect writers are far reaching. I've never heard of a scriptwriter suing another scriptwriter over a story title. There's an episode of the Prisoner called The Schizoid Man and a ST-TNG episode also called The Schizoid Man-I think. In many cases tho these different shows are seperated by a decade or 2. Plus it's widely accepted that TV recycles basic plots and ideas.

Interesting tho, there is a comic book character in DC comics The Teen Titans continuity named Deathstroke:The Terminator. DC writers have shied away from calling the character Deathstroke:The Terminator since James Cameron's The Terminator was released in 1984. The writers have a sort of verbal instruction not to use the name The Terminator and just use the name Deathstroke to avoid problems.

[monkey tennis]

In the Patrick Troughton Doctor Who Episode Power of the Daleks there was a planet called Vulcan

(first televised in 1966) ...The word Vulcan is Not in the Title name though.

[ctc]

>Wouldn't it be like trying to Copyright the Title of a Chapter in a Book.

Kinda, so you'd probably have to trademark it. Which I bet you COULD do; but you'd have to demonstrate that anyone else using the title is then running a risk of having their work confused with yours. Tough call with just a title. It's doubtless not worth the trouble.

Don C.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Interesting tho, there is a comic book character in DC comics The Teen Titans continuity named Deathstroke:The Terminator. DC writers have shied away from calling the character Deathstroke:The Terminator since James Cameron's The Terminator was released in 1984. The writers have a sort of verbal instruction not to use the name The Terminator and just use the name Deathstroke to avoid problems.

Yeah, and if you read some of Deathstroke's earlier apparances, the "Deathstroke" part was pretty much dropped by his 3rd appearance or so and he was normally just called "The Terminator". Once the movie came out, DC picked Deathstroke back up and dusted it off. I think he's even listed in the original Who's Who under "T".

Just to add to the fun, both Trek and Batman (66) had episodes titled "A Piece of the Action" (one had gangsters, and one had Green Hornet and Kato!).

Chris