kmhess writes “Call it a tale of two Fahrenheits, is an interesting read regarding the battle between Michael Moore and Ray Bradbury over the phrase ” ‘Fahrenheit’ space integer’.
Epitomizing the real reason we are to protecting 50 year old book titles, “Since the book remains in print, and Bradbury has some hope that a new film version will be made in the foreseeable future, he may be concerned that hoopla about Moore’s film will harm the market for his book, or for a remake of the movie based on his book,â€?said Litman, author of “Digital Copyright,â€? a 2001 book on the effect of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act on consumers.
I don’t recall the same level of outrage over the failed Fahrenheit Graphics API
and yet …
… according to my local PL’s online catalog, all copies of Bradbury’s book are currently checked out, with several hold requests queued up behind.
Seems to me that the Moore film could actually be stimulating renewed interest in the Bradbury book instead of hurting it.
Then again, I know for a fact that Fahrenheit 451 is on at least one high school summer reading list this year, so that’s sure to be a factor.
Consider reality
Not only are titles not copyrightable, but a quick search of the RLG Union Catalog reveals:
Fahrenheit 666 (British, recent, humorous)
Fahrenheit 121 (Finnish poetry)
Fahrenheit 212 (Russian, I think)
Fahrenheit 450 (Didn’t copy down details, but that’s not a typo)
In at least some of those cases, there are editions of F451 in the country.
I was scolded for suggesting earlier that Bradbury is complaining mostly to garner publicity for the movie of F451 and the new edition, so I won’t suggest that again. I will suggest that this particular train left the station a long time ago.