How To Navigate Between A Film Copyright And Trademark?

” As an artist you have the right to command respect for what you took time to create. Get your copyright, get your trademark, and continue with confidence that you’ll be protected to the end ” – Gia Foretia

Finally, my first movie poster is about 85% complete. I still needed to attach a director, director of photography (DP) and actors. However, the progress was more than enough to satisfy me. You know that natural human urge to show the world your creation once it’s close to completion?

Trust me, that feeling was ringing loudly in my mind, but I knew I had to really think about all the details.

So, what’s next? I definitely wanted to start marketing to begin garnering attention, an audience, and buzz about my film, but again something kept nudging me to wait. So, I let the decision sit for a few days. I even went to a photo shop to get my movie poster framed up to hang on my wall so I can see it every day.

As I returned back from the photo shop, I happened to go onto YouTube and see a video thumbnail explaining how a well-known celebrity stole a young entrepreneur’s business idea.

As the story began to unfold, it was found that the young entrepreneur was advertising his business idea on social media without securing all the necessary rights to cover his tracks.

In essence, his business idea was fair game! (What? Seriously? That’s crazy!)

From that, I immediately went onto the WGA registry and the Library of Congress to secure my copyright for my movie poster image. Gladly, everything was accepted, processed, and secured. Once the actual Library of Congress copyright certificate came in the mail, I immediately thought, “Okay. Gia. You’re in the clear. You can do whatever want now”.

Wrong!

I had another nudge to give the Library of Congress a call and ask if my film title and tagline were also included in the copyright I’d secured?

Their answer: No! The Library of Congress only covers the actual image and/or visual work. You would need to trademark your film title and tagline with the USPTO office because that’s considered intellectual property. That trademark will cost you $350.

My response (In my head): What?! $350?!

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Is it better to trademark or copyright a film name? Should I trademark or copyright a movie phrase? Should I use a copyright or trademark?

If you want to have sole rights to your film’s name/title or any key phrase(s) that will be attached to your film, you have to trademark it because it’s considered intellectual property.

However, if you’d just like to produce your film, screen it, post it online, get some influencers to market it to garner attention to your film and you as a filmmaker then a trademark isn’t necessary. Only trademark if you see your film going BIG or potentially making some good profit!

If you don’t see your film going BIG or making a lot of money, that’s completely fine as well. Maybe your film is just your steppingstone into the film world so you can get on people’s radar as a serious up and coming filmmaker. Maybe, you have other major ideas to produce, pitch, and sell that could potential make you a worldwide phenomenon / brand.

But you do want to at least copyright your script, synopsis and/or treatment with the WGA registry as it’s very inexpensive.

Now, if you think your script, synopsis, and/or treatment is on the level of Shakespeare’s or JK Rowling’s written works, then you’d probably also want to trademark them as well.

Realize that the world is full of content that can get attention so fast and within a day, people are on to the next trend or topic. So, people really don’t have time or the mental energy to steal or trademark someone else’s film name that isn’t yet very popular.

Now, if a film name was created by Beyonce, Drake, Denzel Washington, Ava Duvernay, Steven Spielberg etc. then yes, a copyright and trademark is a must.

(LOL. Why do you think Beyonce and Cardi B trademark their names and the names of their children? Well, it’s because they have big brands and are very popular. So, it’s natural that their kids would be popular and profitable as well. It’s also smart to plan on creating big brands for them as they know it’ll be a guaranteed success.

If I’m not mistaken, I think I read that Beyonce and Jay Z had a major marketing plan in place for Blue Ivy since her infancy).

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It was at this point, I realized that a copyright and trademark were two totally different things. After speaking with the representative, I waited an hour and called back hoping to speak to someone else and get a different answer. (LOL!)

But nope! Didn’t happen. I was going to have to pay for that trademark even if I had to cry to do so.

I went to the USPTO website and typed in my film title and 10 results came up. 2 were alive and 8 were dead. Luckily, the 2 that were alive were not in the category I needed. Next, I carefully watched all the tutorials and found out that if I also include the actual image, tagline, and the colors within the movie poster in my application that can further guarantee my trademark acceptance because it shows differentiation.

Once I hit the “submit” button to my trademark application (two weeks later), it was a huge relief. But the question of “what in the world would be next?” immediately began to linger.

And the journey continues.

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Are movies copyrighted or trademarked? Can a movie be a trademark?

Movies are copyrighted as it’s a source of creative works. No, a movie can’t be a trademark as it’s not considered intellectual property. Intellectual property are creations of the mind. Examples include names, logos, images, symbols, books, scripts, plays, music lyrics etc.

However, a films’ title and taglines can be trademarked (i.e., Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter). As you’ve seen in many films, clips from other movies can been shown in other big-name films as well. An example is a clip from the movie The Little Rascals in the worldwide success film Baby Driver.

Check this video out from Film Courage about using trademarks and logos in your independent film:

For that clip from The Little Rascals to have been able to appear in the film Baby Driver, the film crew from Baby Driver must’ve gotten permission from the owner of rights of The Little Rascals which is usually accompanied with a fee.

As you’ll read later on, I was a post-production assistant on an award-winning telecommunications documentary called When Wire Was King. It required tons of clips from past political conferences, interviews, news stations, factories etc. to be obtained.

To use these clips indefinitely, the executive producer had to pay expensive fees for each clip to have their “all media, worldwide and perpetuity” rights. Oh, and there’s also a separate mastering fee as well.

Note: Looking back, I wish I would’ve waited to trademark my movie poster because I ended up changing it to a completely different image in post-production (I’m so excited to show it to you all). So, I would advise waiting until your film is officially 90% close to completion in post to trademark your film name and tagline if you desire to do so.

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Other posts you may be interested in:

• Why A Film Treatment Is Important?
• How To Create An Epic Movie Poster?
• What Happens On Set During A Film Production?

Disclaimer: 

The author is not liable for any losses or damages related to actions of failure to act related to the content in this article. If you need specific legal advice, consult with an attorney who specializes in your subject matter and jurisdiction.