copyright infringement book title

What is the name of your state?Michigan
About fifteen years ago I wrote a book entitled 'Chitterling Heights', about a famous playright. It was self published and copies were given to friends and relatives. I put the copyright symbol at the end of my book and some chapters were presented, I was surfing the web tonight and found someone has written a play, which is being staged, with the same title and about the same person. What rights do I have? The title is too unique to be a coincidence. If needed I have quite a few people who were aware of my work and it's title. The work I saw online was copyrited in 2002, over 12-14 years after mine-Thanks

First of all, in general, titles themselves are not copyrightable. Second, ideas are not copyrightable, so if your book is about a historical (or even mythological, if you didn't invent him) figure, you can't keep someone else from writing a play or book about the same person, just because you wrote a book first And the person doesn't have to be famous, etiher -- they could write a book about YOU and you couldn't keep them from doing it, at least under copyright law. Finally, and perhaps most pertinent to your situation, copyright law does not prevent two people from coming up with the same thing, as long as they did so independently.

An example of the last statement is: if the Bard wrote "Hamlet" in England, and got a copyright on it, and later someone else on some remoe tropical island with no contact to the outside world also wrote "Hamlet," BOTH would be entitled to a copyright, and neither would be infringing on the other.

In any event, what do you want to do about it? If they can prove that they came up with the idea independently -- and they may certainly be able to, if your book's distribution was as limited as you imply -- then you have NO rights to keep them from doing what they are doing.

If you think that they did NOT come up with their stuff independently, but instead relied on your work, then you could use the remedies provided for under copyright law. However, you will need to register your copyright before you can attempt to sue them (not a big deal, most likely), and the only damages you will be able to obtain are ACTUAL damages -- that is, how much money you are actually out as a result of their infrigning activity. Because your book is simply self-published, you'll have a tough time showing damages -- and because of that, no attorney will take this on contingency, and you'll have to pay for the lawyer out of pocket.

Rather than looking to assert your rights, maybe you could contact the people who did the play and try to collaborate on something?

book title

My main concern is will I still be able to use my book title in the future?

As I noted above,

in general, titles themselves are not copyrightable

Click to expand...

So, because the title is most likely not copyrightable, nobody owns it, and anybody can use it. Including you!