Is this copyright problem?

[Wassdeet]

CA/Canada

Note: I am in USA and movie was made in Canada 1980.

I made a movie in Canada in 1980 called Ghost Keeper. It played and was gone but in 2005 got a fan base and a new DVD "Aniversary" special. All is good. Then I wrote a sequel Ghostkeeper 2 and hope to film in Nov/14. Today I discovered a movie called Ghostkeepers about actors returning to a hotel and get attacked. It is listed as 2013 and as far as I know it's not gone anywhere as it's pretty bad.

Ironically the fake Ghostkeepers (note added "s") created a story wherein actors return to the scene of original Ghostkeepers and get attacked. This is the exact storyline I created back in 2011 (and registered but not copyrighted).

I watched the trailer to the fake version and it copies some of our shots but is much cheaper and the quality is really bad.

Do I have to contact them to say they're stealing my idea, should I copyright the original?

It seems plain to me and others that they copied my story; I often mention it in my blog which has been going for 5 years.

Does the "s" in the fake Ghostkeepers carry any weight? Can I sue or at least get them to change their name?

 

[quincy]

Your works are copyrighted upon creation in both Canada and in the U.S. There is no need to register a film or a script in the U.S. to have a copyright in your work, although registration provides extra protection in the way of statutory damages for a copyright holder if their work is infringed.

In what country was your 2011 script registered?

Names are not copyrightable and ideas are not copyrightable. Some films have trademark rights.

I suggest you sit down with an attorney in your area to determine who owns what rights to what, Wasdeet. There will need to be a compare and contrast of both films to see if there has been infringement on your rights in the first film.

Good luck.