Movie Titles

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Using the same exact movie title as one previously released is legal.  Titles of movies are NOT copyrighted, so why does this database not allow the same or similar film title to be used? 
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Robert Pelt

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Posted 3 years ago

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3 years ago
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GMJ, Champion

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Robert,

The only rules I'm familiar with concerning same titles would be the use of Roman numerals to the right of the title to differentiate same titles with the same release year and same titles with different release years.

Examples:

Same title, same year.

Precious (I) (2009) (Short)
Precious (II) (2009)

Same title, different year.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Is there a specific title you are inquiring about?

IMDb Page
Submission Guide: Title Formats
    Years and roman numerals Roman numerals after the year as necessary. For example, Twilight (2008/I) and Twilight (2008/II).
    (Edited)
    3 years ago
    Photo of Robert Pelt

    Robert Pelt

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    The movie I've written is titled "The Allotment".  The film is currently in development.  I got a message saying, "we already have titles which are similar to "The Allotment" (????), are you sure it's not one of these.  Then it rejected the title.
    3 years ago
    Photo of Col Needham

    Col Needham, Official Rep

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    Please scroll further down and directly below the last match there should be a checkbox next to the message "This is not an existing title" -- select it and then press the "Re-check these updates" button to continue.
    3 years ago
    Photo of GMJ

    GMJ, Champion

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    Robert,

    On the page you described, you needed to acknowledge the warning message near the top of the form. When you get to the message that you see below:
    This title has warnings, you must acknowledge each one before this title will be accepted.

    We already have titles which are similar to 'The Allotment (????)', are you sure it's not one of these? :-

    Scroll past the 20+ list of titles and click the checkbox to the left of the following statement:

    This is not an existing title.

    Click the blue Re-check these updates button at the bottom of the screen.

    The next Adding a New Title page will have additional data items to submit. As noted earlier, acknowledge any warning messages you may receive while filling out the form. When the page is entirely in green, the submission for the new title is eligible for approval. Give at least 48-72 hours (or more depending on any backlogs) for the new title to appear on IMDb. 
     
    I hope this helps. Please write back if you have any more questions.

    IMDb Page
    Submission Guide: Adding a New Title
    3 years ago
    Photo of Robert Pelt

    Robert Pelt

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    I did exactly as you suggested yesterday but the title was rejected so I changed the title to "The Allotment of Perique" and that block went from red to green (yeah).   I figure can change the title back to "The Allotment" once the film is posted in the IMDb.  The plan is to film next year and release it 2019, so I believe the title will end up being "The Allotment (2019)".   
    2017-10-18T22:28:36+00:00
    Photo of Jason Kreitzer

    Jason Kreitzer

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    Good luck.

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