A Stark Warning to Anyone Looking to Get a Book Published!

There is no copyright on book titles. The copyright only covers the artwork and story. It does not cover characters you may have created in relation to a specific name. Let me tell you my experience….

Not even three months after the launch of my book ‘The Hippocrocodogapig’, which I have been marketing using the strapline ‘Have you ever seen a Hippocrocodogapig?’, I was astounded to see an announcement that there was another book due to be launched later this year called ‘Have you ever seen a Hippocrocodogapig?’. The book was being marketed as though it was a new concept! When I questioned that this infringed my copyright, I was advised of the above fact.

Had I not foreseen that a writer and illustrator creating a new character does not have any creative rights, there would have been nothing I could have done. However, I trademarked the character, so this situation resolved itself relatively easily and the book is not being published with the Hippocrocodogapig in it.

In a world that seems to have gone mad, shouldn’t artists have more rights without having to trademark something that is so obviously unique? If anyone else has created something that they do not want others to use freely, please take this as a warning. Trademark it!