Does that mean you are going to stop voting against the rules?

In an aside I just realized that this rule change is going to have a HUGE impact on my Opera titles. I am not thrilled by that, but rules are rules...no point in throwing a tantrum about it.

That would be childish.

I think there's been too much authority assigned to the title as recorded by the US Copyright Office. It's my understanding that a title is not copyrighted. The work is copyrighted. Titles can be trademarked, yes. But the title as recorded by the US Copyright Office is to identify the work in case there is a dispute over authorship.

We seem to agree that all of the information in the US Copyright Office's title field is not the title: "It / directed by Tommy Lee Wallace." for example. How are we to simultaneously accept the title from the US Copyright Office as golden yet we only take part of what they record as the title? It seems to me that they are not the definitive source for titles and that no "legal title" is established by a copyright filing.

I've spent some time looking up items from my collection and can safely say that the US Copyright Office's records are riddled with errors. I've pulled out 6 examples. I think I looked up about 12 titles. 50% with issues. Not good.

Let's get started with Amélie.

Is the title "La fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulai : Amelie from Montmartre / Claude Ossard & UCC presentent une co-production Victoires Productions, Tapioca Films, France 3 Cinema, MMC Independent, GmbH ; un film de Jean-Pierre Jeunet."?

Is the title "La fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulai : Amelie from Montmartre"?

Is the title "La fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulai"?

If so, what happened to Amélie's last name of Poulain? And where's Amélie's accent?

The Mirror Has Two Faces:

Why the lower case letters in the title? The cover doesn't suggest lower case:

So now the title is "The mirror has two faces"?

Here's one with a possessive, La Dolce Vita:


But the English subtitled version doesn't have the possessive:

So which is the title? Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita or just La Dolce Vita? I guess it depends whether you turn the subtitles on or not. Or La dolce vita.

À bout de souffle aka Breathless

Although this is a copyright registration for the VHS tape, I'm curious what's the difference between "Application Title" and "Title"? Which is the "legal title"? No accent on the "À" either. In fact, I don't think I saw any accents on any of the titles I looked up. We must have tossed those out.

Here's another one for a different VHS version:

Missing the accent over the "À" again, although this time the "Application Title" of "Breathless" from the earlier version is now in the "Title" field as "Breathless / directed by Jean-Luc Godard." And the "Title" from the earlier version has now been bumped to the "Notes" section. Not only is it missing the accent on the "À" but it mysteriously lost an "f" and now is just a "soufle".

Keep reading. The best is yet to come, dear readers.

Star Wars    There's much fun to be had looking up the various permutations of the Star Wars films, but I'll present 2 here.

There's that pesky "Application Title" thing again. I don't know what to do with "Star Wars : special ed." as a potential title. But if we were to use the "Title", then for us title is "Star Wars: no. 4, A new hope / a Lucasfilm, Ltd. production ; written and directed by George Lucas."

Or maybe just "Star Wars: no. 4, A new hope" depending on one's preference.

There's not as much confusion with Episode I, however:

That one is just "The Phantom Menace.". No ambiguity there. Do note the period. Wouldn't want to leave that out.

Thank you for taking this trip with me to the U.S. Office of Perfect Titles. I hope you enjoyed the tour. Please keep your arms and legs inside your Doombuggy until we come to a full and complete stop. Once you exit the ride, you never have to return. Please feel free to use the rules instead. 

Typical from James,, to bad you don't have a grasp of what I am saying.

Skip

We have Rules regarding dealing with Caps James. And some of the other's you choose to bring up have to do with personally not liking the LEGAL title. Let us remember it was YOU among others who first broached the concept of absolute accuracy in opposition to the Rules.

Skip

Its like he has lost his mind...a bit creepy really.

Quoting skipnet50:

Quote:
ACCURACY was part of your argument

Yes, it was part. The fact is that you are pulling that part out of context of the other issues in that case.

Quoting skipnet50:

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I am trying to determine whether that is REAlly THE CASE.

I think you are squirming in your own mess and trying to make it seem like other people have logic problems as a form of deflection.

Quoting skipnet50:

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If I assume that you are not hypocritical you now realize the flaws in your argument that I tried to point out to you originally.

I still hold the same opinion that I held during the SRP debate. I just don't bring it up randomly in other threads to muddy the waters.

Quoting skipnet50:

Quote:
There is another option...that you do believe in ACCURACY to the point of total anality,

I thought you were the Master of Anal (MoA) and proud of it?

Quoting skipnet50:

Quote:
which means the Copyright Office determines the LEGAL title.

Let me see if I can follow the logic loop here. So because you think I'm the MoA, even though you already claim to be a proud member, then that must require that I believe that an inaccurate government office is the Truth, and since I am accused of believing it, then you are forced to believe it too. I think I've got it.

I'm really flattered that you've taken something I said 3 months ago on a different topic and you have given it such importance that it has become your Crusade to uphold. I mean really...because of me, you now vote against specific examples in the Rules in an effort to uphold James' Logic. What power I have. You are a very dedicated recruit and I appreciate that.

Quoting skipnet50:

Quote:
The third possibility is that you are ...well you know the rest.

Thankfully, I don't know.

I don't think you have a logic preoblem...I know it for a fact, James. Just an observation

You have also proven that i am wasting my time and energy. <shrugs> I AM MoA, I am NOT PhDoA. I know some PhDoA's and they are really boring people.

Skip

Quoting m.cellophane:

Quote:
Will you be updating "Star Wars: no. 4, A new hope" and "The Phantom Menace." or shall I?

tick tock.