I wonder if Bradbury sought permission from the descendents of Daniel Fahrenheit before using his name in that book title.

Titles can't be copyrighted -- unless they contain a trademark.

The law sez:

"...Names, titles, and short phrases or expressions are not subject to copyright protection. Even if a name, title, or short phrase is novel or distinctive or if it lends itself to a play on words, it cannot be protected by copyright.
…
To be protected by copyright, a work must contain at least a certain minimum amount of authorship in the form of original literary, musical, pictorial, or graphic expression. Names, titles, and other short phrases do not meet these requirements."

You're right. Bradbury should feel flattered that Moore thought enough of his novel, that he would be inspired to title his own work after it.

Allusion is a sign of respect, thus for Bradbury to pitch a fit about this is a kick in the teeth to Moore.

Eeek! I can't believe that - I really respected Bradbury as a writer. How rude!

Senility seems to have kicked in early for Bradbury. Tsk, tsk.

First Rosa Parks, now Ray Bradbury. Hmmm. People of accompishment and Al Barger don't appear to mix. Envy, one suspects.

Bradbury is overreacting, but the main problem is not with him. It is that Right Wingers are converting his disagreement with Moore over not getting his nod for borrowing part of the title as an overall criticism of Moore, when it is isn't. This tempest in a teaspoon is completely overblown.

Moore should drop in on Bradbury and smooth his ruffled feathers. I suspect that is all the elderly humanist wants.

Bradbury made a stink about it because he clearly finds something disagreeable about Moore's work and politics. He's largely irrelevant as a writer now, so perhaps he also did it for some attention. If you've ever met him, he's an unusual guy. That's to be expected, though, at his age. I don't find his work that inspiring or humanist, but I'm not a real fan of sci-fi geek stuff.

Are people interested in hearing more from him about his politics and the disagreement with Moore? I forget why else anyone would be interested in him today.

"Senility seems to have kicked in early for Bradbury."

Early? He's like, what, 83?

"First Rosa Parks, now Ray Bradbury. Hmmm. People of accompishment and Al Barger don't appear to mix. Envy, one suspects."

WTF?

MD must be off the MAOIs again. Look out!

Go see the movie on Friday June 25 and tell the White House types they're being SCRUTINIZED.

Also, check out www.moveon.org for the trailer and lots of reviews of 9/11. They can link you to the list of theaters who have booked the film.

OOPS, sorry.

www.moveonpac.org

Does anyone have Bradbury's email or postal address? I'd like to personally tell him how disappointed I am in him. I think I have read everything Bradbury has written and loved it. But I can't over look what he is doing in regards to this unsavory inappropriate powerplay!

Rusty- You may be overreacting. Bradbury's just being a bit of a cranky old man. So far as I know, he hasn't actually tried to DO anything, like sue Moore or such.

email address:

fahrenheit_r_us@infringement.com

I'm an admirer of Ray Bradbury's writing. But I have to ask: given that he 'borrowed' the titles for three of his books from other writers ("Something Wicked This Way Comes" - Shakespeare; "I Sing the Body Electric!" - Whitman; "Golden Apples of the Sun" - Yeats), what is he going off about? Or is it, as some have theorized, simply a high-profile ploy to drum up publicity for the new film version of Fahrenheit 451?

Strange.

so bradbury thinks he invented the word fahrenheit? it existed before he used it, and you can't copyright a title and ray ripped off his title from the degree that burns paper. that's 3 reasons why bradbury is whiny crybaby jealous of moore. goto http://mystic_lonewolf.tripod.com for rock opera about moore and bush that's better than anything bradbury ever wrote

Trying to locate source of Ray Bradbury story title, Dark They Were and Golden Eyed.

Can't find it in Tennyson, but perhaps it is.

Michael Moore is an ass hole any way any way, Im not a fan of bush but Michael Moore makes democrats look like retards, so its realy no wonder Ray Bradbury got pissed I've read the book in my high school class and a lot of people confused the tittles, it's more than just that though. Bradbury tried to contact Moore who allegedly avoided him. So I'm sure that he's pissed off at that too. The tittles share two simmilaritys the word Fahrenheit and the fact that both tittles have numbers after them. I don't think that Moore broke any law, and I don't think the Author expected to be paid any money. I think hes mad be cause he doesn't want his book tittle confused with the tittle of some political stupidity.