same storyline wording...{freefall}

[bowmore2]

Hi guys, and ballish in particular, Just read your flash fiction and noticed the heading...freefall.

Among my writings from a few years back i did a short story called freefall, my version is about two window cleaners
working from a platform, and the tragedy that ensues.

Anyway i just wondered if there would be infringement on my part,would really like some guidance on this.

[Wolfe]

There's no infringement.

Similar stories with events and titles happen. Often at awkward moments. I'll give you an example. The first Simpsons movie showed an event where the town, Springfield, became enclosed under a glass dome.

Sure enough, King wrote a novel with the exact same idea, he says it's coincidence and makes light of it in more than a few writers' conferences, around that time. This novel's titled, Under the Dome. Later, CBS developed it into an ongoing television series.

Again, no infringement.  

[bailish]

Just to clear up any infringement issues, my motivation was a Lucille Ball episode where she was standing on a girder in a flowing dress.

I'm not a lawyer, but I'll play one in this forum. 

In order to violate copyright, there must be significant portions that are similar, and this usually means they have the same words or expressions. The idea is not copyrightable. So I could write about a teenage girl falling in love with a vampire with sparkly skin, but as long as my use of language is unique, there is no infringement.

[Gyppo]

So I could write about a teenage girl falling in love with a vampire with sparkly skin...

Please don't ;-)

[Skylan]

What Gyppo said.

[bailish]

I didn't say I would. I see maybe twenty new books a day, and about a third of them include vampires. I only wish everybody else was as tired of them as I am.