Having a Title that Someone is Already Using

[ToxicRamen]

I was going to set up my webcomic page and I was going use the title RogueStars! but after looking at Google, I found out that someone already used the title I was planning to use, Osprey Publishing ( https://ospreypublishing.com/rogue-stars) and they are using it for one of those tabletop games. Even though the book won't be out until Dec, I decided not to use the title since I don't want to risk getting in trouble for using a title that someone else is already using. (Now I have to come up with a different title to use...)

But I was wondering if anyone has every encounter these kind of problem where they had a title for a comic only to find out someone else was already using it?

Funny thing is that awhile back I had another webcomic I was working on but I dropped the project because I lost interest in it (Not to mention I was overwhelmed with overtime at my full time job during the Christmas season) and another person asked my about the title since he wanted to use the title for his comic (It was called 4 Roommates of the Apocalypse) and I let him use the title since I wasn't working on that comic anymore. And it wasn't like he was copying my idea or anything, it was just the title he was using is the exact same as my.

[respheal]

That was nice of you to turn over the title =D

Both titles for my current comic have been used for other things. The current title, Galebound, was in use by a small indie gamedev group but as far as I can tell they seem to be defunct. Also, the domain name was available, soooooo....yoink! I figure gamedev group and comic are far enough apart that even if they were still around it'd probably be fine to share a name. Book and comic, however...yeah, kinda close.

The original title was...not generic, really, but a well-known phrase: Noblesse Oblige. There's a major webcomic called Noblesse, anyway, so that was a mess I didn't wanna get into. Thus, name change! (Noblesse Oblige will work its way back in as a chapter title later).

I've got another comic to do after this one and I will be 100% darned if the main title of that hasn't been used elsewhere, but that's what subtitles are for.

[agentfink]

Yup.

Their comic...

And mine...

That's nice that someone reached out to you in regards to the title, asking permission. As for me, I discovered the other comic way after I started publishing mine. As much as I'd like to have a unique title, with what the title implies, it doesn't allow for that uniqueness to happen. Because the art and story are so different, I think it's safe to say we can co-exist.

That brings me to my other comic idea-- atm it is called 12... but that brings up a whole lotta issues (12 is a movie, a novel, all sorts of random stuff). Again, the stories are not the same as mine, so I don't think the title really is stepping on any toes.

Also, the domain name was available, soooooo....yoink!

I'm jealous! thepale was taken as a (dot) com and net... so thepale comic.com was needed.

[ToxicRamen]

The thing is that my comic RogueStars! is suppose to be about bounty hunters and mercenaries while Osprey's Rogue Star game (https://ospreypublishing.com/rogue-stars ) is also about that too though my comic is more humorous.

[Kayke]

My comic has a title that's close to another title. Mine is 'Creep' but there's a comic from Dark Horse called 'The Creep' but the story and art are really different so it's never been an issue.

There's also someone who named her web comic the same thing as mine. But again her art and story are different enough that it's okay. This hasn't caused any problems for me aside from not being able to get the tumblr name I wanted when I decided to start a tumblr for my comic because she snagged it. I see her art in my search results sometimes, but shug
Oh and actually there's another comic called 'Creeps' which is only on Deviant art and I don't post on there so that's another non issue.

I guess what I'm saying is that there are only so many words out there, chances are your title is going to be close to someone else's. So long as your idea is original, the overlap shouldn't matter too much. It might thin down the search results a little, but if the art is unique people will be able to tell what belongs to what.

[UzukiCheverie]

My comic titles are in the same style as Harry Potter/Star Wars (main title followed by sub title, ex. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, etc.) so I don't really have that issue HOWEVER if it was just called Time Gate on its own then it would undoubtedly share a title with some other thing. Same goes for Project Reaper.

I just don't pay attention to it too much. There are too many titles and too many story ideas out there to worry about it being the same or similar as someone else's - my title is what it is and if I had to change it just because of some other comic out of thousands that shared the same name, it just wouldn't feel right.

[Chopythes]

I think you shouldn't worry too much about the title, honestly. As long as they're not the same thing and are about the same things, I'd say it's ok.

I honestly haven't even checked if my comic titles shares the same names as other comics (Oh gosh, maybe I should do that?) but it's nothing I worry about.

Like, if there's something that shares the same title as my comic and it's about something entirely different... Then that would be ok with me!

[J.Lovelace]

I've seen a lot of titles repeat, even now if you type "glitch" or "ghost" in Tapastic search bar, there's like 3-4 series with that title, and that's okay.

A year ago when I was thinking of a title for my comic, I checked if there's any other series named "I'm Mortal" and there was that sci-fi thing with the same title XD But I liked the title too much and it suits my series in many ways, so I kept it. But I am more concerned about the fact that each time I type "I'm Mortal comic" in Google, I get mostly "Mortal Kombat" results XD

[eleoza]

Yep, there's another comic that has the same title as mine. And I have no doubt there are more. It never bothered me though, I hope the artists who share the title don't mind either ^^

[iddqd]

Same story. Mine is called "Eternal Autumn" and apparently there is a zombie apocalypse comic or something with the same name that just got funded through a Kickstarter. My take on it is I will have to change the title unless I want to rush and see if those guys haven't copyrighted their title yet.

[SirHellsir]

I don't want for people to google my comic and get a bunch of unrelated results, so I try to have completely original titles

[thatphilippekid]

As long as your webcomic is not similar in actual content to things it shares a title with, it should be fine. If people are looking for your comic and stumble across an RPG, they'll know it's the wrong thing. An example: I recently learned that my comic Bad Stew shares a title with an erotic novel. The similarities end there, however, so I'm fine with it.

[efdvorsky]

There are some copyright things you can work with (for publishing mainly) but say a book has the same name as the movie, there isn't much to worry about since it's a different medium, and you're legally safe.

That being said, I've had to pluralize "Cosmic Fish" into CosmicFishes for domain and tumblr names since a Cosmic Fish IS an actual creature in mythology. (oops said too much) and people latch on to that because of how trippy it sounds.

The only title that is legitimately and legally called Cosmic Fish is a smoke shop in Florida and a store that just says "Cool Stuff, Cool Store" in Missouri over on the United States.......and a cameo over on Muppets from Space.

Aim high, my friends.

[NickRowler]

Personally, as long as your people are not going to confuse your comic with the other thing, it may not be a big deal. Like Rouge Stars is not really a name which most people recognize so it may be OK.

However, I did run into a similar thing. The original name for my webcomic was "Crow". However there is a TV show called "The Crow" (which has a comic) and I came across another webcomic just called "Crow". So I decided to just extend the name to "Crow's Worth".

[spooktacularprize]

I didn't experience this exact phenomenon with my comic, although there are certainly other pieces of media with the title of my comic. There's a small film, at least one band, and several fanfictions that use the name "Between Hay and Grass," as it's an actual kind of old idiom.

I spent some time specifically searching for something "different," but I never thought to check until after I had named it to see if there was anything else with the name....oops.

As far as I can tell, there aren't any other comics.

Like others have said, as long as it's not something that's widely known or very specific, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.