Best Audio Books

Ok, so I am making a film and it had the title Chocolate Fever. But then my friend said that I couldn’t do that since there was a children’s book called Chocolate Fever written by Robert Smith. (Our stories are completely different though) But after doing some research I found that book titles can’t be copyrighted, they can only be trademarked if the title is a series or complex enough.

So I searched the trade mark date base and found nothing for Chocolate Fever. But I emailed the author and asked if it was trademarked. But in return, I got a very rude email saying that I didn’t have permission to use his title and that he would sue me if I did. I reply back saying if he had proof that it was trademarked all he had to do was send it to me and I would change my title. I also told him that our stories are completely different and that I was just a student making a short film.

But then Robert replied saying his book was copyrighted, and his audio-book was copyrighted and I didn’t have permission and that he would sue me. But he not give any proof that it was trademarked.

Its a book written in the 1970’s and my film is a short student film. So I have no idea why he is going insane over this whole thing. But I just wanted some advice.

Would I be able to get away with changing my title to "Dark Chocolate Fever"?

I have also heard that book titles can’t be copyrighted.

I previously bought two books on the same subject, both with the same title, only two years apart in publishing date, both by different authors. Here they are as the first two titles on the page:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&unfiltered=1&field-keywords=&field-author=&field-title=great+cholesterol+con&field-isbn=&field-publisher=&node=&field-p_n_condition-type=&field-feature_browse-bin=&field-binding_browse-bin=&field-subject=&field-language=&field-dateop=&field-datemod=&field-dateyear=&sort=relevanceexprank&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=35&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=11

I find it hard to believe that any publisher would print a book (the 2008 book) using a copyrighted title, setting themselves up to be sued by the author of the original book (the 2006 book).

I’m not a lawyer but my opinion is that you can use the title "Chocolate Fever" legally but you may still have to put up with this author as there’s nothing to stop him from filing a nuisance lawsuit, no matter how wrong he is.

I would talk with a copyright/trademark lawyer to find out what you’re up against and the possible costs involved in fighting with this guy. Maybe it would help if you had a lawyer write to this guy reading him the riot act if he doesn’t back off? Could your lawyer make life miserable for this guy if he doesn’t back off?

I find it really strange that a guy who is so hot on protecting his book title "Chocolate Fever" never purchased and used the domain http://www.chocolatefever.com/. When I type that into my browser, I get a generic search site for everything chocolate instead of a site plugging his book and anything else he might be selling to help market his book.
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Check this out also:

http://www.ovguide.com/movies_tv/chocolate_fever.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Fever-VHS-Hamilton-Camp/dp/6301801865

Did this guy sue the maker of this movie/film? If so, and he won, how could they still be selling it? If he lost, I’d like to see the written result. It sure looks to me like "Chocolate Fever" is what they call, "in the public domain" which means that anyone can use it. Agree? Disagree?