## Facts

- Orion acquired motion-picture rights to a French novel originally titled *E = MC², Mon Amour* and produced a film retitled *A Little Romance*.
- Orion generated substantial pre-release publicity and represented it spent or committed over $4 million to advertise and promote the film.
- After learning of the planned film, Dell licensed English-language paperback rights to the same novel and obtained the contractual right to market the book under any title.
- Dell intended to use the same title as the film and attempted to negotiate a marketing tie-in with Orion, but no agreement was reached.
- Orion notified Dell in August 1978 that the film would be released under the title *A Little Romance*.
- Dell published and marketed the paperback as *A Little Romance* with a cover stating it was “now a major motion picture.”
- Orion alleged Dell chose the title and marketing to benefit from Orion’s advertising, harm the film’s marketability, and create confusion about sponsorship or affiliation.

## Issues

1. Whether Orion showed a likelihood of success that the single-work title *A Little Romance* had acquired secondary meaning before Dell’s marketing began, supporting claims under Lanham Act § 43(a) and state unfair competition law.
2. Whether Dell’s use of the same title and the phrase “now a major motion picture” created a likelihood of consumer confusion as to source, sponsorship, or affiliation.
3. Whether Orion demonstrated irreparable harm and a balance of hardships warranting preliminary injunctive relief.

## Decision

- The court denied Orion’s motion for a preliminary injunction.
- Orion failed to show, on the record at the preliminary stage, that *A Little Romance* had acquired secondary meaning at the relevant time.
- Orion did not establish a sufficient likelihood of consumer confusion under § 43(a) or state-law unfair competition.
- Orion did not justify the extraordinary remedy of an injunction based on irreparable harm or the equities.

## Legal Principles

- Protection for a title of a single creative work under § 43(a) and unfair competition generally requires proof of secondary meaning: public identification of the title with a particular source.
- Secondary meaning is difficult to prove where the alleged infringer’s product reaches the market before the plaintiff’s work is publicly available and recognized by consumers.
- A truthful statement that a book has been made into a motion picture, and use of a film’s title for the underlying novel pursuant to publication rights, is not actionable absent a materially misleading implication of origin, sponsorship, or endorsement.
- Preliminary injunctive relief requires a showing of likelihood of success and irreparable harm, or sufficiently serious merits questions with hardships tipping decidedly toward the movant; speculative confusion and largely compensable harm do not suffice.

## Conclusion

The court refused to bar Dell from publishing and promoting the licensed novel as *A Little Romance* because Orion did not show that the film title had gained secondary meaning before Dell’s marketing or that Dell’s truthful movie-reference advertising was likely to confuse consumers about source or sponsorship.


Orion Pictures Co. v. Dell Publ'g Co., 471 F. Supp. 392 (S.D.N.Y. 1979)