It is axiomatic under present trade mark law that protection may be accorded to either single words or short phrases if they fulfill the function of a trade mark: that is, if they act as a badge of origin in relation to the goods or services in question.54 Gaps in protection nevertheless remain, both historically and in the present. Nor have absences in protection available to short verbal texts by copyright been wholly occupied by trade mark protection. Trade mark registration will not necessarily extend to a word or words which constitute the title of a creative work; and nor will advertising slogans (and taglines) necessarily be protectable by trade mark registration, although (in the case of slogans and taglines) the reasons for withholding protection differ in the periods before and after the passage of the 1994 Trade Marks Act.55 Even passing off, which since the 19th century has been seen as a possible alternative to copyright in protecting titles and slogans against unauthorised use by another, has important limitations that were *I.P.Q. 355 already evident in the early cases cited above.56 The follow section will concentrate on the law relating to registered trade marks. Courts have generally perceived the registration of titles and advertising slogans as raising different legal issues, so each of these kinds of short verbal text will be considered in turn.