A different version of this Godzilla became part of the wider Godzilla franchise under the name "Zilla". It appeared in the movie Gojira: Fainaru uôzu (2004) as one of Godzilla's enemies, ans also showed up in comic books by the American published IDW. This has caused confusion among fans and especially laypeople, as many wrongfully think that the 1998 Godzilla has been officially renamed to Zilla. There is also a misconception that Toho Studios "bought" this American Godzilla to rename it, which is blatantly false as Toho have always owned the copyright. In fact, Toho still considers the monster of this movie a genuine version of Godzilla, not a separate character. Even the official monster icon on the Japanese home media release clearly labels it as Godzilla, not Zilla. Merchandise released in 2022 also calls the creature Godzilla. This is due to the licensing contract between Toho and Sony-TriStar, which states that all media and merch related to this film must carry the Godzilla name. However, Toho have also stipulated that any post-2004 depiction of the monster that is not tied to this movie must be called Zilla. Matters got further complicated when Zilla's American copyright expired in 2019 while its Japanese copyright has been renewed. This effectively means that "Zilla" doesn't exist anymore according to the United States' legal system, so its name has reverted to Godzilla. However in Japan, Zilla is still considered a different monster from Godzilla. In any case, the monster of this movie is called Godzilla in both the US and Japan because it was released before the introduction of the Zilla name in 2004.

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