Titles and short phrases cannot be copyrighted
. Copyright protection only applies to text with some creativity, and beneath a certain length creativity cannot be expressed.
Titles of works (instead of excerpts of lyrics) though can qualify for trademark protection, although that generally does not apply to lyrics. Also, plagiarism is an issue when you are copying someone else's creation without giving due credit.
edited 7th Feb '16 4:55:55 AM by SeptimusHeap
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Thank you.
~Aspie: Keep in mind that I am not a lawyer. This is an informal opinion, not legal advice.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
I've actually opened a dialogue with Warner Bros. Music (the copyright holder) re: this issue, so hopefully things will work out. Also, I'd imagine they would want to negotiate with the hypothetical studio producing the work, rather than with me personally.
edited 7th Feb '16 5:44:21 AM by Aspie
First off, if this is the wrong place for this question, please feel free to move it to the appropriate place/not open it for discussion/whatever the remedy for that is.
All right, now that that's out of the way, I can ask the question:
How legal are Literary Allusion Titles? I ask because I'm toying with an idea for a Spec Script (not written on paper yet) for which a lyric from the Nickelback song "Lullaby" ("So just give it one more try") would be a perfect title (short version: it's about people being driven to Psychic-Assisted Suicide). However, perfect as that is for a title, it seems like something I could hypothetically get in legal hot water for.
Does anyone have any expertise on this subject?