Expert: Shannon Moore - 4/18/2008

Question
Not sure if this is the right place for this question. I want to use song lyrics and titles as some of the names for some of my art pieces. I will be selling them online. I'm talking about songs from different eras. Is this fair use -- the titles or just 5 words from the lyrics? I have seen it done regularly but I am asking before I do it.

Thank you

Answer
Dear Carolyn,

It sounds like you've got a couple different issues here. I'll explain both in detail.

First, is fair use, which essentially the use of copyrighted materials. The Copyright Office lists 4 factors in determining whether use is fair or not:

"   1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
  2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
  3. amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
  4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work."
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html -- link to above quote

Since you also mentioned that the songs are from a different era, you may also be dealing with a public domain issue. Public domain consist of works that may be used by anyone & no ownership can be claimed.

Bromberg & Sunstein LLP have a great flowchart in for determining this: http://www.bromsun.com/practices/copyright-portfolio-development/flowchart.htm

Hope that helps! Please let me know if I can assist you with anything else. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Shannon Moore
http://www.tmexpress.com
http://tmexpress.blogspot.com