: Re: Quoting Song Lyrics or Naming a Song, Or Possibly Group/Singer Can you quote music lyrics in a book? Like this: Stuck in traffic, main character is blasting Rage Against the Machine, Testify

@Welton431

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You can quote copyrighted material so long as your quotation falls under "fair use". I am reasonably sure that if you got three intellectual-property lawyers in a room, you could get four and possibly five opinions on exactly what constitutes fair use, but the legal rule (in the US) is that four factors are to be balanced:

the purpose and character of your use
the nature of the copyrighted work
the amount and substantiality of the portion taken
the effect of the use upon the potential market.

Your use: if you are reviewing a song for a web-site, a substantial quotation would be considered fair. If you are just writing another song, well, much less o.

The nature of the work: if it's a best-selling novel the author spent his life writing, that is one thing. If it is a accidental exclamation, quite another. (Todd Beamer's widow tried to claim a copyright on "Let's roll"; Donald Trump tried to copyright "You're fired". Neither had much luck.)

The portion taken: three lines from an encyclopedia can be fair use; three lines from a haiku, probably not.

The effect: if there is a big commercial market for the original work and your quoting it deprives the author of a significant part of it, that ain't fair use.

Remember: IANAL!

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