Posted by PaulB on December 08, 1999 at 19:34:29:
In Reply to: Re: Copyright ramifications on song phrase. posted by Melanie on December 03, 1999 at 15:49:56:
: ... for taking a stab at it. I think you're probably right but, if you're not, I wonder what the penalty would be? I'm still pursuing an answer through BMI and, now, through
The Harry Fox agency. They have the license for the Helen Reddy song in question, but I haven't gotten a response from them yet to my e-mail. They have a neat site for people who want to use songs to re-record or perform, but nothing on their site addresses my issue of using just a few words for a t-shirt. Imagine that! :=} Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. If I don't hear from this agency, I think I'll take the risk anyway, because I think you are probably right (and because I am tired of tracking this thing down for the purpose I have in mind!). Melanie
One thing you might check out is a book called
"The Business Of Music" in libraries and at
Barnes and Nobles and Borders bookstores. It
has a lot of music info but don't know if it
would specifically deal with that (was thinking
about just picking it up and looking at it in the
store rather than buying it). But again, you
can't copyright a song title so I don't think
they could legally stop you. Good luck with
this.
PaulB