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I have written a novel that includes a couple of references

 
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  • Answered by:Alex Reese
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Customer Question

I have written a novel that includes a couple of references to brand names (Fresca and Solarcaine), a couple of references to popular songs (titles and lyrics), a couple of references to literature (writer's name, book title, and brief excerpt), and a couple of references to public figures (major league baseball players and rock-and-roll stars). Are all or any of these references subject to copyright laws and require permission for me to include them?

Submitted: 321 days and 7 hours ago.
Category: Intellectual Property Law
Value: $30
Status: CLOSED

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Expert:  Alex Reese replied321 days and 6 hours ago.


Alex Reese : Hello
Alex Reese : All that referencing is permissible under the fair use doctrine
Alex Reese : Just don't take too much material from a single source, which you wouldnt want to do anyway, but references like this in novels is common
Customer : Thank you. So I can refer to a billboard with a Solarcaine advertisement? Or quote a single sentence from Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath or a sentence from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mickingbird? Or describe Bruce Springsteen? But what about references to lyrics from popular songs by Sinatra or Springsteen?
Alex Reese : Yes all that is permissible, referencing popular culture and literary or motion picture works etc,...the problem arises when it goes beyond reference to reproducing large parts of a novel or poem in order to benefit from it directly rather than for reference purposes
Customer :

So, just to be clear, as long as direct quotations of song lyrics or book excerpts are shorter and are used as references, they can be included in a novel without permission from the artists or publishers.

Expert TypeLawyer
Category: Intellectual Property Law
Pos. Feedback: 98.9 %
Accepts: 2431
Answered: 6/30/2012

Experience: Experienced in intellectual property law

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Customer replied321 days and 1 hours ago.

So, just to be clear, as long as I use shorter direct quotations of song lyrics or book excerpts as references in the novel, they can be included without permission from the artists or publishers.

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Expert:  Alex Reese replied321 days and 1 hours ago.

Yes that's right

 
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