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Question

I wrote a fiction book and had a few lines from a Sting song in it. I tried to get permission from his managment company to have the lines in the book. They wouldn't respond to my request, now we have to go to print. So I made a few changes.

Sting's real name is XXXXXX XXXXXXX. XX the book I changed it to Gordan Sanders. Below are the REAL lyrics to Sting's song Synchronicity, and following are the new lyrics that are in my book. In the book I still call the name of the song Synchronicity. My question is, do you think I'm safe from a copyright lawsuit?

Actual lyrics:
A star fall,
A phone call,
It joins all,
Synchronicity.

My changed lyrics:
“The sky falls,
A phone call,
It bonds all,
Synchronicity.”

Submitted: 138 days and 4 hours ago.
Category: Intellectual Property Law
Value: $30
Status: CLOSED
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Optional Information

State/Country: Florida

Already Tried:
Tried nothing. I chose Floria for the state because that's where I live but don't copyright laws apply nation wide?

Accepted Answer

What you have done is made a derivative use work which is very obviously copied from the original and would be considered a violation of the copyright laws and would indeed get you into some problems. You need to get in touch with the record company that pubished the song and get permission or simply just not use it.


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Expert: PaulMJD
Pos. Feedback: 99.2 %
Accepts: 
Answered: 7/7/2009

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