quoting lyrics

Subject: quoting lyrics
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 07:23 PM

How many song lyric words am I allowed to quote in an article or a book without seeking permission of the publishers or paying royalties? UK law sought.

Subject: RE: quoting lyrics
From: Peace
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 07:32 PM

http://www.publishamerica.com/cgi-bin/pamessageboard/data/main/9689.htm

Some people talking about something similar on that link.

Subject: RE: quoting lyrics
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 07:42 PM

interesting link! Surely (Apparently even the mention of an artist and the title of his/her work can be construed breach of copyright!)
can't be right. I have many books that mention artists/titles, which is what I'm doing. Can I be sued for copyright by saying I bought "Rock Island Line" by Lonnie?

Subject: RE: quoting lyrics
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 07:47 PM

The question concerns UK, not American, copyright law.

"Fair use" allows small quotes for purposes of review and in academic papers, for example; I don't think there's a hard-and-fast rule. It depends on the circumstances. I don't know about works of fiction. Any substantial quote should in any case always be cleared with the copyright owner, as a matter of simple courtesy quite apart from anything else.

Without precise details of what you want to do, nobody can give you anything but the most general advice, and most people will probably give you wrong or misleading information (see the very large number of previous threads on copyright issues). Consult your publisher, if you have one.

Subject: RE: quoting lyrics
From: Azizi
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 07:54 PM

Brucie, thanks, that's helpful information.

And FWIW, yesterday a woman associated with publishing shared with me that the laws regarding the use of material from Internet discussion forums such as this one are very murky..it's too new a phenomenon. However, she recommended that when quoting something off of the Internet the Citations/References should be presented as follows:

Author's name [or author unknown in the case of Guests; probably with the full Guest name if he or she adds a name to 'Guest']; date [day month year] that the quote is retrived; title/subject; retrived at [add URL]

Subject: RE: quoting lyrics
From: Peace
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 07:55 PM

http://copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law

However, Malcolm has offered good advice.

Subject: RE: quoting lyrics
From: Peace
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 07:57 PM

"Surely (Apparently even the mention of an artist and the title of his/her work can be construed breach of copyright!)
can't be right. I have many books that mention artists/titles, which is what I'm doing. Can I be sued for copyright by saying I bought "Rock Island Line" by Lonnie?"

In answer to that, no. However, if you intend to quote material from copyrighted work, you may have to pay fees.

Subject: RE: quoting lyrics
From: Azizi
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 07:59 PM

I should also say that in the case of online communities such as Mudcat, posts from members shouldn't be used without getting prior written permissions.

Subject: RE: quoting lyrics
From:
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 04:07 PM

In that case, anyone wishing to do so may use anything I write on Mudcat which isn't copyrighted by someone else.