Titles/Lyrics

[johnbonham]

Hey all!
So if I make a unique story, and in the dialogue I also want to pay homage to particular musicians by mentioning words that sound like their name-but do not mention their actual name-and mention a phrase that sounds like a title to one of their songs-but is not an actual title to their song-and never mention any lyrics- is that copyright infringement?

[AndyJ]

Hi John and welcome to the forum,

There certtainly wouldn't be any copyright infringement of the names of any artists even if you mentioned their real names, since names are considered to be unprotectable facts. Fully quoting the titles of songs should also be safe but since you don't want to use the real song titles, you are on safe ground.

With songs, the perilous areas tend to be the melody, hook and the lyrics, although we have also seen court cases involving just beats and base lines. But none of that should apply to your story.

[johnbonham]

Well that's wonderful!!

just trying to pay homage to many musicians, and comedians, without getting a frivolous suit against me.

So it is actually safe to mention real names? And the real song titles are safe ground too?

[AndyJ]

Yes and yes, although take care over song titles. They are likely to trigger an automated bot which in turn may lead to your story being the subject of a speculative DMCA takedown if it appears on the internet. While a takedown of this sort would almost certainly not be legally valid, you would still have all the hassle of getting the takedown reversed, and possibly suffering a strike against your account if it was hosted somewhere like Youtube. If you publish your story in print, this won't be an issue.

[johnbonham]

yeah, the DMCA thing is the primary reason I chose to pay homage this way...no real names and no real song titles.

thanks for the insights!