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If I were to write a song that mentioned a fictitious character in a movie, would I likely get myself sued or is there some exclusion for cultural icons... like if I dedicated a song to Han Solo or James Bond.

The song "Yoda" by Weird Al comes to mind. If it's parody, he was safe from Lucas, et. al. wasn't he?

Well, here's my take, JS. I am not a lawyer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night...

Names are not copyrightable, but trademarks are. If the name is a registered trademark it is conceivable you could be sued, but it would only be actionable in a court of law if you are competing with the trademarked product in the same general marketplace.

For example, if you started making an orange flavored drink and named it Tang, you'd be sued. If you called your band Tang, you're probably OK. If you write a song called Liberace you're probably ok, even if it features a piano (I'm available, BTW) but if you say Liberace is playing the piano, there's a good chance his estate will sue you and win.

Trademarks are how many family members of old (long dead) film stars get around expired copyrights for screenings. You can't show the film because the trademarked image of the character appears - even though the copyright of the film itself has expired - at least that is the argument they present to the public. I personally don't think it would hold up in a court of law, but then again I'm not going to put my resources against those of the Chaplin estate to find out.

So the bottom line is that IMO as a non-lawyer but someone who's been around the block more than once on the plaintiff side of successful infringement claims, unless you are in direct competition with a trademarked name you are clear to use the name in a song. Also, titles are not copyrightable so you could (in theory) redo the Beatles White Album and use all the same song titles and get away with it - but it better be damn good!

I don't think you'd need a lawyer for this one but it never hurts to ask one about it before the song goes gold.

ps- The Beatles name is a trademark so you might want to call is the Roaches... oh wait, taken as well. The Crickets? Nope. The Spiders? No. Crystal Skulls? Doubt it.

I GOT IT!

The Man of Steele!

James Steele wrote:The song "Yoda" by Weird Al comes to mind. If it's parody, he was safe from Lucas, et. al. wasn't he?

I always assumed that too until I heard Weird Al in an interview say that it's not so clear and he asks permission. Now I'm not so sure.

hahaha... that graphic is too funny. Michael, I'm PM'ing you on this one. Will email too.

Uh oh!

There's the Paul Simon gambit:

When he titled a song Kodachrome, he got sued. So (the story goes) he set up a meeting with Linda Eastman McCartney's dad, the Chairman of the Board of Eastman Kodak Co. He asked what the real issue was and was told that it was trademark. The song and lyric sheets were changed to Kodachrome® and everyone was happy. The singles without the ® are considered collectible in some circles.

I am not a lawyer - nor do I play one on TV. Lots of songs have fictional character references. I would hate to assume anything, however.

Weird Al gets clearances for everything.

Well, it's no big secret anymore, but I'm putting out a song for 11/11/11 and it's about Nigel Tufnel. I refer to "Nigel" in the lyrics and at the beginning say something about how the song is "dedicated to the greatest rock guitar legend who ever lived... Nigel Tufnel." I hope that won't get me sued. I could just say Nigel only without the last name.

If Christopher Guest is trying to protect Nigel as a trademark, you might hear from someone. If not, you won't.

All of this advice is personal. If you need legal advice, seek an attorney.

Personally, I'd contact Mr. Guest to see if he has a problem with it and go from there. Everybody knows somebody in California.

That's like saying you couldn't write a song called "A Mouse Called Mickey" w/o Disney's permission. You could and there is nothing they could do. If you called the song "Mickey Mouse" they could sue you. Not that some bonehead exec wouldn't threaten to sue you for the title - and try bring you to your knees financially in the process - but from a purely legal standpoint they would not have a case.

Well JS could contact the guy, but just using the name Nigel and mentioning a guitarist does not violate any trademark or copyright, and again, dedicating a song to someone is not actionable. A lawyer is a waste of time and money in this instance... IMO.

Asking forgiveness is easier than asking permission but neither is applicable in this instance. A common name is not copyrightable. He (JS) is totally safe sans barrister in this instance.

(I'd have included my lyrics to "A Mouse Called Mickey" here but I'd be booted off the site. The song has to do with why Mickey left Minnie. I hear she was effen Goofy!)

I doubt UA had to pay for the right to name their (discontinued) amp sim
NIGEL.......
I would go w/ your inclination of 1st name only.....

Interesting question in either case.

I have what I think is the same question, and had been meaning to ask it for some time. I'm pretty sure this falls into an identical category:

I wrote a song a few years ago that "needs" to use "Darth Vader" both for the rhyme and for how perfectly it fits the story that the song tells. The term only appears once in the lyrics and as a "hook" to get a point across. Sort of like our former Vice-President using the term now and then.

We had submitted the song for use in a music game inspired by Dance Revolution, and were prohibited from using it elsewhere until a decision was reached regarding the game soundtrack, but after making it to the finalists and then not hearing anything for almost two years, we're now ready to release the song on our own, and want to be careful about trademark infringement.

Similarly, I wanted to call our next album "Under the Influence of Doctor Who", and am not sure if that creates a problem as well. And if so, is it something that is just a one-time (or ongoing) fee, or something that has to be submitted for approval (which could take eons and thus probably has to be set in motion ASAP)?

I'm guessing these two issues are closely related but not identical. Also, not sure if a TV character falls under the same treatment as a movie character -- especially as TV shows often cross over into movie adaptations at some point. It's all kind of blurry.

As for the UA amp sim, does it matter that they used all-caps? Did that get them around any problems? Does it go to 11?

I always wondered about the Paul Simon case. I think I bought "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" after its first reissue on Columbia's budget label, in the late 70's, so I had no awareness that he hadn't cleared the Kodachrome brand with Kodak in advance.

You'd think they would have been happy to get the free publicity -- and they probably were -- but it probably is still important to maintain the registered trademark in every occurrence so that a counter-precedent isn't set that confuses the courts if something actually bogus comes up later.

mhschmieder wrote:"Darth Vader"

No doubt that is a registered trademark and I wouldn't use the whole name w/o checking with a lawyer. It is unique and again, while you can't copyright a name you can register it as a trademark. You will also be using it in a game which is in direct competition with the Lucas merchandising. You'd be toast in that case.