Discussion:
What is the name of your state? Iowa
Hey,
This question pertains ONLY to lyrics, not the music of a song. My problem is that I want to use 3 lines of lyric from a song (written with copyright in 1934), but the person wrote them died in 1972. Is it ok to use them? I've tried to find any contacts that might have picked up the rights, but haven't had any success. Any ideas?
Answer:
lyrics are sometimes copyrighted apart from the music of a work of art and as such would not necessarily be owned by the same person/firm.
Do a copyright search or ask a patent/copyright attorney to conduct the search for you. Yes, it's expensive, but less so than having a hit and paying all your profits to the rightful owner.