Discussion:
Oklahoma, Arkansas, or Texas
I would like to take quotes form popular song lyrics, have them printed on greeting cards (along with the name of the artist of course), and hopefully sell them via the internet. Is that legal?
Answer:
would like to take quotes form popular song lyrics, have them printed on greeting cards (along with the name of the artist of course), and hopefully sell them via the internet. Is that legal? Probably not. The use of the quotes themselves MAY be a fair use under copyright law -- but the fact that you are going to be selling these cards and (presumably) making a profit mitigates against a finding of fair use. But even with the profit, if the quotes are but a very small piece of the song, then MAYBE you might be able to make a fair use argument.
The trickier part is a trademark problem. Even though you are using the band name to simply recognize the creator of the quote (and, of course, that assumes that the band actually wrote the lyrics, which isn't always the case), an argument could be made that use of the band name could "confuse" a consumer into believing that the band has authorized the use of the quote -- and that would be trademark infringement.
Before spending too much money on this, you would be well-advised to sit down with a local attorney with experience in trademark and copyright law and who can review ALL of the facts of your business venture and advise you accordingly.