posted
Does anyone know, if a public person makes a public statement, and you quote him in a book, do you still pay royalties on that? Or on characters that are (very) loosely based on characters from a music video?
[This message has been edited by debhoag (edited September 22, 2008).]
posted
The closest relevant thing I can think of is an ongoing issue with the Martin Luther King estate. Reportedly they claim the copyright for his speeches, including the famous "I Have a Dream" speech, and have tried to collect royalties for its use.
Whether this is legal, or is just a case of the estate asserting a questionable right, I can't say. Some will go along with the claim and pay up just to avoid trouble. If somebody makes a claim against you along those lines, you might consider that as an option.
(The reports I had on the above were some time ago. What their current status is, I'm not sure. For instance, the King estate claim completely ignores that it was CBS who filmed the event and the speech, but who never asked for money for use of their footage.)
posted
You should credit someone when you quote them, but I've never heard of paying royalties for quoting a public figure in a book.
Characters loosely based on characters in a book, music video, song, or anything else, as long as they don't have the same name as the original characters, really aren't the exact same characters anyway. They are inspirations for your characters, but your characters are your own. (They are ideas, and ideas aren't copyrightable.)
I seem to remember seeing Stephen King refer to songs by title, and I know I've seen other authors have characters listen to this artist or that and name the songs they're listening to.
posted
Thanks. I plowed through the publisher's website, and that of the band I'm interested in - and can't figure out who to contact to even ask.
Posts: 1304 | Registered: May 2007
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
