Copyright qeustion

[Akuma]

Forgive me if this has been asked before.

For fiction, to mention a book/author or movie must require something. Reading Stephen King books, I noticed how he usually has many songs in his books. In the begining with the copyrights, you can see a whole list of the buggers. But before this is "Grateful acknowledgement is made for permission to include the following copyrighted material:". So I need permission, right?
But I'm not Stephen King. Will some huge, well known company let lil' ol' me mention their material in my book if I ask for permission? And if so, how do I ask for permission in general?

Finally, my last question is about tweaking. What if one of my characters remebers a name of an actual book but thinks the author's name is different than it actually is? It seems like that's allowed (if I get the permission to mention the book) but I'm not sure.

Comments appreciated :)

[Cathy C]

It has, but that's okay. Wander over and see if this answers it. If not, then use the "Search" button up above, click the down arrow and click "Advanced Search" then enter "copyright & song" in the prompt box and click on "Show as Posts" at the bottom. You'll come up with several others to look over to see if you find your answer.


http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8231

[Akuma]

Thank you, that helped.

[Jamesaritchie]

Forgive me if this has been asked before.

For fiction, to mention a book/author or movie must require something. Reading Stephen King books, I noticed how he usually has many songs in his books. In the begining with the copyrights, you can see a whole list of the buggers. But before this is "Grateful acknowledgement is made for permission to include the following copyrighted material:". So I need permission, right?
But I'm not Stephen King. Will some huge, well known company let lil' ol' me mention their material in my book if I ask for permission? And if so, how do I ask for permission in general?

Finally, my last question is about tweaking. What if one of my characters remebers a name of an actual book but thinks the author's name is different than it actually is? It seems like that's allowed (if I get the permission to mention the book) but I'm not sure.

Comments appreciated :)

"Give" you permission is usually the wrong word. "Sell" you permission, yes.

[WannabeWriter]

I want to be sure of something. You need permission to copy song lyrics, but what about mentioning a song title and artist in your novel? Example: He could hear Duran Duran singing "Girls on Film."

[rowriter]

Hi, I've been finding out the same thing today!
Titles cannot by copyrighted, from what I've been reading, so you'd be okay with that. :)

[maestrowork]

I want to be sure of something. You need permission to copy song lyrics, but what about mentioning a song title and artist in your novel? Example: He could hear Duran Duran singing "Girls on Film."

Naming the song and the artist is fine.

[WannabeWriter]

Cool. I'm gonna go crazy with the song titles and artists in a few of my stories. :D Thanks for the answer. :)

[Akuma]

Ok, since mentioning title and author is fine, how about this?

Let's say the story takes place in a broken world in the future or something and the character is reading the backcover of, say, a famous book. The book has been reprinted many times and the actual story has been twisted somehow. Can I write the information on the backcover (forgot the exact name for it--synopsis?) myself except tweaking things so it's not exactly the story known to our present day culture?

[Cathy C]

I guess I'm confused on what you're trying to achieve. The back cover blurb is copyrighted to the publisher, rather than the author, so skewing an actual blurb on a real book probably wouldn't be a good idea. Is there a critical reason why you can't simply give the character's opinion on the book instead? I mean, people like or dislike books all the time, and get to espouse their own opinion. My characters all enjoy reading and I happily name the authors and titles they read and what the character liked and disliked in particular books.


But to pull actual wording from the book or from the cover blurb or worse -- to alter it for your own purposes, wouldn't be a wise idea.