Are quotes intellectual property [FAQs]

Last updated : Aug 8, 2022

Can quotes be copyrighted?

Quotes can be trademarked if they're recognisable and mention famous characters. Everyone has the copyright to anything they write down, but it won't be protected if the sentence is short or generic. Also, most people won't bother pursuing you for using it on a T-shirt as long as it is properly attributed.

Is it legal to use famous quotes?

In general, you cannot use quotes in your craft business unless you have written permission from the person who said it or the quote is in public domain.

Are quotations public domain?

YES. Public domain quotes are available to all small businesses that maintain them. There is no protection for quotes made before 1923 anymore, so they are in public domain as of now.

Can you use quotes in movies?

Generally, a movie quote is not sufficiently original to stand on its own as a copyrightable work. However, a movie quote can receive protection in an infringement action while still not being independently copyrightable, as a movie script would be. quotes cannot be protected under rights of publicity.

Do you need permission to use a quote?

Unfortunately, quoting or excerpting someone else's work falls into one of the grayest areas of copyright law. There is no legal rule stipulating what quantity is OK to use without seeking permission from the owner or creator of the material.

Can I use famous quotes on t shirts?

But for a safe answer: you can print anything on a t-shirt that is under public domain without infringing copyright laws. Public domain includes artworks that have expired from their copyright.

Can you put a quote on a shirt and sell it?

In short, if a design is copyrighted, don't go and include it in your Shop. Only the owner of that exclusive design has the authorization to monetize it. This doesn't just go for t-shirt designs; any written, visual, even verbal content, have potential to fall under the copyright law.

Is it legal to post quotes?

According to US copyright law, legal rights to a quote belong, by default, to the author or speaker. The quotes are considered intellectual property and protected under law. If you are not the original author of a quote, one of two things must be true to use it freely on social media.

How do you protect a quote?

1. Perform A Comprehensive Search.
2. File a Trademark Application with the USPTO.
3. Monitor Your Application.
4. Finalize Your Registration.

Can I sell something with a quote on it?

Using quotes will generally be permitted. This is largely because using what amounts to a very small portion of a much larger body of work will not be considered copyright infringement and short phrases or small groups of words are not...

Do you have to cite a famous quote?

All well-known quotations that are attributable to an individual or to a text require citations. You should quote a famous saying as it appears in a primary or secondary source and then cite that source.

Can I use famous quotes on my Instagram?

Under Instagram's Terms of Use and Community Guidelines you can only post content to Instagram that doesn't violate someone else's intellectual property rights. The best way to help make sure that what you post to Instagram doesn't violate copyright law is to only post content that you've created yourself.

Can I use a movie quote in my book?

You DON'T need permission: To use quotes from famous people as long as they are used in a brief and positive or neutral way to support your independent work - and with proper attribution. To quote or reference the title or author of a work such as books, poems, movies, TV shows or songs.

Can I use movie quotes in my song?

Yes. Short quotes aren't eligible for copyright protection, and while they could be someone's trademark for some goods or services, using those movie quotes in a song's lyrics aren't the kind of commercial use that triggers trademark...

Can you quote a poem in a film?

Using quotes will generally be permitted. This is largely because using what amounts to a very small portion of a much larger body of work will not be considered copyright infringement and short phrases or small groups of words are not...

How do you legally use quotes?

As a common practice, all quotes are copyright to the author, which means that legally you should get permission from the author you hope to borrow from. This can sometimes be very difficult if the author is deceased or a public figure.

Can I use a quote from another article?

Citing a source that you found in another source is known as using a secondary source. You should always try to read and cite the original work (the primary source). If it is not possible to do this, you have to cite the original as contained in the secondary source.

Can you use quotes from other articles?

If you want to quote a small piece of someone else's material in your work—whether it's song lyrics, poems, excerpts from novels or interviews, photographs, or material from the Internet—you must credit the source, even if you plan to use only one or two lines of a song or poem.

Can I sell quotes from movies?

Robert Philip Cogan. Generally, a phrase or quote can be protected as a trademark. Generally, a single word, or a very short phrase, cannot be the subject of a copyright registration...

How do you avoid copyright infringement with T-shirts?

1. Check material for its copyright before using it.
2. Find non-copyrighted materials.
3. Pay for designs.
4. Change existing designs to make them your own.
5. Create your designs from scratch.

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Thanks for this great article

Thanks for your comment Winford Rancifer, have a nice day.
- Matt Kostelecky, Staff Member

hi everyone and welcome to my first ever tutorial on intellectual property law the reason why I started making these tutorials so simply because I'm now as a student I tried sometimes to youtube videos and how to understand different concepts and I couldn't find anything so I was thinking maybe there are other students like me out there who have the same problem sometimes I will cover the different aspects of intellectual property law the different types of IP law I will cover the cases and the legislation that covers it and further down the line when I'm doing trademarks I will draw some parallels to compare to US law but more than that it's going to be mainly focused on UK law so to jump into it this first tutorial we're just going to look at an Outlook it or-or-or a kind of the framework of how IP love fits together because I think for many people it is important to realize that IP law it's an area where every separate color that you have different separate rights covering different things but they all interrelate to they all kind of overlap in one way or none or another this is very important to understand because when you're actually going into litigation or when you're when you're dealing with clients etc you need to appreciate that they want results but they don't necessarily care about how so just because something is a design from the outset doesn't mean that you cannot try to register it as a trademark to get more protection so they want results and you need to find the results for them the first write that that I will point out is trademarks law or trademarks now my handwriting is very crap so thank you for bearing with me but you have trademarks which is the first right and what are trademarks when you're dealing with trademarks you're dealing with different things you're dealing with brands for instance you're dealing with with the images you're dealing we're dealing with reputation and what I mean with reputation is when you're talking about trademarks trademarks essentially as they act as a guarantor of origin or indicator of origin so it is something that people use to identify who they are where their goods or services come from what they're trying to sell I mean let's take an example you would have Exxon or or BT or you know Louis Vuitton these kinds of things are trademarks usually you will also have packaging under that I will put the rule get up that people usually refer to so if consumers look at that packaging and think oh wait that comes from this certain someone then Paulson potentially you could trademark that as well you could also potentially Praed trademark designs but to avoid confusion just ignore this one for a second and we'll give back to that when we're dealing with trademarks then you also have design rights designs cover things such as the appearance or its ornamentation its design is very self-explanatory and it's it's not a very big area of IP even though it's very widely used I mean very recently you've had the Apple and and Samsung disputes and the disputes that have been going on for quite some time now about the iPad and how Samsung's a tablet looks the same the general gist is a design covers the appearance then you have copyright and copyright is an interesting one because because sometimes people at least in the UK they misunderstand how copyright works or they don't understand quite how it works they think that people have a copyright in everything and anything I mean I had a friend who told me I have a copyright in my name now you do not have a copyright in your name at least in the UK copyright covers let's call it the creative industry things such as music books ie under that will say literary works so anything literary dramatic work so drama and and play sound recordings and what I mean with sound recordings I mean the recorded sound so so if you think about a song a song you would have lyrics as a literary work you will have music the actual melody but then you'll have a separate copyright for everything recorded which may be owned by someone else etc etc if you've ever asked yourself what protection covers computer software well copyright does so I'll write PC so PC programs the coding the actual coding is covered by copyrights patents is the other one you have and patents but it concerns itself with inventions Stan and many people also quite understand how patents work they think you can patent everything and that's also wrong because you can only patent inventions and invent and invention is only an invention when it's new when it is not obvious when it's capable of industrial applications I'm just going to write industrial application and if it is not excluded because you have certain subject matter which under the patent sock have been deemed to be excluded from protection and the biggest area of patents is the pharmaceutical industry but you also have the technology industry and we're thinking about tech you're thinking about something like cell phones more sorry mobile phones computers speakers you've got big companies that usually have thousands of technology patents you've also got a few other rights which fall under intellectual property well for most of you out there you would not even consider them you would not look at them but they're actually one of the era they're actually quite big areas I mean the influence will quite a lot Neville I have a lot of impact on on certain things one is plant breeders rights the other one is semiconductor chips which can also be covered under patents funnily enough if they satisfy the patent requirement what are semiconductor chips well every computer has got a processor and that processor has a semiconductor chip and it is that chip that's protected by this right much so when you're studying IP law you're mainly covering these four areas now the last thing I want to comment is that you potentially have one more right the reason why I'm saying that potentially is because it is it has been and it is still arguable whether this is an intellectual property right now the law of confidence it protects trade secrets that the definition lies in the name the law of confidence so it is it deals with confidential information I will give you an example and that's the coca-cola recipe so you have the law of confidence the problem with this now I'm not going to only write trade secrets I'm also going to write private information but once you start talking about this you're dealing less with commercial IP law and you're dealing more with you know human rights and then the potential right to privacy or privacy whatever you want to call it general know-how not general know-how sorry about that know how the difference between same general know-how and know-how is that general know-how is just general information know-how might refer to that the steps and in doing things whether the way you do things you know the process of doing things within the company an example of this is one know how might be how MacDonnell's they're made how they make their dressing you know how does McDonald's make their burgers tastes the same almost anywhere in the world so th

Thanks xirgoV your participation is very much appreciated
- Matt Kostelecky

About the author

Matt Kostelecky

I've studied applied ethics at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie and I am an expert in black psychology. I usually feel uncomfortable. My previous job was land surveyor I held this position for 5 years, I love talking about biology and roller skating. Huge fan of Justin Bartha I practice billiards and collect chemical elements.