Members wwwjd Posted November 9, 2011 Members Share Posted November 9, 2011 question for the legal kids.... are there ANY issues reusing titles of songs? I'd read you can as long as the song isn't ripping off the original - truthishly, it's not even meant to. Say I wrote and titled a song "Yesterday" like the Beatles song. No problem? What if I wanted to call a song "Tik-Tok"? Not that I would EVER actually even want to do that, but just as an example. Could they sue? From what I understand, they can't copyright a title so much as the songs and chords.... I have NO INTEREST in ripping off an obvious title like tik-tok, just wonder about song title legalities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members backtoblue Posted November 9, 2011 Members Share Posted November 9, 2011 question for the legal kids.... are there ANY issues reusing titles of songs? I'd read you can as long as the song isn't ripping off the original - truthishly, it's not even meant to. Say I wrote and titled a song "Yesterday" like the Beatles song. No problem? What if I wanted to call a song "Tik-Tok"? Not that I would EVER actually even want to do that, but just as an example. Could they sue? From what I understand, they can't copyright a title so much as the songs and chords.... I have NO INTEREST in ripping off an obvious title like tik-tok, just wonder about song title legalities. Yes. http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/587507.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted November 9, 2011 Moderators Share Posted November 9, 2011 Short answer: you can use the title even if it is used before. They are not copyright protected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wwwjd Posted November 10, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 10, 2011 thanks for the info. it confirms what I thought I had read before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elsongs Posted November 10, 2011 Members Share Posted November 10, 2011 How many distinct songs are out there titled, "The Power OF Love?" I believe the '90s R&B group TLC made a career out of releasing their own songs that shared the same titles of other songs :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny-Boy Posted November 10, 2011 Members Share Posted November 10, 2011 Titles (or short phrases) aren't copyrightable. BTW, Aimee Mann used "Yesterday" for a title. John:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Andrew-sing Posted November 16, 2011 Members Share Posted November 16, 2011 Hey - as the others say, there isn't a copyright issue for song titles. I wonder what difference it would make to how the song is "received" by listeners, if it shares a title with another song? No idea of the answer, I just had that thought now! Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Annstar Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 Not that I'm a legal eagle by an stretch of the imagination, but I'm pretty sure that song titles can be used more than once without any copyright infringement. But beware of stage names etc. On the UK XFactor that is on at the moment, one of the girl groups had to change their name halfway through the series. They were called Rythmix but had to change it to Little Mix as there is a UK charity called Rythmix. Same with the Spice Girls, they were originally just called Spice but had to change it as there was a US rapper apparently who also went by the same name. Brain of useless info... I think so! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.