i know that using any portion of a song requires purchasing the rights to do so. however, what if one of the characters speaks the lyrics? like, in conversation one character says to another something like "i drove my chevy to the levy but the levy was dry." also, does the same rule apply to movie/tv show quotes as well?

-Justin
http://www.lone-palm.net/

It's not illegal that I know of, but I think it's such a bad filmmaking decision that is so shamelessly cheesy and derivative that it should be illegal. Please take my advice and don't do it. I guarantee you, if I were watching a student film and somebody all of a sudden said, in all seriousness, "Hey, I took my Chevy to the levy, but the levy was dry!", I would gag. If I may reference another phrase from that song, that would be the day that I'd die (of laughter).

haha, i wasn't planing on using that line. i just used that here cause its a song lyric that everyone would recgonize.

-Justin
http://www.lone-palm.net/

lol, I would laugh my head off if someone said that trying to be serious. It would be hilariously stupid lol.

this is a blurry section of the law. What I uderstand as acepted use is if the actor says the line in refrence to the song or artist it's okay. But if the actor sings (or tries to sing) the line (even if it's really bad singing), then you gotta pay for the song. What constitutes singing vs. speaking is for a judge to decide. It would be especially dificult with Tom Waits, Cake, Bob Dylan or any other speaker/singers. This applies NO MATTER HOW SHORT THE SECTION OF SONG.

using only a short phrase would more than likely fall under the fair use defense, and you'd be ok. i dont think that if anyone noticed you'd have to deal with infringement, and again, fair use is the exception here.

what is "fair use?"

quote:

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Originally posted by BSPEED:
using only a short phrase would more than likely fall under the fair use defense, and you'd be ok. i dont think that if anyone noticed you'd have to deal with infringement, and again, fair use is the exception here.

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-Justin
http://www.lone-palm.net/