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   Use of someone's name in a song title?		 « Previous topic | Next topic »
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   Author  Topic: Use of someone's name in a song title?  (Read 1607 times)
Matthew
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Use of someone's name in a song title?
« on: Dec 27th, 2006, 6:13pm »		 Quote Quote Modify Modify Remove Remove
Is it allowable to use someone's name in a song title.  For instance, lets say the song is going to be called "Chuck Norris rocks," or something along those lines.  What is the law surrounding this?  Thanks!
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pg1067
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Re: Use of someone's name in a song title?
« Reply #1 on: Dec 28th, 2006, 1:15pm »		 Quote Quote Modify Modify
Just so you know, this isn't a copyright issue.  It involves issues of trademark law and something called the right of publicity.
 
As a general matter, the use of someone's name in a creative work (like a song or film) is protected by the First Amendment.  There's a famous case involving Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and a more recent (but less famous) case involving the song "Barbie Girl."  However, a more recent case involving the Outkast song "Rosa Parks" came out a bit more restrictively.  Thus, as is unfortunately the case with many issues in this area, the law is neither clear nor set in stone.
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