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Q&A Approach to pop culture quotes in fiction writing

I am contemplating writing a fictional character [nerd] who speaks in a pop culture references. I appreciate this question somewhat overlaps Referencing modern pop culture in science fiction The ...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by user3473715‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:28:36Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/41028
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar user3473715‭ · 2019-12-08T10:28:36Z (over 4 years ago)
I am contemplating writing a fictional character [nerd] who speaks in a pop culture references. I appreciate this question somewhat overlaps

[Referencing modern pop culture in science fiction](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/35729/referencing-modern-pop-culture-in-science-fiction)

The concept is a period piece so I see the use of quotes dating the work as an advantage.

The character would quote single lines of pop songs, though probably not exactly. What I'm worried about is the legality of quoting copyrighted material.

Is a single line precisely quoted a copyright infringement? What if it's approximately quoted? What if there's a foil character who attributes the quotes?

For example, say something bad happens

A: They must be out of their brilliant minds

B: I heard that somewhere [thinks]

A: furniture

B: what?

A: [Hums tunelessly]

B: oh yeah... 1986. Peaked at 21.

A: [gapes] high five dude

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-01-04T12:30:04Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 7