Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Can I use a phrase from song lyrics as the title of my book?

+0
−0

Are the lyrics "signed, sealed, and delivered" copyrighted? I want to use these words as part of the title of a book to be published and need to know if I can do so.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/23737. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

1 answer

+0
−0

Short phrases like that can't usually be copyrighted. The link is from the US government, but I believe it to be the same for most of the Berne Convention countries. Of course you should consult your local law on this.

In this specific case, there's already a TV show by that name, so they apparently didn't run into trouble either.

If you use the phrase as part of the song, for example if you quote a verse of the song, you'll be in murkier waters. But just a title should be fine.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »