JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Industry Message Forum Stories Behind The Songs

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone out there can ease my mind about something. My co-writer and I have a website devoted to our music. One of our pages is titled Stories Behind The Songs where I discuss the beginnings/evolution or background of the lyrics of each of our songs. We have seen this term used before and are wondering if there is a chance we could get called on it for infringement of some copyright? When I google the term, I find many different references to it, which to me means no one has dibs on it and it's fairly common. It also means it's not unique but I can live with that. I'm just asking if anyone has any insight on whether or not we could get in trouble for using this term. Thanks for your help.

Ricki

Humm,
I would say there is a 100 percent chance you, or anyone else would never get called on your use of the term. After all what is the damage to someone else that may use, have used the term. Forget it. Anyone that were to make an issue of it would have to hire a lawyer fle a lawsuit, pay the lawyer, fee, etc. Not going to happen.

Hi Ricki,

First off, I'm not a lawyer, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Only if it’s some company’s trademark. Even then I doubt you’d encounter any problems since you’re not a brick-and-mortar business. When “Friendly’s” moved in down the road. All the other eateries along that road advertised on their signs that they were the friendliest restaurant. Friendly’s Restaurant threatened a lawsuit with these businesses, and they all backed-down and removed the word “friendly/friendliest”. I think that’s taking a trademark too far not allowing anyone to use any form of the word “friendly” on their signs. I mean, Friendly's didn’t create the adjective. It’s part of the English language.

Bottom-line... if you're treading on another's territory and they find out, they'd probably only ask you to remove it.

Best, John

Thanks Ray and John. Just making sure. I figure, I'll have to get rich and famous with it before anyone bothers to sue me, and then if it comes down to that, I'll be able to afford it.

Ricki

Actually I use that phrase, but I won't sue you if you send me a million dollars right now.

It sounds like a great Title !!

THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG.....I like it!

Thanks Colin. Tell you what, after I make my first million, I'll send you the second.

Thanks Barry. I'm kind of partial to it myself.

I've been writing "Song Story's" for my meager collection of originals since I was a teenager. Someone once tried to tell me what one of my songs was about and they missed the mark. So to protect my songs integrity, I started writing at least a paragraph about what they meant to me.

Kind of settles the issue down the road. I actually used one song story to defend the lyrics about 10 years ago. A song story also saved me from a divorce. My wife thought I wrote a song about her and thought the worst. I pulled out my journal and showed her the real story and characters involved. Whew!

I also try to tell other S/S they should write a paragraph explaining their meaning for future generations.

Thanks for the insight Rick. I'm actually not doing these to explain what the song is about because, as we all know, if the lyrics don't do that, the songwriter hasn't done their job.

This is more about a little background, where the original inspiration came from, the trouble I may have had trying to express myself, finding the right music for the lyric, the process I may go through to write a lyric, all that and whatever else comes to mind. Sometimes I also explain what was going through my mind at the time of writing but I guess once it's out there, a listener is going to get from it whatever they bring to it. I wrote a song about what I was going through when my mother was dying but everyone who hears it assumes it's a break up song. If that's what they hear and it has meaning for them, that's fine with me. What it means to me isn't as important as its having some meaning at all for someone else. Just my spin on it.

Ricki

Hi Ricki B:

Let me begin by borrowing the Schickster's caveat.

I don't think anyone could have the audacity to claim they already "own" that catchphrase as used in your website. I do think it is a good idea, especially if you have (or plan to have) a ton of fans and followers interested in knowing more about the process or idea that brought the song to fruition.

Best of luck with it.

Dave

Well now,
This post brought back the memory of an old song. THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN by Hank Snow! It is posted.

Thanks Dave, I only wish we had a few pounds of fans, let alone a ton!

Ray, I hope the memories are good ones.

Ricki

Ricki,

Just an FYI, http://copyright.gov/circs/circ34.pdf. Titles are not subject to copyright protection.

What John said about trademark but you'd have to really be copying someone and consumers would have to be confused, etc. There are legal hoops to jump through to prove trademark infringement.

I have knocked myself out to have something original and not borrowed.
Have not the natural talent to be understood by a mass doing it.
I guess if it came down to an influence, then virtually everyone could get sued on a copyright infringement.
I recall what happened with a song by Aldo Nova with a lick getting sued out of his royalties, although the song itself was entirely different.
There have been influences before and since that are much more pronounced.
Music can also be the unfortunate catalyst with phony lawsuits.
It is almost as if language in itself can pose an infringement.

Thanks for the legal spin, Wendy. It's good to know you're still out there.

Thanks for weighing in, R&M. As has been said, there is nothing new under the sun. What? Did I just quote scripture? EEEEEK!!!

Lawsuits.Man, everyone sweats over lawsuits. The fact is that there are very few lawsuits that ever go past beginning inquiry. Most are thrown out of court long before they even get started. And if someonpe is going to go to the trouble of finding and hiring an attorney for $2500 to file papers on a case that will earn them less than $500 they usually thin out pretty quickly.

The Aldo Nova case and the very few others are almost always one major artist suing another major artist. Up coming and independent artists rarely have much to worry about. Very few are worth the money it takes to file them.

If you are really worried, seek legal advice. But for the most part I really wouldn't get too caught up in that. Most never end up doing much of anything.

MAB

Oh yeah! Titles can't be copyrighted. Neither can ideas. That's way there are many songs with the same title and cousin Bubba ain't no millionaire.