MYTH BUSTED! Copyright in famous quotes.
The legal myth that we are busting today relates to quoting people and thinking because you attribute the quote that you’re fine. This is a little tricky one, cause I always think you see these quotes and they say Albert Einstein said such and such. Well, how does anybody know? I always wonder if those quotes actually can be verified. But if somebody is known for genuinely having said something profound, they actually do have copyright in that even if it’s a fairly short quote.
Not in a single word, or maybe two or three words, but something more than that they could own copyright in it. Technically you probably shouldn’t be quoting it even if you attribute it to them, unless you’ve got their permission. On the other hand, I’ve never, ever heard of anybody having a problem with this, of anybody saying don’t attribute that fantastic quote to me in your book. But it could happen, who knows?
Technically you’re not safe doing that, personally if I want inspirational quotes in something, like in a book that I’m writing, I would rather ask business people that I know personally to come up with something profound for that purpose, and give me the permission to do it. Because then you know you’re safe.
I just make up my own stuff, then I know I’m safe. Quoting and attributing does not mean that you are safe, but I’ve never seen anybody actually have a problem with it. So, you might be safe, but if you’re not safe then ring me. My name is Cathryn Warburton and I am the legal lioness. It’s been amazing busting legal myths with you to protect your business, so that you can lead the lifestyle that you deserve, pop onto my website ‘legallioness.com’ to see more legal myths being busted.
