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Q: Is it copyright infringement to name a website after a song?
Submitted By: kritic, 298 days, 18 hours, 48 minutes ago
I recently acquired a domain name from a song I enjoy. The domain is the same as the title of the song. I like it but a friend said that it was copyright infringement. The website is not a fan site, I just enjoy the name. The band is not super popular and the song is not released on their LP, but perhaps one day they may become popular. Could this get me in trouble down the road?
Please try not to post duplicate answers... if you see an answer that you want to post, just add a vote to it and you can add a note as well. Thank You
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It depends on the song.
Submitted By: mister.joshua ( 297 days, 22 hours, 2 minutes ago )
Like ideas, titles are not protected by copyright, but the rights owner could attempt to defend that title as a trademark. I'd ask myself if this is a title unique to the one song and associated exclusively with that artist. If not, you have no worries.
Straight Dope appears to support this assessment:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_144a.html
A song title can also be a trademark, or contain a trademark, so these are slightly different issues, but I'll assume your song title is not a registered trademark.
Whether you should use this domain or not just depends on whether the copyright holder could have a reasonable expectation of not being humiliated were he to send you a cease and desist letter. If your domain is "therealslimshady.com", for example, I think most people would find it reasonable for Eminem or his record company to take issue with that, because even if Slim Shady is not a registered trademark it is indelibly associated with Eminem. If your domain is "singforthemoment.com", you would have no worries, because a) it is not intrinsically connected to Eminem, b) Aerosmith also did a song with that title, and c) "sing for the moment" is not an unusual phrase.
Straight Dope appears to support this assessment:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_144a.html
A song title can also be a trademark, or contain a trademark, so these are slightly different issues, but I'll assume your song title is not a registered trademark.
Whether you should use this domain or not just depends on whether the copyright holder could have a reasonable expectation of not being humiliated were he to send you a cease and desist letter. If your domain is "therealslimshady.com", for example, I think most people would find it reasonable for Eminem or his record company to take issue with that, because even if Slim Shady is not a registered trademark it is indelibly associated with Eminem. If your domain is "singforthemoment.com", you would have no worries, because a) it is not intrinsically connected to Eminem, b) Aerosmith also did a song with that title, and c) "sing for the moment" is not an unusual phrase.
Submitted By: kritic
The song is about 2 or 3 years old by a band called Wolf Parade. They have released two albums, none with that song (from an EP) and the song is "Wits or a Dagger" so I don't think that it would be too much of a problem. Thanks a lot.
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How old?
Submitted By: Raptor235 ( 298 days, 1 hour, 55 minutes ago )
I know that the copyright expires after a certain amount of time... I think its 80 years is the song older then that?