Can I use quotes from famous books in my own art?

Cait O

Oct 30, 2008 at 3:46 pm

Artists have been using other people’s art since there was other people’s art to use. As long as you aren’t claiming that their work is yours you should be fine.

knowtheguy

Nov 2, 2008 at 10:36 am

Legally speaking– there are things you need to know.
Copyrights state you can’t even make facsimile copies (Xerox machine) without the permission by author. And I KNOW this for FACTS: I am a teacher— and just to make copies for any teaching we have to receive permission by author.

Here are facts to know:
Public Domain– this means that you can use any artist’s work such as music, visual, written that has reached expiration of copyright laws— such as Mozart, Shakespeare, Nostradamus. Mostly anything prior to 18th Century. There are ALOT of wonderful artists in that time– so you have a wealth to share there legally.

But using anything contemporary– is a problem. After 30 year laws, and some are 7 years, the author or the estate (such as dead artists– Marlyn Monroe, Einstein, etc–) can renew the copyright law– if no one claims and renews in a certain time period– then it is up for grabs.. and then becomes Public Domain (there is a website– copyright.gov/publicdomainregistry– and then there is some search you do if you have specific author/artist name)

Most all artist/authors DO give permission– they just like to be ASKED!!! More exposure for them and they like that. But you sign a waiver– standard about — if YOU MAKE ANY PROFITS- financial or otherwise (meaning YOU get more exposure and do not share the authorship) YOU MUST GIVE PERCENTAGE TO ORIGINAL AUTHOR/ARTIST.
So you have to always write out credit– it is safe to do this in ALL THINGS– if you post personal photos that a friend or relative took– just put in the photags name– it is a good habit to do. So then you have a paper trail that you always do this– and the next person you want to use in YOUR art– can verify that you DO NOT STEAL, but have morals and ethics about sharing credit.

Classic Books are PUBLIC DOMAIN— the books are distributed by book publishers– they paid NO MONEY to use Shakespeare’s works, Voltaire, etc— you would only be obligated to the publisher if you SOLD THE ACTUAL BOOK– because they have the copyright of how they edited book– and you will ALWAYS find some PREFACE– so this is a addition to original works– and if you sell the entire book and make any profit whatsoever (Reselling on Amazon, etc– there are legal loopholes) then you can be liable– but using Quotes is FREE and PUBLIC DOMAIN of classic artists/authors.

But with visual artists it is tricky– there are LONG TERM estates that own some things like Whistler’s Mother– but NOT the Mona Lisa.. you can reprint HER as much as you want…

MUSIC is big deal– legally- if you even SING the Happy Birthday song in a public place– YOU OWE THE ESTATE MONEY. If you sing it on TV of any kind– you pay a sync fee to estate– ASCAP, BMG– most TV stations pay a quarterly fee that covers this. But sing it at parties to your heart’s content– unless there is someone from ASCAP or BMG (licensing publishing agencies of music) at the party.. there really is NO ENFORCEMENT.

These laws are to protect the blood, sweat, and tears that an artist goes thru to create their works… but some laws make things so complex.

The fact that you are even asking– well that displays your morals and ethics– so this is a positive thing!

And if you want to use anything that is contemporary 1800s and to present— you can use a deriviative work– meaning you can take up to THREE words of original work and add to it; but any more than that you are liable. (this is how RAP artists get away with sampling music– if they do more than 7 seconds of a sample of an original song.. then they must get permission and pay profits to original author– they get away with using MORE than 7 seconds by stating it is derivitative and usually the original author is dead and can’t defend this claim…. it is sad what goes on in music biz sometimes;-)