Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Song Titles as Chapter Headings

Dear Rich: I have written a book that has 40 chapters and each chapter title is a song title by various artists. Only the title was used and I intend on giving a credit listing to the authors of those songs. I know if I use any lyrics in the book I will have to get permission but what about titles only? You can use various song titles as chapter headings without getting permission (and without providing attribution). Song titles are not protected by copyright law and the songwriter cannot use trademark law to prevent your use as chapter headings, either. Using a song title as the name of a book is also fairly common (although apparently things can get litigious when using a song title as the name of a TV show).

No comments: