Sage-Tips

Are titles protected by trademark?

The law is clear that you cannot trademark individual book titles, but a title for a series of books can be trademarked since it serves the role of a brand.

Does intellectual property apply to music?

Is Music Intellectual Property? What is IP in music? IP stands for “intellectual property” and yes, original musical creations are considered intellectual property and can be protected from use by others under intellectual property law.

Are song titles public domain?

Book titles, movie and song titles, the names of people and places, ideas, procedures, methods, concepts, principles, raw data, and objective information are not protected by copyright and are in the public domain.

Does copyright cover intellectual property?

Copyright covers both published and unpublished works. What does copyright protect? Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture.

Which is not protected by trademark laws?

Logos, pseudonyms, and trade dress are all protected by trademark laws. However, book titles are rarely protected under trademark law because of judicial reluctance to protect titles that are used only once.

Which of the following is not protected by trademark law?

Generic terms are not protected by trademark because they refer to a general class of products rather than indicating a unique source.

Do I need to copyright my songs?

« Back to FAQs Is it necessary to copyright my songs? Registering your copyrights is not required but it is highly recommended since doing so will give you certain protection under copyright law in case you need to sue someone for using your song without your permission.

Are song titles protected by intellectual property laws?

The intellectual property laws that you might be hoping to use to protect your song title are copyright and trademark laws. Your song title will not be protected by copyright law. In unusual situations, part or all of a song title may be protected by trademark law.

Can a song title be copyrighted?

In some permanently stored format so that it can be reproduced (such as a painting on canvas but not a design drawn in water which is only visible for a moment.) Song titles generally don’t fall within the protection of copyright law since most are not sufficiently original or independently conceived by the artist.

Can a song title be a trademark or service mark?

Although some phrases, trade names, tag lines and similar short expressions might be subject to protection as trademarks or service marks, it will be highly unusual for a song title to qualify for that type of protection.

Can an extremely long title be subject to copyright protection?

Although an argument might be made that an extremely long title should be subject to copyright protection, it does not appear that the U.S. Copyright Office has ever found that a title of any length could be successfully registered for copyright protection. 1