So, I've been going through my short stories lately (with the plan being, if I have enough, maybe I'll do an ebook of them). But something came up that I had a question about...

The specific short story was inspired by a song's lyrics. I include the entire song at intervals during the story (separating it into mini-mini-chapters). Now, I realize that the song and its lyrics are most likely copyrighted which brings me to my first question (which I've researched a little, but thought I'd include it anyway): Is there any way I can legally include these lyrics?
The song is still recent so its copyright still stands... on the other hand. While researching the song and who it's copyrighted to, I discovered the lyrics were actually from a poem written by Sir Walter Scott. The book that contains this poem is available for free on Google books.

So, in the end, after digging around a bit here and there, I have my final question: Can I use these lyrics?
(and how might I go about doing that to avoid plagiarism and other legal issues?)


A simple: No, you can't use them would be a perfectly acceptable answer

Sir Walter Scott.... sounds old...
old... sounds like free domain...
free domain... sounds like good news

At the most make a note that he wrote the poem. As far as anyone has to be concerned you are quoting him, not the music artist. And if he comes out of the grave to complain then we have a much bigger problem than plagiarism on our hands.

I agree with Reiyen. So long as you note (at the bottom of the page, for example) that he wrote the poem you should be safe.

As long as you use the wording of Scott's poem and not the other you mention you should be good. Scott is in the public domain.

Walter Scott is public domain, so yes, you can.

For things that aren't public domain... I can't link you to any legalese but I've always been told that direct quotes, accredited to their author, is considered fair use and is not a violation of copyright. Whether that's true in practice or not, I don't know, and I'd be interested in hearing more on the subject...

A lot of recent books reference the use of quotes in reviews in their copyright statement in the front.

Look at the Inkheart books. Those quote a lot of things, because they have a quote at the beginning of each chapter. At the end they have the big list of everything that was quoted, attributing the quotes to their owner. I believe it is fine, as most books will say that 'all copying is prohibited except for quotations from the text where credit is given to the author.'

I was thinking of the Inkheart trilogy too, Matt. I think that if it's okay for that book, I can't see why it would be wrong to use them, Villie, if you give them credit.

When I do City of Lies I have a quote at the beginning of every chapter. They're all from the same book, though, so I just say at the beginning that all quote are by Fyoder Dostoyevsky except where otherwise noted. It's public domain too, so I haven't worried about it overmuch.

YOU WROTE CITY OF LIES?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I have the app for the game on my Nook!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEK!!! *faints*

Oh... Wait... Wrong book... ^^'