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famous quotes

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oneroberta

Guest
Can I use a famous quote with out permission. Example; Can I quote Mark Twain on a T-shirt or Shakespeare on a card. I am doing this for profit. I live in Ohio but will be selling nationwide.
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
Neither Twain nor Shakespeare are protected by copyright in this day and age.

But lets say you used someone a bit more modern. A phrase is probably not enough of an artistic work to be protected by copyright. You don't have an issue there. So if you wanted to make shirts that say "I have a wide stance." quoting Larry Craig, he probably couldn't do much.

The only run in you would have with IP laws is trademarks. If the phrase happens to be the trademark, your mark could infringe directly or by dilution on that mark if you put something like "Good to the last drop..." on a T-shirt.
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
There was a REPORTED and REMOVED follow up to the thread yesterday that preceded mine that obscured the fact that the original post was from a long time ago.
 

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