Copyrght and Legal Issues on Quotes

[Nadab]

Hello there,
I live in Canada. I'm planning on designing t-shirts and selling them. I would like to use famous quotes as part of my designs; however, I learned that it's more complicated than I thought. How can I know if a specific quote is copyrighted or for the public domain? for example:
Be a voice, not an echo ~ Albert Einstein
The future belongs to the people who prepare for it today ~ Malcolm X
It is Permissible to use these quotes, or are they copyrighted? If they are copyrighted, what can I do?
I would really appreciate the help since i"m in great need of it.
Thank you in advance!

 

[quincy]

Hello there,
I live in Canada. I'm planning on designing t-shirts and selling them. I would like to use famous quotes as part of my designs; however, I learned that it's more complicated than I thought. How can I know if a specific quote is copyrighted or for the public domain? for example:
Be a voice, not an echo ~ Albert Einstein
The future belongs to the people who prepare for it today ~ Malcolm X
It is Permissible to use these quotes, or are they copyrighted? If they are copyrighted, what can I do?
I would really appreciate the help since i"m in great need of it.
Thank you in advance!

I'm sorry, Nadab, but FreeAdvice handles US law questions and legal concerns only. The intellectual property laws in Canada vary in significant ways from those in the US.

I can tell you that the estates of both Albert Einstein and Malcolm X own all rights to their names, images and words, so you would not be able to use these quotes without written permission from their estates.

It is often possible to tell if names and images are rights-protected simply by doing an internet search of, for example, "Albert Einsten estate." This will generally turn up an official website with a rights and permissions page.

Good luck with your tee-shirt business.

 

[adjusterjack]

what can I do?

Options:

Consult a copyright attorney.

Or

Get consent from the estates. You are likely to have to pay a licensing fee since you are doing this for money.

Or

Look for quotes that are in the public domain. A safe bet is somebody who died more than 100 years ago. There are plenty of great quotes from way back then.

 

[quincy]

Options:

Consult a copyright attorney.

Or

Get consent from the estates. You are likely to have to pay a licensing fee since you are doing this for money.

Or

Look for quotes that are in the public domain. A safe bet is somebody who died more than 100 years ago. There are plenty of great quotes from way back then.

In the US, quotes will generally be offered protection under TRADEMARK laws and/or under PUBLICITY RIGHTS laws rather than copyright laws (if they are offered protection at all).

An attorney in Canada well-versed in trademark laws and publicity/personality rights laws, therefore, would be the attorney you would want to contact for a review prior to using quotes in a commercial manner.

Copyrighted works now in the public domain IN THE US (e.g., those works published before 1923, those published between 1923 and 1963 without copyrights renewed, etc) may be safe to use from a copyright perspective but there can still be trademark and publicity rights issues to consider - so these also require investigation to determine if there are any lingering rights.

One additional note: If you intend to use images on your shirts to go with the quotes, make sure you either create designs of your own or, if you are thinking of using photographs or basing your designs on photographs, get permission from the holder of the copyrights in the photos.

Most importantly, though, the laws in Canada are different than those in the US, and we handle US laws only. Good luck.