Quotes copyright

[Svoorhies]

I am curious to know if reprinting quotes by celebrities, politicians and book authors on stickers and then selling them commercially under a brand name is any kind of infringement? Thanks for any help.

 

[divgradcurl]

I am curious to know if reprinting quotes by celebrities, politicians and book authors on stickers and then selling them commercially under a brand name is any kind of infringement? Thanks for any help.

If the quotes are spoken, then generally no. If the quotes are from a book, then maybe.

 

[Svoorhies]

How can I tell when it is copyrighted and when it is not?

 

[divgradcurl]

How can I tell when it is copyrighted and when it is not?

If you hear someone say something, it's not copyrighted. If it's written down or in a movie, it might be copyrighted. There isn't any simple way of making blanket determinations of what is and what is not covered by copyright. Generally, short phrases or sentences cannot be copyrighted -- but if they are an integral part of a larger work, then they may be covered by copyright. Further, if a phrase is a key phrase in a movie, it might also be covered by trademark law. There just isn't any "bright line" rule that can tell you what is and what is not covered by copyright -- you need to look at each phrase or quote individually to make a determination.

Maybe if you provided some sort of examples of what you are trying to do, that would be helpful.