QUESTION

Can I sell items that may or may not contain copyrighted material?

Asked on May 11th, 2012 on Intellectual Property - Indiana
More details to this question:
I use photo editing software to create photo collages and some may or may not contain lyrics to copyrighted songs. I do this for personal use usually to give to my mother for her birthday and mother''s day. We were thinking of starting a business doing this: creating photo collages for people and they may contain song lyrics, sayings, poems whatever that person wants as long as it is not derogatory or anything like that. I couldn''t possibly predict what the customer might potentially want besides their photos on the photo collage, so if I created the item and sold it to them, could I get sued for doing this? I know I potentially can, but would I actually legally have to get permission for every copyrighted saying, song lyric, or poem that a customer would want before I could legally create and sell it to them? I could do it without the lyrics and stuff, but it just makes it more meaningful to me.
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1 ANSWER

Litigation Attorney serving Greenwich, CT
Partner at Hilary B. Miller
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Yes, anyone can be sued for anything. If you use copyrighted materials and sell them for personal gain, you should presume that you are infringing unless an attorney has advised you of the applicability of the "fair use" doctrine (which is always highly fact-specific) or some other exemption or defense.
Answered on May 11th, 2012 at 9:26 AM

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