Are phrases in Sitcoms or cartoons copyrighted or trademarked?

[rajee]

Would "Newman!", "My Boys can swim", "Vanderlay Industries" or "Costanza!" be copyrighted or trademarked?

 

[kered]

The way I understand it is any phrase can be copywrited, Rajee. The arena announcer Micheal (forgot his last name) has exclusive rights to "Let's get ready to rumble", Bobby Leonard of the Pacers has "Boom, Baby!", even that idiot soccer announcer has copywritten "Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaal".

 

[rajee]

In that case, there are alot of Cafepress (www.cafepress.com) shop owners using copyrighted material to make money. Such as the Simpson's phrase, "Can't sleep Clowns will eat me".
"Newman" "No Soup for You" "Giddyup" etc... from Seinfeld.

 

[kered]

You could be right unless they pay some sort of blanket fee like bars and restaurants do for juke boxes when they pay a flat ASCAP fee. They then can play anyones music.

 

[rajee]

If so, I want that deal too.

But, I don't need it. I'm super creative. 😎

 

[kered]

Atta boy! Create and copywrite something so unique that people will have to send you a check every month for using it.

 

[Goodieluver]

In that case, there are alot of Cafepress (www.cafepress.com) shop owners using copyrighted material to make money. Such as the Simpson's phrase, "Can't sleep Clowns will eat me".
"Newman" "No Soup for You" "Giddyup" etc... from Seinfeld.

Cafepress also lets u create yer own shirts and logos, they arent making a profit from the logo, they are making it from the shirts themselves

My roomate just got one that he gonna copyright so he can protect it
"Id rather fuck a drug addict than a fat chick" and on the back it says "have some pride"

Most prob wont like it but i got chuckles from it

 

[NeitherSparky]

I run a Cafepress shop that caters to fans of Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. Of course we don't use actual images of copyrighted characters or logos, NOR do we use the more..."prominent" phrases from the show. We DO however use more minor quotes from the show, and Cartoon Network, who are familiar with my site (and a few of their employees are members of the forum) not only allow it but sometimes they buy the stuff. 🙂

Anyways as I understand it, every little phrase in a television show isn't automatically "copyrighted". If however something is used as a marketing device, then you should avoid it. So we don't use "I Like Chocolate Milk," "It's Hot In Topeka" etc, but we do use "I'm Punk Rock" and "That Place Up There With the Bacon" (referring to Canada). Those are minor quotes, and Cartoon Network is cool with that.

My input.

 

[Knox The Hatter]

That would be Michael Buffer, Kered. He, by the way, is serious about his intellectual property- he enjoined radio hosts from WABC in New York from using his recorded catchphrase without permission a few years ago.

Copyright law's a fascinating subject, and it's confusing on purpose.

 

[kered]

Thank you Knox. I've been trying to remember his last name since yesterday. All I remember is that he has commanded big bucks with it for over ten years with about five minutes worth of work at the beginning of sporting events.

 

[rajee]

Neither Sparky, is your cafepress shop, Wild Sprogs? 😀

 

[Capnmad]

The way I understand it is any phrase can be copywrited, Rajee. The arena announcer Micheal (forgot his last name) has exclusive rights to "Let's get ready to rumble",

You know, of course, that just by saying it, you now owe the man $50,000.00, right?

 

[NeitherSparky]

Neither Sparky, is your cafepress shop, Wild Sprogs?😀

No, it's called Never Forgotten, at fosters-home.com.

*checks Wild Sprogs*

No, we put a bit more effort into our designs than that 😀 And we don't cater exclusively to Cheese fans. In fact I don't think we have any Cheese-related designs right now.

 

[Saeria]

You know, of course, that just by saying it, you now owe the man $50,000.00, right?

actually i think because the phrase was put in quotes signifying someone else said it, he's in the clear.

 

[RobAce]

I think someone answered this before, but from what I understand if it is a phrase used often and not a single word in the Oxford-English Dictionary and not a name (unless under certain conditions a name is copyrighted for merchandising and such) they can not copyright it, because who is to say who really was the first person to say something. Much like the Simpson's creator Matt Groening did license "Dont have a cow, Man" but could not "Cowabunga". Also "D'Oh" (Homer Simpsons phrase) was copyrighted until it was placed in the dictionary. Seriously it was.
Actually it seems the correct spelling is now doh.
So yes sometimes phrases can be copyrighted but they also will expire then they can be used by the masses...from what I understand.

Rob

 

[rajee]

So would, She's a two-face, from Seinfeld be copyrighted or is it safe?

Thanks guys for replying.

 

[NeitherSparky]

I think of it this way rajee: To me there are 2 rules to follow to determine if you can use a phrase from a show.

1) If a person who is NOT a fan of a show has heard of a phrase from it, I wouldn't use it. I don't watch Seinfeld, but I am familiar with "No soup for you!". However, I've never heard of "She's a two-face."

2) If the phrase makes zero sense on its own, you might not want to use it, because in that case it becomes sort of exclusively tied to the show it came from even if it's not well-known. "She's a two-face" kinda doesn't make a lot of sense on its own. Who is "she"? However, its pretty darn vague so maybe you can get away with it.

So to me, "She's a two-face" passes Rule #1 but stumbles over Rule #2, meaning you CAN use it I think, but think twice before you do. I hope that made sense. 🙂

 

[rajee]

Thanks Neither Sparky.

I won't take the risk of being sued and just go with humourous phrases of my own. 😎

 

[CitY of MicA]

I'm not a lawyer, but...

I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I don't believe a phrase can be copyrighted. A logo containing a phrase can be trademarked. If you can prove authorship in a court of law, you can successfully sue for infringement. Recorded medium- be it music, movies, tv, books- provide an automatic copyright for people's works. Therefore, if I have a catchphrase on TV that I am heard to say often (say, 'you best get out of my business!'), I might be able to sue another individual who began using it on TV. However, there is no regulatory body. So if someone uses phrase coined on the show Seinfeld, someone involved in coming up with said phrase would have to sue to enforce the automatic copyright described earlier and prove that it's their intellectual property in a court of law.

 

[rajee]

"A trademark can be a word, symbol, distinctive phrase, design, product shape, combination of letters or numbers, or even a sound or a smell that identifies and distinguishes particular goods from those of others."

From http://www.copylaw.com/new_articles/trademrk.html#cop

😎