Composition Inspired by Copyrighted Literature

[allegroamabile]

Is it permissible for me to upload a composition of my creation that is inspired by a published book still under copyright law and contains its title as the subtitle? My composition is of course not protected by any type of law.

[Melodia]

I cannot fathom how that could be a problem...

[steltz]

As far as I understand, if you are writing a vocal work that uses text written by someone else, then the copyright status of that text is an issue, but if it is just an inspiration, then you aren't using the text.

On the other hand, how generic is the subtitle you are quoting? In one of the more ridiculous lawsuits:

http://classicalconvert.com/2007/07/the ... cages-433/

the reference to John Cage's 4'55" resulted in a successful lawsuit in favour of Cage and Peters Edition.

[allegroamabile]

The work in its entirety is originally my own idea, but based on my impression of the children's book, The Ersatz Elevator. Thank you for the information!

[Rob Peters]

I've got a similar case in my work list:
http://imslp.org/wiki/Suite_for_Clarine ... rs,_Rob%29
I composed this piece originally as a "Winnie the Pooh Suite", with the titles of the individual movements referring to characters from A. A. Milne's books.
Now, copyright on the characters appears to be owned by Disney - and I even went as far as asking them about the legal status of a creative work based on, but not using text or pictures of, "their" characters. Got a standard letter back that I could buy a licence...
Ridiculous of course. I'm 98% sure a piece like this wouldn't break any copyright laws, but I'm not taking risks with these vultures, so I published it as a generic suite for clarinet and piano, with the titles stripped.

[Carolus]

Names, titles and short phrases are not the subject of copyright. They can be trademarked, however, so one has to be a little careful if something is extremely famous. Unlike copyrights, trademarks have no expiration as long as they remain in use. This is why one hears of disputes arising over mis-use of brand names and accusations of "knock-offs" for designer brands. These disputes have nothing to do with copyright (as is often mis-reported in the media) but with trademarks and logos.