A quick copyright question

[The Legendary Zoltan]

I wrote an original song about FF Tactics. In it, I use the words, Ivalice and Hokuten. Does anyone know if it's against the law to use a song like that in a for-profit album? I made such a good rhyme with Hokuten. I'd really like to not have to change it.

[The Derrit]

shouldn't be, just as long as the music itself isn't derivative of the original soundtrack. you can talk about whatever you want

[Frederic Petitpas]

Is copyright an international law ? Because I see you're from Japan.

[Kizyr]

Is copyright an international law ? Because I see you're from Japan.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it'd still come into play if he were still selling it in the US. There's also Japanese copyright to worry about possibly. KF

[The Legendary Zoltan]

Oh yeah. I forgot that I mention Bahamut and Excalibur, too. Although, those two are from mythology and history, so nevermind about them.

It's GOT to be OK. FF Tactics is a Japanese game so I'd assume that puts me more at risk than less. I tried to search for whether or not the band, Blind Guardian has to pay for Lord of the Rings rights but couldn't find anything. That band constantly drops names. They have a song entitle "Mordred's Song" and even "Lord of the Rings". They are famous, so it is quite possible that they can afford the rights.

[Bahamut]

Oh yeah. I forgot that I mention Bahamut and Excalibur, too. Although, those two are from mythology and history, so nevermind about them.

It's GOT to be OK. FF Tactics is a Japanese game so I'd assume that puts me more at risk than less. I tried to search for whether or not the band, Blind Guardian has to pay for Lord of the Rings rights but couldn't find anything. That band constantly drops names. They have a song entitle "Mordred's Song" and even "Lord of the Rings". They are famous, so it is quite possible that they can afford the rights.

I highly doubt that there is a copyright issue. Many artists have made music about copyrighted content. The copyright isn't on a name, but on the work itself. There are nuances of course to this, but having the same name isn't enough to be a problem - many bands make songs with the same name for example. I don't think referring to a work is necessarily a copyright violation either. There's a band named Hobbit for example.

Of course I'm not a lawyer, but as far as I can tell you wouldn't be in violation there.

[The Derrit]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBAay9nPtOU

this is an actual song by an actual band

sooo yeah. you really don't have to worry about it.

[Nonamer]

Square was fine with this apparently...I'd say you would be OK.

[The Legendary Zoltan]

Sweet. Thank you guys. Those last two examples that were given are pretty amazing. Hahaha. Look forward to an RPG inspired full album of melodic death metal in the future.

[KyleJCrb]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBAay9nPtOU

this is an actual song by an actual band

sooo yeah. you really don't have to worry about it.

Well, this was originally featured on an official Nintendo-licensed compilation, so they had permission, I'm sure.

CHIPP should be fine, regardless. There's all sorts of music out there that mentions brand names or names of things from other media.

[Brandon Strader]

You'd only suffer legal action if these 2 conditions were met:

(1) The music became very popular

(2) The usage of the names or ideas from Tactics made the things mentioned "look bad"

And that isn't a copyright issue then. It's something else, I forget what they call it. Some form of defamation.

[The Legendary Zoltan]

You'd only suffer legal action if these 2 conditions were met:

(1) The music became very popular

(2) The usage of the names or ideas from Tactics made the things mentioned "look bad"

Number 1 will happen yo.

Number 2 is not happening.

The exact lines are:

"Murder and theft are commonplace throughout the streets of Ivalice."

"Hit 'em with the Bahamut."

"The knights are unleashed. Face the Hokuten!"

[WillRock]

Depends on the country I guess, but i'm 95% sure that it wouldn't be a problem in the UK because names and titles aren't deemed unique or important enough to consider copyright. Can't say about it for other countries, but it seems a bit stupid tbh, I bet you could make names and titles out of any combination of words these days. You could always google it if you weren't sure.