Small Print On Demand Business - Copyright Questions

[dizco]

Hello

I've recently started looking into setting up a small 'print on demand' business to supplement my income. I have a number of ideas that will hopefully come to fruition as the business grows. One of the areas I was looking into that I thought could be popular was putting song lyrics onto products (T-Shirts, Mugs etc).

Research into copyright has left me feeling a bit confused. It seems that lyrics are generally copyrighted in the music itself, but if they're just words on a product (I'm thinking a maximum of 10 words) does that make it ok? I'm clearly not well versed in this, so any advice the legal beagles could provide would be much appreciated.

[atticus]

You may well find yourself falling foul of copyright laws. Song lyrics themselves are subject to copyright. See s3 Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988:

[dizco]

Thanks for this. Follow up question:

Would it be difficult to prove if it was just a few words? Some could potentially be everyday phrases that just happened to be song lyrics?

[atticus]

That would have to be decided on a case by case basis. I assumed that you are intending to put recognisable song lyrics on your products.

"Push pineapple, shake the tree" is just 5 words, but to some people instantly recognisable.

EDIT: I have just seen that someone is selling a t-shirt with those exact words! The site includes this link under the words "copyright infringement":

[dizco]

Yes it seems like a bit of a minefield. Thanks for your help.