Legal Question in Intellectual Property in South Carolina

Re: Copyright

Almost certainly not. With that as your background conclusion, you should seek specific legal advice before using the excerpt as you are contemplating. Best wishes,

LDWG

Re: Copyright

My colleague, Mr. Graves, says it is absolutely not legal. I disagree. I would say “probably not,” but not absolutely. I do agree with his recommendation to seek legal guidance.

The use of 10 seconds is not as important as the purpose for the use. See Section 107 of the Copyright Act for the law on fair use. If you simply want to use the selection because you like it, and wish to exploit it for its own value, then your attorney will advise you to steer clear. But the decision will be a closer call the more it meets the fair use factors. Among the issues your attorney will look at is whether you are making a transformative use of the clip, whether the purpose for including it is for criticism or comment about it, or to demonstrate some particular skill of the songwriter or performer. If I were sitting at a bar with a bunch of copyright lawyers, we could probably dream up several examples where the inclusion on a CD of 10 seconds from a song for commercial purposes is fair use, but this is an area of law where it is easy to find disagreement, and often the result is just “luck of the draw” as to the judge you get.

In short, this is a risky proposition, but if it is important to you to pursue it, contact a local attorney who knows copyright law, and explain the way you will use it. It is possible the answer will be “no way,” but it may be that your use is close enough to fair use that with some modification on how you do it you would feel comfortable taking the risk. (Your attorney will also advise you on the risk of incurring litigation expenses and sleepless nights if a dispute arises.)

Good luck.