Can I print song lyrics on t-shirts and sell as a private clothing line?
I also want to give credit to the artist by putting the song and artist name on the inside tag. — Anonymous A. Yes, you absolutely can develop a private clothing line, in which you sell t-shirts with song lyrics printed on the shirts. However, before you start developing your line, you are going to need to negotiate a license agreement with the owner of the copyright on the lyrics. Section 106 of the Copyright Act provides that only the owner of the copyright has the exclusive rights to do and authorize others to do the following: • to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords; • to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work; • to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending; • in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly; • in the cas
