How to avoid copyright infringement when referencing popular culture?

Having your character watch the movie is fine, but you'd need permission to quote the dialogue.

References are perfectly fine - authors use them all the time (though the only example that's coming to my head at the moment is the usage of V for Vendetta in The Fault in Our Stars).

I believe you'd only run into a real issue if you're using direct quotes.

Ellie_2014 said:

So if I were to include dialogue from it, this would be classed as copyright infringement?

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Yes.

Exception: if it's an old film, there's a chance it may be in public domain. Then you can quote it without permission. If this is possible, Googling will probably turn up the film's status.

You could also try a workaround, like just referencing or paraphrasing the dialogue: "It always makes me cry when Darth Vader asks Luke to take his mask off."

If Ya Gotta Ask...

Ask an attorney. One who specializes in intellectual property.

Because it's not only copyright. If you use a particularly iconic moment, it could hit trademark as well.

Or take your chances. Because if you do it on advice obtained here at AW, and you get sued, then "but I read it on AbsoluteWrite" will be worth every penny you paid for the advice.

Mr Vargus is right.

So is everyone else who has told you that you can't quote dialogue from movies without full permission--which will cost you much.

I think you're better paraphrasing the dialogue you wanted to quote.

robjvargas said:

Ask an attorney. One who specializes in intellectual property.

Because it's not only copyright. If you use a particularly iconic moment, it could hit trademark as well.

Or take your chances. Because if you do it on advice obtained here at AW, and you get sued, then "but I read it on AbsoluteWrite" will be worth every penny you paid for the advice.

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I'm not sure how an iconic moment could be trademarked? Trademarks cover very specific things, and are always business related. And, of course, being trademarked doesn't mean you can write about it, it just means you can't use it in a way that confuses that business use with your own business use.

We all use trademarked things in our fiction. I can't have a starship captain named James T. Kirk because that confuses my business use with that of the trademark owner. I can, however, have a character watch a Star Trek movie, and say he thinks James T. Kirk is the best, or worst, Captain the Enterprise ever had. Or say that The Trouble With Tribbles was his favorite Star Trek episode.

Is it essential that you quote dialog exactly? How many readers will know the dialog word for word?

Wouldn't paraphrasing, appropriate to your WIP, make the point for you -- and more importantly, your readers?

Are you going the traditional route for publishing? If you are I wouldn't worry much about it as long as you think that you can work around it if you can't use it. Acquiring rights and not stepping on toes like that is something the publisher figures out, not you.

Hapax Legomenon said:

Are you going the traditional route for publishing? If you are I wouldn't worry much about it as long as you think that you can work around it if you can't use it. Acquiring rights and not stepping on toes like that is something the publisher figures out, not you.

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Er, no. Or at least not in the UK. It's the author's responsibility to clear permission for quotes, and to pay for them if necessary. And if you don't do it, you will get sued, not the publisher. This is particularly the case with quoting music lyrics.

Hapax Legomenon said:

Are you going the traditional route for publishing? If you are I wouldn't worry much about it as long as you think that you can work around it if you can't use it. Acquiring rights and not stepping on toes like that is something the publisher figures out, not you.

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This is not accurate.

1. It depends on the publisher, but even if they have a rights agent, the legwork is still on the author.

2. We're not attorneys. Wait until you have a contract, then talk to your publisher. In the meantime, track any instances that you think might even possibly be an issue.