Can I Use Quotes to Promote My Product or Service?

This question comes up a lot in both the trademark as well as copyright context. In general, using quotes will be permitted. This is largely because using what amounts to a very small portion of a much larger body of work will not be considered copyright infringement and short phrases or small groups of words are not protected under copyright law. Now in some cases, especially where the work from which the quote was pulled is widely recognizable (the money part; like the chorus of a very famous song, for example) it may be a copyright infringement issue.

That said, some phrases or quotes are being employed as trademarks (usually as slogans or taglines) and you need to be careful that whatever you use will not be considered infringing. In most cases, this will probably be obvious but certainly not in all cases.

Further, using the names, images and likenesses of authors can easily become a publicity and privacy rights issue, especially if it seems that you are playing off of their celebrity and name recognition.

Whenever in doubt, get some solid legal advice before you make an investment.

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