Copyright and trademark basics every author should know before publishing

This article is general information, not legal advice. When something in your manuscript raises a genuine question, talk to a qualified attorney.

Situation one: quoting song lyrics. Lyrics are aggressively protected and the fair-use analysis is far narrower than most authors assume. Two lines of a well-known song in a novel has generated real claims. Paraphrase, reference the title, or clear the rights.

Situation two: quoting other books. Short quotations with attribution for the purpose of commentary or criticism are usually defensible. Reproducing a full poem, a recipe list, or several pages of another author's work is not.

Situation three: brand names. Using a trademark descriptively — a character drinks a branded soda — is generally fine. Using it in your title, on your cover, or in a way that suggests endorsement is not.

Situation four: images and cover art. A licence for 'editorial use' does not cover a book cover. AI-generated cover art may carry its own restrictions depending on the tool's terms.

The practical approach is a review pass dedicated purely to these four categories. Manucheck's risk review flags candidate passages and explains why each one might matter, which turns an open-ended worry into a short, finite list you can work through.