Dear Geist,

, did not mention “fair use.” While I’m aware that the definition of fair use is somewhat amorphous, it could be of use to this author.

Dear Jesse,

Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and this answer is not legal advice. It is a summary of our knowledge and experience on the subject.

Fair use is a US legal doctrine that permits the use of certain copyright material without securing permission from the copyright holder. The most familiar such use is to quote a very short bit of text, such as lyrics.

, “l yrics are a good example of short being substantial. Even a couple of lines can constitute a large portion of a song, and permission fees for lyrics can be real eyebrow-raisers.”

In short, it’s up to each writer and publisher whether to include quoted lyrics or any other text without permission. But we do feel duty-bound to point out that they are taking a chance by doing so.

Thanks for your perspective on this thorny issue.