Can I mention copyrighted character names in my song?

[Sepul-Coloratura 756]

I’m writing MLP themed songs and I’m concerned if it will get some copyright issues with Hasbro. (There are direct mentions of Applejack, Rarity, Parasprites, Alicorns, Derpy, Equestria etc.)

I’m planning to upload them on Youtube and sell them on Bandcamp. They are not just fan projects, I intend them as actual commercial products and my copyrighted works.

I know that there are music albums out there about Warhammer 40000 (Bolt Thrower), The Lord of the Rings (many power metal bands and Led Zeppelin). There are songs about the Punisher and Judge Dredd.

But I’m concerned about Hasbro being super strict about their properties (and blocking them or suing me). And because of the nature of the genre (thrash/black/death metal/grindcore), the lyrics are not kid friendly. There might be a possibility of interpreting them as damaging their properties. Do you have any examples of which has been ok and which hasn’t? Or can you tell me some laws about this that can help me?

p.s. (Is it ok to write a chorus that goes “Sue me m***er f***er, sue me mf, sue me!”?)

Edited October 6, 2020 by Sepul-Coloratura

[Ittoni 536]

I don't think so dude, because they are copyrighted and hasbro only goes after you if you profit from any of their copyrighted material, that includes names. 

[Fhaolan 4,468]

What you should probably be more concerned about is Trademarks rather than Copyrights. Trademarks have different rules than copyrights. Copyrights is all about the profit motive and have bypassing rules about 'transformative works' and 'free use'. Trademarks are all about defending the public impression of a brand and don't have any those bypass rules.

The names of the MLP characters are trademarked by Hasbro, and if you're using them in way that Hasbro may consider 'damaging' to their properties as you say, there is a possibility they might do something along the same lines as what they did to that 'Them Fighting Herds' video-game. It doesn't officially matter if you make a profit from it or not, it just matters if Hasbro thinks that you are diluting or damaging their brand.

Now, chances are that you won't be noticed by Hasbro's lawyers unless you make enough money off of it, because that's how they determine if what you're doing is sufficiently popular to affect their brand. It's not what they will say when they send you the Cease and Desist, of course, but it will say something along the lines of 'use of registered Trademarks without license' as that's what other people have reporting when they got them. 

[Jesse Terrence 2,963]

We have been doing that for a while, though to make our lyrics less gringey we usually hint the names and topics and try not to call them out directly. Hasbro doesn't seem to mind too much about musicians as long as we don't take too many sound clips from the show.

[Splashee 28,537]

Only make sure none of the names are trademarks. Anyone can say or mention a name, but it gets complicated when dealing with registered trademarks

[Venomous 18,813]

@Sepul-Coloratura

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