Can I use a quote from Seinfeld in a magazine ad?

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The quote itself is a one liner and would not be recognizable as a Seinfeld only quote, but I want to use the reference to make the ad funnier. Am I violating any copyrights or trademarks here?

Attorney Answers

4
Maurice Ross ·
While quotes are not protected by copyright law (at least if they are short), they may be protected by trademark law. But your real problem here is that you would be violating Seinfeld's right of publicity--using his name or a quote associated with him to market your product without permission from Seinfeld. Anytime you try to benefit by associating yourself with a famous celebrity or product (or television show), you are engaging in illegal conduct if you do so without permission of the owners of the applicable intellectual property rights. If you are involved in creating magazine ads, then you need to educate yourself about the basics of intellectual property law. And even then you need to retain and work with intellectual property counsel to advise you on matters such as this. Frankly, anyone who is successful in the advertising and publishing business has intellectual property counsel on speed dial.
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John Whitaker ·
If the quote is not recognizable as a Seinfeld-only quote, then there should not be a problem. Your question is a little unclear in that you are asking if you can use a Seinfeld quote but it's not a Seinfeld quote. If the quote is just a general line that many people use, then anyone is free to use it. If it is something that only Seinfeld says, then there might be some problem. You should talk to an advertising lawyer to clear the actual magazine ad you create. you should be doing that anyway.
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Michael Doland ·
Your facts are a bit unclear. If you were saying, in the middle of a paragraph that someone should "just do it" then Nike probably wouldn't care. If you were talking about shoes it might make a lot of difference. The magazine surely has legal counsel who might be able to provide you with a better response based on your specific facts.
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Ray Beckerman ·
If you use it in an advertisement, you are thin ice. If you use Seinfeld's name in an advertisement, you could also be subjecting yourself to liability for privacy or publicity. You should not use others' material in commercial advertisements without their permission.
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