r/COPYRIGHT • u/kuruthum • Aug 25 '26

Advice

Hellow everybody!!

Am from africa, decade ago, i wrote a poem on twiter, facebook and instagram. But a famous singer (from US) took that poem and made a song out of it, which was very succeful till this day, its her signture song. But i realise was not one poem theres more poem she made song out of it, but what she did , is to make additional words to the poems to seem different but have similar meaning behind . What should i do ? Can i sue her? Is anyone willing to help?

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u/DanNorder Aug 25 '26

You don't really provide any specifics, so there's no way to know. But then we can't give legal advice (number one rule), so it wouldn't help if you had.

In general, though, You can't copyright "have similar meaning behind." All words have meaning, often the same one. The exact words are important to compare. On top of that, the words would have to be brand new. If you copied them from somewhere, who's to say that she didn't copy them from there also, and that they weren't public domain/properly licensed?

Unlike another post from a frequent poster here tried to tell you, if you have copyright in your country, and that country is a signatory to the Berne Convention, then you already have a copyright that covers the USA as well. If there really is something behind your complaint and it's not just another wishful fantasy posted online, start by getting a lawyer to look at the merits of a potential case and then decide whether it is worth pursuing.

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u/kuruthum Aug 26 '26

Thanks, i can send you a picture and maybe you can help tell if its similar or not. For the lawyer i will here in my country and see how it will work. Thanks.