The difference between libel and slander is that one is written and the other is spoken. Both are a defamation of character, and both can be prosecuted, unless applied to a public figure, such as Tina Fey on Sarah Palin, but even then….
In the literary world, novels can share titles without copyright infringement, but they cannot share significant content in any way. Song lyrics are sacred, and song titles are individually protected. Novels can refer to songs by name, but cannot quote any of their words without express permission of the record company and/or artist.
The ancient texts,
however, are popularly plagiarized because no one’s going to sue from Virgil’s
estate. Happily the same was true with Cervantes’s
Don Quixote, allowing Dale Wasserman to write the musical, The Man of La Mancha, which borrows heavily from the 1700’s text as
well as using Cervantes himself as a character.
Through the trick of antiquity, Wasserman violates neither libel nor slander
laws, and updates an epic story.
Comments