DO NOT POST entire lyrics of songs on the SDMB, or major portions of lyrics. This is a copyright violation. This goes for fetus, QuickSilver, manhattan, Shirley Ujest, GaWd, and whiterabbit. I’ve removed the thread, because I don’t feel like cutting major portions out of so many posts.
Lynn
For the Straight Dope
Is it still a violation if you credit the (correct) artist? Is it a violation then? Huh? Is it?
'Cause then it’s, like, a cite.
The music people can be a mite anal.
That’s the problem.
Like a cite, but not a cite.
Is it so hard to quote a brief passage and then link to another page with the lyrics?
Huh? Is it?
Dweeb.
Yay! My first official warning.
I actually knew that I should have pared my posting down quite considerably as soon as I had hit submit…I wish that edit function was enabled so that a funny and cathartic thread such as that could still be around. SOrry to be such a bad boy. Will restrain myself in the future.
Sam
Maybe for the other posts, but it wouldn’t have worked with the OP in that thread. It was basically quoting a section of the song and then relating how that passage was a good description of what he was going through with a girl. It was a pretty darn good OP, I thought. He might have been able to get away with it if the others hadn’t come in and started just posting entire song lyrics.
What does all this show?
That chicks are evil and responsible for lawbreaking.
Someone had to say it. 
The Fair Use laws are quite clear. A short snippet of something that does not say “You will not copy this anywhere under any circumstances, or we will send rabid capybaras to rip off and eat your gonads as you sleep” is permissible. For a song, that means a couple of lines at most, and not even that if the copyright notice says otherwise.
When in doubt, ask a Mod. first; they don’t bite. Often.
I just want to note that this is somewhat ironic, as The Offspring were one of the first groups to come out in favor of P2P and Napster.
Capybaras are vegetarians. And I don’t believe they carry rabies.
Polycarp could have referred to rabid weasels. But then again, that might have been a Frank Zappa copyright violation. :dubious:
[Loud, whiny voice]
Manny started it!
Sorry. I cut off a good chunk of it for just this reason, but not enough I guess. It won’t happen again.
Cajun Man
for the SDMB
Are song parodies still kosher for board-use?
I don’t see why not. Parodies fall under fair use.
Why are specific posters singled out in the OP? Sure, they may be the ones it is aimed at, but why embarass them like this? E-mailing them their warnings privately, and posting a general warning/reminder is so much better form than hanging dirty laundry on the line like this.
I will grant that safe is better than sorry, but under the Fair Use Doctrine, even an entire set of lyrics can be quoted without giving rise to liability. By all means, follow the policy and stick to quoting only brief excerpts; in this way, you will never go wrong. That said, can we be a bit less shrill about copyright issues? Hysteria is quite unbecoming.
And while I’m ranting, I’m going to poke the next person that suggests that proper attribution has anything to do with infringement of a copyright straight in the eye. We’re talking total luxation here folks. Wear your safety glasses. 
Carry on.
CJ
So, if I where to, say, post the entire lyrics of the Champs “Tequila” or the entire lyrical content of The Raybeats breakthrough album, “Guitar Beat”, I could find myself in a heap o’ trouble?
I removed the original thread with the copyright violations in it. Ordinarily, I would have warned the violators in the thread itself, but since the thread was removed, I had to start a new thread to warn them.
Lynn
For the Straight Dope
I’m trying to imagine an embarassed Shirley Ujest. Hmmm. Nyah. It’s just not coming into focus…
Say, isn’t there a song called White Rabbit? Jefferson Starship or something. Anyone know the lyrics?