Q: Can I "tease" a small portion of a melody from a movie soundtrack in a guitar solo to a rock song?
Specifically, my song is in part about Harry Potter, so in the blues solo I am writing I want to play the first 4-6 notes in a lick repeatedly with different rhythms, sometimes in the correct order and sometimes not, never in the same rhythm as the soundtrack. My goal is to get just close enough for a listener to think "Is that the theme song to Harry Potter?" but not actually play the exact melody.
A:
don't. don't try.
there are tons of cases similar to yours in litigation.
what you just described is the core of their litigation, people confuses it with the original work.
www.legalbizglobal.com
best luck
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