Scrolling through tiktok I came across a video . And it sparked an idea for a holiday romance. In the tiktok a daughter explains a tradition her mom has and how it’s evolved over the years.
Can I legally write a novel that is based on that tradition, but in a fictional small town with fictional characters?
Obviously, you are physically and mentally able to write text in a coherent manner. As such you seem to be able to write a novel, provided that you keep up the writing and finish the project. Can is the question word for the mere ability of someone doing something. The proper question word would be may for the title, or of course, formulate it as a question of the state of something, akin to is it legal to....
It's a fact that the White house is in Washington, that it has suchandsuch phone number. Facts are not covered by copyright at all, see Feist v. Rural. As a result, the fact that a tradition exists is not rising copyright in it.
Ideas are not copyrightable either. This is because all you can see or hear are expressions of ideas, and those are what copyright protects. in music, you could express the idea of anger like Beethoven and write the 5th symphony, or you do it like Rage against the Machine and write many songs. You see, ideas are too abstract, the precise expression is copyrighted.
In case of a tiktok video, the text and the video have copyright, not so much its expressed ideas or facts.
