I am currently writing a web series and am wanting to use a famous Quote as voice over in my script.  Is this okay to do or do I have to get permission?

I know that Steven Spielberg owns Martin Luther King's speeches so anything contain within belongs to him. Perhaps if the quote is part of a written piece you have to. If it was only ever spoken then maybe not...unless it was part of a speech or came from a traceable source. Don't know if this extends to a quote taken from a film or TV show, I’d imagine so too.

A quick Google search yielded this...https://johnaugust.com/2004/do-you-need-permission-to-use-a-quotation

Quoted from Colkurtz8 I know that Steven Spielberg owns Martin Luther King's speeches so anything contain within belongs to him. Perhaps if the quote is part of a written piece you have to. If it was only ever spoken then maybe not...unless it was part of a speech or came from a traceable source. Don't know if this extends to a quote taken from a film or TV show, I’d imagine so too. A quick Google search yielded this...https://johnaugust.com/2004/do-you-need-permission-to-use-a-quotation

Good article - thanks for finding it

Quoted from eldave1 Good article - thanks for finding it

- Yeah, I generally like what John August has to say in regards the craft but then you look at his list of credits and, bar Big Fish, Go (kind of) and maybe Frankenweenie, it's poor. Very little in the way of original work too. The Nines was pure nonsense in my opinion.

Concur!

People use famous quotes on TV all the time. I think it's nice if you can somehow acknowledge the person who created it, but it's not essential.

Not a lawyer, but have had to look into this before.

There are two things you need to worry about with quotes: copyright and trademark.

Copyright attaches to anything that was written down or otherwise fixed into a tangible form, and this includes prepared speeches even if the author never publishes the script. Such a copyright can last for an astonishingly long time, but won't apply to anyone who died more than 70 years ago. Copyright does not attach to things merely said, such as responses to a reporter's question. Copyright also does not attach to things made by a government agency.

Due to a quirk in copyright law, a translation of a quote is considered a new (albeit derivative) work and has its own copyright. That Julius Caesar quote is out of copyright, but the English translation of it might not be.

There are a number of exceptions in copyright law that make quoting easier. Generally, you can use excerpts for review, critique or parody so long as you don't veer into defamation. It's also difficult for someone to assert copyright over a short sentence unless it includes a fictional character's name. Courts take a dim view of trying to tie up foundational bits of the language with intellectual property claims.

It's unusual, but some quotes may be trademarked. Unlike copyright, trademark needs to be applied for explicitly. This tends to happen for corporate slogans and the like, so it's unlikely to be a pithy saying worth quoting, but still something to keep an eye on.

Bottom Line: Unless it's glaringly obviously going to cause problems (such as popular song lyrics), go ahead and put it in your script. Let the production company's lawyers earn their pay.