Writing Fiction

» Jennifer Jensen - movies titles, real names, brand names, etc.

That's a great question, Merne, and I have definite views on the subject, but I need to first state the caveat that I am not an attorney or an expert on copyright, trademarks, etc., and that this is not legal advice.

With that said, here's my understanding:

Some things can be copyrighted and some can't. A book title can't, so there can be several books with the same title. ("Through a Glass Darkly" comes to mind.) I would think a movie would fall into the same category. And public figures don't get the expectation of privacy the rest of us do, which is why you get unauthorized biographies. So you should be able to mention any of those names without worry, in the sense of "She stopped reading 'A is for Alibi' when he approached," or " 'I think Orlando Bloom is soooo cute!' she said." Although if you want to say something nasty, I'd make sure it's in a character's dialogue!

Brand names are a different story. A company can lose its trademark if the trademark name is used regularly in a generic sense. I think the company can even have to prove that they're protecting the name, which is why you see ads in Writer's Digest reminding us that Xerox is not a verb, and pleading for us to say "Scotch brand cellophane tape" instead of Scotch tape.

I'm fine with this in non-fiction articles. In fiction, I have a problem with it. My character is not going to ask someone to pass her the Kleenex brand facial tissues! So I have three guidelines I use. First, a name brand usually isn't necessary, so I often use "tissues" or "tape" instead of "Kleenex" or "Scotch tape." Second, if my character would say "Scotch tape," well, I figure that it's dialogue and she should talk the way she talks. And third, if I do use a name brand, I make sure to capitalize it, even if I don't include the rest of their preferred phrase. "She chugged her Coke," instead of "She chugged her coke" or "She chugged her Coca-cola brand soft drink."

So that's my two cents worth. I'll give a heads-up to a couple other writers on Suite and see if they have comments to add. And good luck with your novel!

PS--if you want to put someone else's characters actually into your story, that's a whole different problem!