Karen GoatKeeper's Blog - Posts Tagged "licensing-agreements"
More on Trademarks
Writers should be readers. I do a lot of light reading at night. A recent book was "The Big Cat Nap" by Rita Mae Brown. It was a fun book and I enjoyed it. Except she used a similar model car in the book as one I wanted to use but thought I couldn't.
A recent Writer's Digest had a short article about jealousy in writing. That was a first reaction or maybe one of annoyance. But that did no good for me or for answering my question of why Rita Mae Brown could use the company car and I couldn't.
Thinking over what the company had written me, I kept thinking licensing agreement. What is a licensing agreement? I didn't know.
I looked it up and found it had very little bearing on writing at all.
The next question was about using trademarks in fiction. That led me to an interesting blog I hope to browse through more thoroughly called the better novel project put up by Christine Frazier who deconstructs novels to see what elements best selling novels have in common.
A guest post from 2014 by Kathryn Goldman, a lawyer for writers, about using trademarks in fiction answered my questions.
A writer can use a trademark product as long as the book does not infringe on the company as in trying to sell products, put the product or company in a bad light so as to tarnish or defame their trademark or dilute the product. It is a very interesting article plainly written. Additional references are given for further details on the topic.
I now know why Rita Mae Brown could use the car in her book. I also realize I can too. Now, if only I could write as well as Rita Mae Brown.
A recent Writer's Digest had a short article about jealousy in writing. That was a first reaction or maybe one of annoyance. But that did no good for me or for answering my question of why Rita Mae Brown could use the company car and I couldn't.
Thinking over what the company had written me, I kept thinking licensing agreement. What is a licensing agreement? I didn't know.
I looked it up and found it had very little bearing on writing at all.
The next question was about using trademarks in fiction. That led me to an interesting blog I hope to browse through more thoroughly called the better novel project put up by Christine Frazier who deconstructs novels to see what elements best selling novels have in common.
A guest post from 2014 by Kathryn Goldman, a lawyer for writers, about using trademarks in fiction answered my questions.
A writer can use a trademark product as long as the book does not infringe on the company as in trying to sell products, put the product or company in a bad light so as to tarnish or defame their trademark or dilute the product. It is a very interesting article plainly written. Additional references are given for further details on the topic.
I now know why Rita Mae Brown could use the car in her book. I also realize I can too. Now, if only I could write as well as Rita Mae Brown.
