Using names of companies, products in a story?

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Using names of companies, products in a story?

There��s a lot of confusion among writers about whether they can use the names of real companies and brands in their stories. Not surprisingly, there are plenty of misconceptions about trademark prohibitions and how to cover yourself.

First, using a company��s name or the names of their products in a published story is entirely lawful and no trademark violation. In fact, doing so adds a layer of verisimilitude to your story. After all, we are surrounded by products in our daily lives, so a story set in contemporary times ought to reflect this; in addition, including products in a story set in the past can help readers determine and feel that they are in the era.

Using a company��s name or its products in your story falls under the legal category of nominative fair use and is not considered infringement. Hence, your characters can go to McDonalds on a date, eat a Big Mac and Coke, and then later go parking in their Chevy.

There are four areas of the law, however, that might cause you to get in trouble should you use a company name or its products, though��

Trademark dilution
Owners of brand name products don��t like when writers use their trademark in a way that makes it less distinctive. For example, if a character makes a photocopy, but you refer to it as ��Xeroxing,�� you��re diluting the company��s trademark, even if in everyday speech people refer to photocopying as ��Xeroxing.�� The problem for writers usually is that the common name for the activity is unwieldy (��Band-Aid�� sounds so much better than ��adhesive bandage�� after all). Many readers would have no idea of what the common name refers to. Often you can avoid the issue by simply capitalizing the trademark name.

Defamation
Should you depict a brand as being dangerous or defective, even though it��s not, you can run into problems with tarnishing the company��s name and products. For example, writing that drinking three cans of Mountain Dew in five minutes can cause death from the soda��s acid eating a hole in the stomach lining might make for an interesting plot point, but it is patently false. Fortunately for writers, to win a defamation case the company would have to prove that readers believed what you wrote was true.

Trademark tarnishment
Closely related to defamation, tarnishment occurs when the writer presents a company or product in an unseemly way. If you wrote a story in which the New England Patriots cheerleaders all worked as prostitutes, you��re damaging the reputation of a trademarked name. Usually parody falls under the ��fair use�� protection, however.

Trademark infringement
This occurs when you use a company��s name in a way that causes confusion. The issue most likely would occur with your book title or the series name. Suppose you wrote a YA series called The Coca-Cola Kids. Although Coca-Cola doesn��t publish books, readers might think that company produces or sanctions the books because their trademarked name is in the series title. You��re using Coca-Cola��s trademark to refer to and sell your books, resulting in infringement.

You almost always can avoid all of these problem by making up a name that is similar to a business or product similar to the one to which it refers. With dilution, the safest route is to simply use the common name or to change the scene.

Finally, avoid using the R-in-a-circle or the TM symbols when referring to a brand name. Besides reducing your story��s readability, it won��t protect you against defamation, tarnishment or infringement.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

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