Using brand names

Diana W. · May 20, 2008

I apologize if this thread has been discussed before but I was wondering if you need any kind of permission to use brand names in your novels? E.g. franchises like McDonalds, Wendys etc or products like Colgate toothpaste. Not what I was thinking of using but just examples. Do you have to pay any royalties to these companies or get their permission?

ORION · May 20, 2008

I could use anything- my publisher didn't have to change or pay...i used KFC (I even had a character criticize the chicken parts in the boxes...and coke and lots others...

Feathers · May 20, 2008

I'm pretty sure it's ok to use brand names and stuff. If you use the name of a real company or business you have to be careful not to slander them too much, but it's still kosher. Once you start quoting books or songs or whatever, then you have to get permission.

Note that I've never done any of these things...so really, it's my two cents.

-Feathers

IceCreamEmpress · May 20, 2008

NYBrit said:
I apologize if this thread has been discussed before but I was wondering if you need any kind of permission to use brand names in your novels?

No.

As long as you don't say anything potentially defamatory, you're fine.

Paul waited in the Disneyland parking lot in the Chevy Cobalt he'd rented from Avis. He took long slugs of a Diet Vanilla Coke as he flipped the radio back and forth between Rush Limbaugh and Terri Gross. = OK

Paul waited in the Disneyland parking lot, fearful of the marauding vampire bats that plagued tourists there. He tried to turn on the radio, but the knob snapped off in his hand; he cursed the crappy Chevy Cobalt and the drug-addled Avis employee who'd rented it to him. It didn't matter, anyway--the only shows on at this hour were Rush Limbaugh and Terri Gross, and he knew they were both plagiarists and worse. He took a long slug of his Diet Vanilla Coke and gagged at the horrible taste...maybe it was true what they said about it being poisonous! = HELLO ANGRY LAWYERS

SPMiller · May 20, 2008

Stephen King uses brand names fairly regularly in his work, and I know he doesn't go through any hoops to do so.

Diana W. · May 20, 2008

Thanks guys that's good to know!

soleary · May 20, 2008

As a marketer, I can tell you that you're fine in fiction and have to be cautious in non-fiction. Make sense?

maestrowork · May 20, 2008

Product placement is perfectly fine in fiction. It adds to the verisimilitude. No permission required.

MDSchafer · May 20, 2008

I would avoid using anything to trendy. I remember reading Robin Cook's Invasion probably eight years ago, and he made a reference to jams, you know the short lived shorts from the 1990s, it stuck out like a thumb.

Today there are so many company take overs I'd be hesitant to use any company name, because it might be gone in a few years. Until recently you could have a mortgage broker who worked at Bear Sterns, a factory worker at Damiler Chrysler or a Energy trader at Enron.

I rarely mention names, and if I do, I try to mention brands that will be their forever. I have a bit about Smarties in my WIP, and I can't ever see them disappearing in England, even if the company changes hands.

scope · May 20, 2008

MDSchafer said:
I would avoid using anything to trendy. I remember reading Robin Cook's Invasion probably eight years ago, and he made a reference to jams, you know the short lived shorts from the 1990s, it stuck out like a thumb.

Today there are so many company take overs I'd be hesitant to use any company name, because it might be gone in a few years. Until recently you could have a mortgage broker who worked at Bear Sterns, a factory worker at Damiler Chrysler or a Energy trader at Enron.

I rarely mention names, and if I do, I try to mention brands that will be their forever. I have a bit about Smarties in my WIP, and I can't ever see them disappearing in England, even if the company changes hands.

Excellent point. Although I never thought about it before, it makes perfect sense.

Thanks.

maestrowork · May 20, 2008

Yeah, like Pan Am in 2001: Space Odyssey? The airline was gone way before 2001.

Still, I wouldn't worry too much. It's fiction. Chances are, no one will be reading your book in 2028 and think, "wow, what the hell was Google?"

Staroffurby · May 21, 2008

The fact is we use brand names in real life, some brand names has taken over totally. You will hear the word Hoover not vacuum cleaner, the same with Sellotape and Post It, etc..... The list is endless. So if we could not mention brand names it would take away part of our frequent vocabulary. You can even go quite some way and say bad things about brands, most people are aware its fiction.

maestrowork · May 21, 2008

Staroffurby said:
You can even go quite some way and say bad things about brands, most people are aware its fiction.

It depends on the intent -- say if you set out to make Microsoft the evil empire and modern-day Nazis, you may get into troubles. But I agree. I've seen enough Jeeps and Ford Explorers explode. Or a Boeing 747 going down. It's fiction.

Polenth · May 21, 2008

IceCreamEmpress said:
Paul waited in the Disneyland parking lot, fearful of the marauding vampire bats that plagued tourists there. He tried to turn on the radio, but the knob snapped off in his hand; he cursed the crappy Chevy Cobalt and the drug-addled Avis employee who'd rented it to him. It didn't matter, anyway--the only shows on at this hour were Rush Limbaugh and Terri Gross, and he knew they were both plagiarists and worse. He took a long slug of his Diet Vanilla Coke and gagged at the horrible taste...maybe it was true what they said about it being poisonous! = HELLO ANGRY LAWYERS

Angry lawyer magnet it may be, but that version is much funnier.

James D. Macdonald · May 21, 2008

Brand names are a spice. Use 'em to improve the flavor of the stew. But use them with too heavy a hand and you'll make it inedible.

===========

Paul waited in the Disneyland parking lot, fearful of the marauding vampire bats that plagued tourists there.

Name him Paul McCartney (or, better, Tarzan "Sherlock" Gamgee) and set even better lawyer traps.

johnzakour · May 21, 2008

ORION said:
I could use anything- my publisher didn't have to change or pay......

Same here.

Over the years I've had one trademarked name I had to change it was actually the title of one of my books but then McDonalds came out with a toy by a very similar name.

The only other thing I've ever been told I definitely can't use are lyrics from songs.

IceCreamEmpress · May 21, 2008

James D. Macdonald said:
Name him Paul McCartney (or, better, Tarzan "Sherlock" Gamgee) and set even better lawyer traps.

Tarzan "Sherlock" Gamgee is one of the greatest character names ever. If I weren't writing a Big Civil War Book right now, I would be tempted to introduce this person just because. However, I feel that only you, Rudy Rucker, and Carl Hiassen could do the name justice.

Using brand names

Diana W.

I'm evolving

ORION

Sailed away years ago

Feathers

emerging from the writing cave

IceCreamEmpress

Hapless Virago

SPMiller

Prodigiously Hanged

Diana W.

I'm evolving

soleary

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

MDSchafer

scope

Commonsensical Maverick

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Staroffurby

i'm impossible to describe

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Polenth

Mushroom

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

johnzakour

Dangerous with a Keyboard

IceCreamEmpress

Hapless Virago