Legal ramifications?

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ibnso

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I'm writing a novel about current events and have a couple questions. The story follows the thoughts and feelings of the main character as he tries to understand and deal with our current political and economic climate. Although set and based upon current real events the story would be fiction.
Is there any legal ramifications with quoteing politictions and political commentators?
Would I need permission to use their names or words as long as I am not attributing anything to them except direct quotes and the interpretations of their words and deads are obviously only the thoughts of my MC/self?

Thanks for any and all answers.
 

Wayne K

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2. You need third-party documentation of accusations of others’ wrongdoing (e.g. court documents or newspaper accounts) to avoid libel. OR the person in question must be extremely high profile (Michael Skakel and the Kennedys qualify, but a crook in the Catholic Church wouldn’t) OR you need releases from people you accuse of wrongdoing to indicate they won’t sue you.
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A lawyer sent me this, so I would assume if the people you are quoting are politicians it would make them high profile.
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IceCreamEmpress

IceCreamEmpress

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ibnso said:
Is there any legal ramifications with quoteing politictions and political commentators?
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Yes. George F. Will's columns/Keith Olbermann's television remarks/Rush Limbaugh's radio show/Arianna Huffington's website editorials/etc. are those people's intellectual property. You would need the same kind of permissions to quote those as you would to quote, say, Stephen King's books--a passing reference may be "fair use," but an extended quotation needs to be cleared with the intellectual property holders.

Quoting a politician's public speech at length is a bit complicated. On one hand, it's the politician's intellectual property--on the other hand, you're reporting a public event. On the third hand, most speeches are boring. So I would lean toward something like They were the kind of guys that Spiro Agnew called "nattering nabobs of negativism" as being OK, and reproducing several paragraphs from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech as being a problem.
 

ideagirl

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Wayne K said:
A lawyer sent me this, so I would assume if the people you are quoting are politicians it would make them high profile.
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Most likely yes. However, what that passage a lawyer sent you was discussing is a completely different issue. Making accusations about somebody is completely different than quoting them or describing things they are widely known (via the press) to have said or done.
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Wayne K

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ideagirl said:
Wayne K said:
Most likely yes. However, what that passage a lawyer sent you was discussing is a completely different issue. Making accusations about somebody is completely different than quoting them or describing things they are widely known (via the press) to have said or done.
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I didn't read the question right. I saw the word Politician and assumed it was an accusation. It's a shame that could be a mental kneejerk.
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