Question about memoirs...(the use of real names)

I'm afraid I don't know the rules on this, myself. I know there are few people around here writing autobiographical or memoirs-type books, so hopefully someone will be able to tell you.

I recently read an autobiography of a female (British) police detective, which was very interesting. As I recall (it was a library book, so I can't look it up), she said at the start that most of the names had been changed, but some of them had been kept the same with permission from the people or their families. This included colleagues, victims and criminals, I believe. Some of the larger, more publicised cases that she was involved in, I think she used the original names for and I believe that she had permission from a couple of colleauges to use their names.

I imagine it would be very difficult to get everyone's permission, in the case of a police officer, because presumably you will be discussing victims, criminals and other police officers (and maybe prosecutors, etc. as well). It seems to me that the safest thing would be to change names, but I honestly don't know what the 'norm' is, nor do I know the legalities of it.

Hope someone else is able to chime in with more useful help!

I don't know the rules either, but every time I'm about to sell a biographical piece I check with the people I name and get their permission before publication. With me, it's mostly autobiographical essays, so it's usually family members I have to ask. I find that when they are not painted in a bad light, they are happy to keep the names real. There were only 2 times I was asked to change the name...once because of a person who was in a new relationship and didn't tell this person about her past, and once when I wrote an essay for a national newspaper that painted my brother in a bad light. He asked me to change "NAME" to "MY BROTHER".

It sounds like you will be using names of people outside the family, such as co-workers and such. I would suggest you seek permission for each person. And that you asked family members if they are deceased. I don't know anything about the laws...I'm sure somebody else will read your post and help you there. Just thought I would add my two cents. Just remember, I'm Canadian so my two cents is only about 1/2 cent American!

Names

Towerkel said:

I've recently agreed to undertake the task of writing my father's memoirs (he was a police officer for over thirty years.)

My question is this. What are the laws concerning the use of real people's names, like if I'm describing a scene where he's named several co-workers. Should I seek approvals from all people I mention? And what if they're no longer living?

Or should I change names/ omit?

I'm new to the biography scene, please help.

Thank you in advance!

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About 99.999% of teh time, you need to use real names. If you don't, no one is going to believe much of anything you write, and they really aren't learning much they want to know.

There's seldom a legal reason to change a name, but sometimes tehre are moral reasons. You may, for example, want to protect some people, particularly the innocent. And if you do change a name, make sure the reader knows it's been done.

But for teh most part, unless you name names, places, and dates, it's going to be pretty difficult to write a memoir anyone will believe.

Jamesaritchie said:

[snip]There's seldom a legal reason to change a name, but sometimes tehre are moral reasons. You may, for example, want to protect some people, particularly the innocent. And if you do change a name, make sure the reader knows it's been done.
But for teh most part, unless you name names, places, and dates, it's going to be pretty difficult to write a memoir anyone will believe.

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Ohdearohdearohdear. I can't agree with this advice. To list just a few legal (and ethical) problems with it:

• If anyone mentioned in it was a California or Tennessee resident at the time of his/her death, rights of publicity continue after death. That means you would absolutely need permission, except from a public figure—and then only for public facts about the public figure.
• You mentioned that the memoir concerns a policeman. Keep in mind that one need not name an individual to create a cause of action for libel—all that is necessary is that the person be identifiable. In fact, it need not even be a correct identification, and that's a particular risk if the person involved in an incident was innocent or a mere witness.
• It's ok to tell the reader that some (or all) names have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals concerned—just don't state which ones. There are a couple of really nasty Tennessee cases involving musicians and their run-ins with the law that make doing so a very risky proposition.
• My experience with specificity in memoirs is vastly different from Mr Ritchie's. Several my clients are academics who have, as part of their work, written memoirs or memoirlike material. Uniformly, the certitude of analysis and flavor were far more important both to publishability and eventual reaction once published than were details of names, places, and dates. Further, failing to name names, places, and dates can, when done properly, help insulate one from several different legal claims, as a competent lawyer is going to want to know precisely what was said before claiming that it was wrongful.

Sadly, there isn't a coherent set of guidelines that one can follow in preparing memoirs, particularly for a limited-purpose public figure like a police officer. Your best bet is to scrupulously document everything with footnotes, then take the manuscript for a legal review before submitting it to agents and/or publishers. You'll also need to keep as many originals and complete documents on hand as possible, if only to satisfy the lawyers who will be involved along the way.

Memoirs and similar works are among the most problematic in publishing, even more than are medical works. They create substantial legal exposure, even when completely true and well-documented.

This thread has been of great help to me. Thanks!

Towerkel said:

I've recently agreed to undertake the task of writing my father's memoirs (he was a police officer for over thirty years.)

My question is this. What are the laws concerning the use of real people's names, like if I'm describing a scene where he's named several co-workers. Should I seek approvals from all people I mention? And what if they're no longer living?

Or should I change names/ omit?

I'm new to the biography scene, please help.

Thank you in advance!

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Having worked in the bio field for sometime now the only advise I can give you is listed below:
First I want to say good luck on your project...
Second... Listen to Jaws...
Third... Find a Entertainment Lawyer in your area that handles authors... they are worth their weight in gold...
Entertainment law which includes you as a author is full of loops and pitfalls. You might write something that you think is perfectly legal when just the opposite is true....
SOOOOOOOOOOOO FIND A ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER...
P.S. Hello Jaws... been meaning to write to you but I have been sic...

And, as an example of what can happen to even careful memoirists:

Penguin Threatened With Lawsuit Over Memoir

Keep in mind that that's after the lawyers had gone through and knocked off most of the worst stuff (I've been informed that what was submitted caused apoplexy in the legal department).

Jaws said:

And, as an example of what can happen to even careful memoirists:

Penguin Threatened With Lawsuit Over Memoir

Keep in mind that that's after the lawyers had gone through and knocked off most of the worst stuff (I've been informed that what was submitted caused apoplexy in the legal department).

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Interesting article...sounds like Penguin is happy for the lawsuit threat...you can't buy that kind of publicity and scandal sells a lot of books.