Does editing include copyright verification?

msd

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When you have your novel professionally edited, does the editor also have the responsibility to verify copyright issues? For example, can the editor tell me that I can't use a particular university name? One of my fictitious characters is a professor at Harvard University.
If copyright issues have nothing to do with the editor, is there someone I can employ for this job?
 

cornflake

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When you have your novel professionally edited, does the editor also have the responsibility to verify copyright issues? For example, can the editor tell me that I can't use a particular university name? One of my fictitious characters is a professor at Harvard University.

If copyright issues have nothing to do with the editor, is there someone I can employ for this job?

No, those are legal issues and they're not about copyright - they're about trademark and libel mostly. If you're planning to try to submit to trade publishers, they'd be the ones to deal with that. If you're self-publishing, I'd ask an atty.
 

msd

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No, those are legal issues and they're not about copyright - they're about trademark and libel mostly. If you're planning to try to submit to trade publishers, they'd be the ones to deal with that. If you're self-publishing, I'd ask an atty.

Do I understand this correctly; I don't need to be excessively concerned about trademark and libel if I have my book published by a publishing company?
 

blacbird

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Do I understand this correctly; I don't need to be excessively concerned about trademark and libel if I have my book published by a publishing company?

What you need to do is understand these issues, what they mean, how they work. It's clear already from this thread that you don't.

caw
 

cornflake

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Do I understand this correctly; I don't need to be excessively concerned about trademark and libel if I have my book published by a publishing company?

Well, yes and no. If you're just asking about this one thing, that your character is a professor at an existing university, then I'd say it's possible you don't need to worry too much about it if you're hoping to go the trade route, unless you know for sure you're doing something that the school would object to (the professor is running a big drug and underage sex prostitution ring, or whatever). Then I'd seek legal advice about what's ok, what you've got, what may or may not need to be changed. If it's just the name of the place then I'd leave it to the house to figure out if and when someone purchases the book; they have lawyers for this purpose.

If you're planning on self, I'd ask a lawyer regardless of what you find online or how you're using the uni.
 

Old Hack

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What you need to do is understand these issues, what they mean, how they work. It's clear already from this thread that you don't.

caw

It would be more helpful if you'd explain stuff, Mr Bird. Being grumpy like this doesn't further the conversation, and being grumpy is what I do. You're stealing my act.
 

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msd, I couldn't read your original post because of its tiny font-size. You might find you get more interest if you use the standard settings in future.

When you have your novel professionally edited, does the editor also have the responsibility to verify copyright issues? For example, can the editor tell me that I can't use a particular university name? One of my fictitious characters is a professor at Harvard University.

As others have already pointed out, this isn't a copyright issue: it's a legal issue.

You can use the university's name: but if anything happens at that university which sets it in a negative light, or if there happens to be a real-life professor with the same name who you write about in a less-than-positive way, you're leaving yourself open to all sorts of legal actions.

Deb Harkness's debut novel, for example, is set at Oxford University and mentions all sorts of real-life buildings and institutions.

If copyright issues have nothing to do with the editor, is there someone I can employ for this job?

A specialist lawyer would be your best bet.

No, those are legal issues and they're not about copyright - they're about trademark and libel mostly. If you're planning to try to submit to trade publishers, they'd be the ones to deal with that. If you're self-publishing, I'd ask an atty.

Do I understand this correctly; I don't need to be excessively concerned about trademark and libel if I have my book published by a publishing company?

If your book is published with a trade publisher then your publisher should get all these issues checked over before it goes to print.

Your editor will highlight any potential issues during the editing process, and if they find anything which is deemed particularly worrisome they'll point it out and hand it over to their legal department.

Unless you're presenting your ms as non-fiction, or write about the institution or a person within it in a particularly negative light, you should be fine to send it out on submission without worry.

If, however, you plan to self-publish the book then you need to do all of these publisher-things yourself. So you need to hire a good editor, and once you have a final version you need to speak to a specialist attorney, who has specific experience in this area and a good record of success in working on such cases. An ordinary high-street lawyer is unlikely to be able to help you with this.
 

Jamesaritchie

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If it's fiction, you can use the university's name, regardless of what terrible things you have happen there. Do people not read? Harvard has been the scene of numerous fictional rapes, murders, robberies, conspiracies, and you name it. So has just about every other famous location.

If you're writing nonfiction, the truth shall set you free. You can tell verifiable truth, or even a lie, if you have no reason to know it is a lie, and you're on safe ground.

people must think all those millions of novels and nonfiction books that fill bookstores and libraries never say anything bad about real like places and people, and that all fictional high crimes and misdemeanors take place in imagined locales and fictional cities.
 

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It would be more helpful if you'd explain stuff, Mr Bird. Being grumpy like this doesn't further the conversation, and being grumpy is what I do. You're stealing my act.

I wasn't being grumpy. Just noting that the famous GROOOOGLE people can be your friends, sometimes. If matters of copyright, trademark, patent, libel and slander have arisen as concerns, the first place I would go is a search engine. Never in human history has it been easier to obtain first-hand information on stuff of this sort.

caw
 

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