using real company name in fiction

EnkelZ · Jan 10, 2010

I've been searching and can't find a thread on this.

If I want to use a real corporation in a fiction work, how can this be handled?

(a) Can I use their actual name (with disclaimer that it's a fiction work) or do I have to make one up. And just how made up does the name have to be? Can I switch International Business Machines (IBM) for International Computing System (ICS)... so still a three name acronym, still sounds very similar.

(b) What if the description of the 'fake' company would lead everyone to believe it's the real company?

As an example, it would be hard to describe a fictional IBM like company without everyone thinking of the real IBM. If I described a "global behemoth who pulled digital computing from the lab to the desktop" most people would think of IBM even if I called it ICS. (I want to use the corporation in a negative light)

AryaT92 · Jan 10, 2010

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167949

Maryn said:
It's perfectly all right to use it in this way.

If you'd said or implied anything negative about it, then you'd be wise to re-name them with something invented, But you've been only complimentary.

Caveat: Many businesses do not want their name mentioned in any material which some might deem objectionable. So if this is part of a bomb-making book or fetish erotica, rename them.

Maryn, glad to help

JeanneTGC said:
As long as it's fiction, you can use it. You can even say mean things, like, "I hate Pepsi. It tastes like battery acid." Fiction means made up, so you can get away with much more, and let's face it, using the real names of brands, places, and people makes your story feel more real.

You can use titles, people's names, and company's names. You can say the character was "on the Matterhorn at Disneyland."

Among the things you cannot do is use song lyrics. You could say, "He heard Aerosmith's 'Dude (Looks Like a Lady)' on the radio." You couldn't type out the lyrics, and if you have the character singing along, you'd only want to quote a word or two. Lyrics are under copyright, titles are not.

(Lyrics are under the same guidelines as other forms of plagarism -- don't copy passages from someone else's book, don't copy someone else's song lyrics.)

If you're writing nonfiction, you fall under different rules. If you say, "Michael Jackson hated Pepsi, even when they were his sponsor," you'd better have some proof to back that up.

job said:
Titles cannot be copyright, so copyright law does not apply.

The names of products, including the names of magazines, can be trademarked. You can find discussion of how writers use trademark names here.

Basically -- you don't have to worry about it.

EnkelZ · Jan 10, 2010

Thanks for the thread link AryaT92! I read through it and found the preview of the book "Little Brother' referenced in the thread. There the companies are mentioned in a secondary way... e.g. (paraphrase) I had a much better system for half the price that I would have paid to Dell.

I'm thinking about the company as a major character (little guy vs big corporation) type thing. After googling around the Internet, it seems that using a real name won't work.

Now, I'm thinking of turning the story into 1st person who drops hints, but never comes out and says who the company is. That brings me back to the issue of if I describe an IBM like company, more than 80% of the population would guess it was IBM because they've held a near monopoly in their industry [hardware] for so many years.

Maybe this wasn't a good thread. I'm trying to find any examples of similar uses of company names and none so far. (Although government agencies seem to be fair game)

analias · Jan 10, 2010

EnkelZ said:
After googling around the Internet, it seems that using a real name won't work.

Seemed to work out OK for Max Barry in Jennifer Government. Nike factors heavily in the book with other corporations also present (Exxon Mobile, for instance), and none of them are represented favorably at all.

There is a pretty healthy (and funny) disclaimer at the beginning of the book stressing that it is a work of fiction, though.

BrooklynLee · Jan 11, 2010

Another issue with using a real company as a major component of your story is that you need some real detailed knowledge of the company in order to make it real. For example, if you want your main character to walk into the headquarters of IBM, can you describe the building? Because some of your readers may have been there. If your character works there, what would his title be? How about his boss? It's not impossible, but there's a lot to get wrong... and you may or may not want to do the research that getting it right might entail. So using a made-up company "loosely based" on a real one can provide other freedoms for your writing, aside from not getting sued.

DVGuru · Jan 11, 2010

BrooklynLee said:
Another issue with using a real company as a major component of your story is that you need some real detailed knowledge of the company in order to make it real. For example, if you want your main character to walk into the headquarters of IBM, can you describe the building? Because some of your readers may have been there. If your character works there, what would his title be? How about his boss? It's not impossible, but there's a lot to get wrong... and you may or may not want to do the research that getting it right might entail. So using a made-up company "loosely based" on a real one can provide other freedoms for your writing, aside from not getting sued.

I agree. If the company is a major part of your story, I'd consider creating a fictional company. It will give you an unlimited amount of freedom. If it were me, I would use a fictional company, but research and incorporate aspects of real companies for authenticity. If readers think the company is really IBM, fine, but at least you avoid having to reaseach the finer details that BrooklynLee mentioned, which you probably wouldn't be able to find out without actually visiting the IBM headquarters or interviewing current/former employees.

Also, even if your story is fiction, I would think a publisher might be wary of publishing a novel that paints IBM in a negative light. They may have fallen out of the spotlight in recent years, but we're still talking about a major company. Maybe it won't be an issue, but publishing is difficult enough as it is...no need to give an editor another reason to reject your manuscript.

Lady Ice · Jan 11, 2010

I'd use a fake name if you're going to be critical. If it's obviously a dig specifically at IBM and not just at big corporate companies, it might just look like a smear.

Make sure that you're influenced by your personal distaste of big corporate companies and not a particular grudge against IBM.

Lyxdeslic · Jan 11, 2010

Use whatever you want, I'd say. For now, really...what's the difference? Write it, find an agent, change it later if need be.

Lyx

BigWords · Jan 11, 2010

Despite all the accusations that get routinely levelled at them, Microsoft is (or at least used to be) very open to interviews, tours around their HQ etc. There are a couple of good books about large companies of this type, though I have yet to come across anything that straightens out IBM's highly questionable behavior over the years. Write the story with an ersatz, though look to real life for the small details which will make readers believe that the research has been done regardless.

using real company name in fiction

EnkelZ

AryaT92

EnkelZ

analias

Square Training Wheels

BrooklynLee

Got the hang of it, here

DVGuru

Plays too many video games

Lady Ice

Makes useful distinctions

Lyxdeslic

Laughing every time I choke.

BigWords

Geekzilla