Hatrack River Writers Workshop: using trademarked words, using text from other authors.

This is topic using trademarked words, using text from other authors. in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by slade007 (Member # 1660) on :

in my material Im still worried about doing two things, might ask now, before I go to a publisher with em.

1. I used a trademarked word, nine times.
I mention the use of an operating system used today and how it evolves in my novel, <Linux, for those familiar with the term> its trademarked under creator Linus Torvalds. Now, Is it okay for me to do this or do I have to ask Mr Torvalds on the use of his OS's name? <I use other OS's too Unix, etc, do I gotta ask Bell Labs about those?>

2. I quote once from Thus Spoke Zarathustra? Do I have to ask permission to use that quote as well?

[This message has been edited by slade007 (edited July 03, 2003).]

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

Most trademark owners are okay with you naming their product, as long as you are sure to put (TM) after the name of the product. (If nothing else, it's free publicity for them--sort of like making sure the audience can see that ET is following a trail of Reese's Pieces(TM) instead of M&Ms(TM) in the movie--a literary form of "product placement" so to speak.)

Also, as long as you say nice things about the product, of course.

Quoting anything else but music lyrics is probably okay under "fair use" as long as you don't have a huge quote, and as long as you credit it somewhere (preferably have the character who actually does the quoting say where it's from).

For music lyrics, you need permission--from whomever owns the copyright (not necessarily the lyricist).

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Also, copyright does expire. If the work your quoting comes in a "Penguin Classics" version or has a Cliff (or Monarch) study guide, then the copyright has probably expired and the work is in the public domain.

Posted by Jules (Member # 1658) on :

Trademarks are fair game as long as you aren't using them to market a product which might cause consumers to think its associated with the original trademark holder's products.

It is a good plan to acknowledge them, but that doesn't mean you have to put 'tm' next to them in the text - a page in the front or the back of the book where you list them and say whose property they are is usually acceptable.

I'm not a lawyer, but I know a few good ones... :-)

Posted by Chronicles_of_Empire (Member # 1431) on :

Is Linux actually a registered trademark? I don;t recall ever seeing "TM" after the name. In fact, I've got a copy of a Linux magazine beside me and there isn't a single TM on the cover, despite mutliple use of the term.

As for the Nietsche - I'm sure copyright on his original work has expired by now - however, you may need permission from any English language translation you quote from. It all depends on how extensive the quote is. I actually wouldn't think you would need permission for a single line. But *do* research the issue further - contact the publisher of the edition you'd like to quote from. May take a while to get a response, though.

Posted by Jules (Member # 1658) on :

Yep, Linux is a trademark. See at the bottom of here: http://www.linux.org.uk/

Posted by Narvi (Member # 1376) on :

Several points:

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds

He has never actually sued anyone for infringement, and will only do so in a truly egregious case. (This does not, in and of itself, cause him to loose the trademark -- that would only hapen if people started calling BSD or something "Linux" and he did nothing)

You don't need permission to call a product by its name in accurate writing about it (your characters can run Linux and eat at McDonalds while drinking Jolt all they like)

If you directly contradict fact (e.g. have your character contribute an O(1) scheduler, when you character in no way resembles the actual author), some people could get upset, though I doubt they'd have grounds to sue.

If your writing is defamatory (eg you call Linux unstable because of all the stolen SCO code in it) and everything else in your story is highly realistic and well researched, you'd be on shakier legal ground, but Linus won't bother you.

UNIX is a registered trademark of the X/Open group, though Apple is fighting to have it revoked. IMHO, they have a strong case and are likely to win.

Copyrights don't expire. They did until 1922. Anything before that is public domain. Anything after is copyrighted -- forever. Check out the supreme court case Eldred vs. Ashcroft. (All this is U.S.A. only, and could be changed if congress stopped being Disney's pawn -- viva la revolution)

Short sections of work can be quoted as fair use. If your characters don't site them, it's good form to through a proper citation into the front matter.

Hope this Helps,

Posted by Kolona (Member # 1438) on :

What about all those ads in Writer's Digest about naming products properly in your writing projects? (At least they used to run the ads all the time -- maybe they don't anymore.) For instance, if you were going to write, "He put on his Nikis," you were supposed to write instead, "He put on his Niki brand running shoes." Which of course sounds absolutely ridiculous. I always wondered if anyone actually did it.

I do understand the idea of companies not wanting their brand names to degenerate into common usage and basically negating their trademarks, but surely there's a middle ground here.