I am working on a small piece about a real American city. No names mentioned, but everyone has heard of it, I'm sure. For numerous reasons, including authenticity, I need to mention some concrete businesses there. Coffee shops/restaurants, mostly. There's also a very brief mention of a certain powerful dot com. It's definitely not in a negative tone. Does any of that spell legal trouble? I know there has been a mention of libel in one of the other recent threads. E.g., a rather unorthodox character appears in one of those places.
As long as it's not libel, there shouldn't be any problem. If it isn't negative in tone, then it won't be libel.
it's done all the time... just be careful to not be derogatory about any of the real folks and businesses...
