How's that work? Like, in the musical-thing experiment (that's not really taking off yet) I'm doing, my MC is bound to run into real-life musicians at some point. Assuming, for sake of argument, that this story happens and such situations occur, there would be a proper disclaimer at the beginning, obviously, but does something like this fall under portrait rights or something? Maybe my MC would run into Ozzy Osbourne backstage and I make Ozzy remark he likes the music, something like that. Usually I'd make up a fake simile (am I using that right?), but when it comes to more iconic people that just seems stupid. I can't really recall any situations where this happens beyond the bits in movies where the actual person concerned is present.
Maybe have him run into Izzy Isaacson, that well-known elder statesman of metal who was once a screaming madman stomping around barefoot and stoned out of his mind onstage, biting the heads off rubber chickens in fake Voodoo rituals that at the time many people thought were genuine. And then Steve Bai stilts past making his violin weep and laugh, until his violin teacher Joe Zatoichi kicks him in the groin (from a step-ladder) and mocks him cruelly with an electric Stradivarius. Of course not many figures would be so easy to caricature*, and maybe you don't want caricatures in such a story. But that was fun to write! Does anybody know the legalities of caricaturing well-known people? *On second thought, the rock world has a lot of easily caricatured figures.
I used a couple of appearances and a LOT of references to real-life chefs in my first book. Also a lot of references to real-life musicians in my third book (such as mentioning that my main character's band toured as the opening act for Foo Fighters). In my experience, as long as you're not trashing or attributing behaviors to them that are way outside of what's known publicly, you're fine. Frankly, the chance that you'd publish a book that would get big enough that they or their management would notice or care is infinitesimally small. I know I wouldn't mind if Dave Grohl or Eric Greenspan found out that they were mentioned in my books, but I'm pretty sure that's never going to happen.
This is somewhat complicated but if you use the real name, you'd most likely run into trouble if you portrayed them in a negative light and didn't have permission. For example, if you had a scene where a character with the same name and likeness of an actual person did drugs, you could be sued and would probably lose. That doesn't mean you still couldn't BE SUED if the person was portrayed favorably in your work and they still didn't like it, but you'd probably be safe from a judgment, but you may still need a lawyer. Scarlett Johansson filed a similar lawsuit, but the character in the book was a negative portrayal, so it was understandable. If you have any doubt, you could just change the name and alter a few traits as was already suggested. Edit: the character in the book that prompted the lawsuit filed by Scarlett Johansson wasn't even based on her, a guy mistakens a woman for Scarlett because her appearance is identical. Her case would not go far in the U.S. but the writer is French and the laws are a little different, which was my point, it's not so simple. I still wouldn't worry about it if it's nothing defamatory.
If your a book collector, you might know to look at page 77 of the first edition of Graham Greens book Stembolul Train. A Mr Quin Savory was mention as one of the passengers. A Mr Quin Savory threatened the publishers with court action unless his name was removed. It was just a coincidence and nothing bad was said. The Publishers pulped the remaining unsold books and the character became Q C Savory. The point is if you would like to publish your work, you do need to treat character names with caution. However, if you see the book and it's cheap, buy it.
I'd be cautious about writing in full interactions, or having the real people express subjective opinions. Like, while it's fine to have the MC run into Ozzy in a bar and think how awesome that is, if book!Ozzy starts expressing opinions on the fictional music and real!Ozzy reads your book only to hate the MC for whatever reason, it could make your life needlessly awkward. In your place I would probably have real musicians populate the background, but invest a couple of other bands to interact with your MCs in more meaningful ways.
Yeah, if I wanted to use charicatures I could have a field day in my chosen musical genre... I'm aiming high. ;o) Okay. 70s Ozzy Osbourne is still an option then. It's all hypothetical at this point anyway. I expect something like this might happen if this story becomes a thing, but I guess I'll just burn those bridges when I cross them.
You might treat it like a photo release -- any artist (of any genre) who is worth mentioning as a "name" probably has an agent. How about contacting the agent and asking permission to mention the artist's name as a very minor, scene-setting character in the book or story? Unless it's negative, I suspect most artists thrive on the concept that any publicity is better than no publicity, and free publicity is ... free! The agent might ask for a synopsis of how you plan to use his/her client's name, or even ask to read the actual passge, but you might get permission for free and that would preempt any issues. On the other hand, if a polite request is rejected, or if the agent demands a payment for the use of the name, you'll know not to use the name.
Thought about that and I might think about it again when the story gets traction. I did try it before. Mailed Dodge to see if they were okay with me using the last generation Challenger R/T in my story. That was about nine months ago and I'm going with a fake manufacturer. I'm guessing Unpublished Jackass' armchair writings aren't very high up on their list.
In my opinion there's virtually no risk in using a brand name like that unless you portray it in an unrealistic, negative, or unsafe manner. If you just have a scene where the MC wins a race in it, who would care? But if the MC hits a park bench and the car explodes, that would be an issue.
As others have said, as long as you don't portray the person/group/brand in a completely negative, evil, ridiculously false light, AND as long as your book doesn't generate an enormous amount of mainstream popularity (I mean hey, we all hope it does for you of course!) you'll likely be fine. I mean, if a book like Twilight or Harry Potter had a chapter where, I dunno, say Bob Seger was portrayed as a murderous, evil drug dealer, that would probably cause a problem. But in your case, you should be okay.
People are different from things. Manufacturers of just about everything actually pay to have their products appear in movies and on television. Remember the Walker, Texas Ranger television series? In the first year, Walker drive a Chevy pickup. Then Dodge/Chrysler/yadayada took over s a sponsor and for the remainder of the show, Walker drove a Dodge pickup. Likewise the cable TV show American Pickers. The first year they drove, IIRC, a Mercedes Sprinter van. Then Ford got involved, and thereafter they drove a Ford van. A mention of a product is free publicity for the manufacturer. As noted, unless the product is portrayed in a negative light it's highly unlikely that there would ever be an objection. People, on the other hand, are not products -- although celebrities have effectively made themselves into products, and that's the problem. To Dodge or Ford, a mention of their vehicles might help them sell another vehicle. To a music or sports or cinema star, using their name could be regarded as your attempting to profit from their celebrity. It can't hurt to ask. Heck, if you send a nicely-worded request and keep a record (such as a certificate of mailing), even a non-response could constitute a legal defense down the road. "Hey, Judge, I wrote and asked them if it was okay. I never heard back so I assumed they had no objections or they would have told me."
This is one of those situations where you need legal advice from a lawyer, not from the internet... there is some truly appalling and totally inaccurate advice in this thread (as well as the good and useful), which is why we have the rule about not giving legal (or medical in a different context) advice on the forum. Having said that i would note that it is difficult for even a lawyer to give hard and fast advice because people are squirrelly precious paradigms and no two are alike.. some famous people won't care what you write about them, whereas others will have a fit just because you mention their name... some will be happy to be included with no payment, others might expect to charge thousands. Also if you aim to trad publish.. this is an area that your publisher may check out (or alternatively want changed) to manage their liability, so you don't need to worry as much prior to publication as would a self publisher who has the total weight themselves. Returning to my first point in terms of managing our liability as a legal entity I'm closing the thread, because we cannot afford the possibility of being dragged into expensive litigation around why we allowed poor advice to be published on our platform
