Hi all, first timer here so please be..... What is the stance as to using real place names and or companies etc in a work of fiction that is to be published. For instance. Say the main character in a story is a frequent flyer, spends time at a renowned university, drives a well known make of car and smokes a particular brand of cigarette. So; story goes...Left Cambridge university on a Wednesday morning and enjoyed a unhurried drive in the Jag to Heathrow. The British Airways check in desk was unusually void of irate traveling bodies though there was still a forty minute delay. I wandered into the newly opened Costa Coffee and enjoyed a large Americano and a brief read of the Guardian while puffing on a Carrolls number 1. I’ve read a little about, fair usage, and of course we have to be careful as to registered trade marks. But; if what is printed is not derogatory, then can those big names be intertwined into a fictitious offering without resorting to seeking permission? Ben.
Perfectly fine, even if it's a registered trademark, because you're not using it as a trademark merely by including it in the text. You don't need permission. If you defame the brand/entity, then you could run into problems. If you're going with a traditional publisher, they may have their own guidelines on such usages.
Way back in my college literature class, I remember my professor saying that one of the attributes of modern literature is that it has "product placement." It's not afraid to make references to contemporary culture. The world we live in is commercialized; fiction can only really be realistic if it makes a connection to the real world, and this is one way to do it. You can mention brands, and there are plenty of examples of stories that do this. As mentioned above, you'll want to avoid anything libelous.
Read any of Robert J. Sawyers excellent Science Fiction novels. They really are quite good, with the singular caveat that any one of those novels could easily be retitled, "Here is a Novel in Which I List Out Each and Every Uniquely or Quintessentially Canadian Product. Yes, ALL OF THEM!!!"
