When Writing A Book Do You Have To Have Permission On Uesing Brand Names

I am writing a novel, do I need permission to mention a brand name, like Hyatt or Walmart?

If you are mentioning public places owned by governments like Central Park, JFK Airport or Government owned Museums etc. Then you can refer those places as it is and describe them same way as you would do, to one of your character, place inside your novel.Now all privately owned places like Disney Land, Hyatt or Walmart you may use them, if that place is needed to be part of story to move forward.If your character is going to Walmart for grocery and something happened in between and story moved to a different direction then Walmart can always be referred in your story.Same will be the case when your character went to meet a client and checked into Hyatt that night and all the action happened at the next morning after meeting the client outside the Hotel or at his office then there is no harm in using the actual name of any real Hotel.Fictitious name or reference is recommended, when some action going to happen at that private place.Although with so many novels release in a year, no body tracks or give a damn about their name references unless that Novel is pretty famous or someone bought the attention to the correct authority about their name reference in your novel.So choice is yours, I will recommend to write the entire story with Walmart or Hyatt in it. Then revisit that story and find out how they are standing against the context of entire story or novel.Will your reference can cause damage to their reputation or has potential to cause dent to their brand value? If the answer is yes, only then replace the name with either fictitious or reference name, like X-Mart grocery store or that grocery store with huge parking lot.

When writing a book, is it okay to mention/make references to famous celebrities, movies, other writers, songs, copyrighted stuff and related things?

When you are writing a book, during the actual writing process itself, yes all of these are allowed.It is publishing the book that can triggering copyright infringement, libel, and other legal issues.This is why publishers have lawyers that go over the entire book and clear all of the content. This is a very important legal service that publishers offer, and something that self-publishers often fail to be aware of.In general, yes, you can actually use real names in passing. Names of movies, writers, songs, books, celebrities, etc. What you cannot do is use actual copyrighted material: an excerpt from a book, lyrics from a song, dialog from a movie. But names do not enjoy copyright protection. In fact, it would be silly if they did since you could refer to anything in writing if they did. Nominative use is when you just refer to something by name and that is totall allowed.But you cannot go beyond that and use someone’s character. Sure, you can say “His hair looked like Harry Potter’s hair.” (By that way, don’t. That’s horrible writing.) But you can’t actually have the character Harry Potter in your book. That would be copyright infringement.And you run into all sorts of potential for libel if you include real people doing things they did not do in real life. Sure, mentioning them is okay. But turning them into a character in your book is a touchy subject. Disclaimers can help, but are undercut by using a real name of a real celebrity that is obviously a representation of that person.And, if your book is non-fiction then you must have a lawyer go over the book to look for libelous statements. There really isn’t anyway to make that risk safe otherwise.But again, this is the publisher’s headache, not yours. Unless you center your book on a fictional representation of a celebrity, making it essentially nonpunishable, you really aren’t negatively impacting your chances of finding a publisher by having a song quote or referencing Google or having a character carry around an iPad.Meanwhile, be aware that there are books like this out there:Shatnerquake“After a reality bomb goes off at the first ever ShatnerCon, all of the characters ever played by William Shatner are suddenly sucked into our world. Their mission: hunt down and destroy the real William Shatner. Featuring: Captain Kirk, TJ Hooker, Denny Crane, Priceline Shatner, Cartoon Kirk, Rescue 9-1-1 Shatner, singer Shatner, and many more.”

If I write a book based on a song's lyrics, do I have to ask permission from the record company?

First off, I’m not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice. It is, however, common sense advice based on my current knowledge and experience as a writer.I think you’ve already gotten the idea from the other answers, but let me switch it around for you.“I want to write a book where every chapter leads with an illustration by an artist I love. Do I have to ask permission?”“I want to write new lyrics for a tune that I love by my favorite musician. Can I publish the song as being my own and sell it for a profit?”Any time you want to incorporate someone else’s creative work into your project, you have to ask for permission. If it’s published, chances are you’ll have to deal with the publisher as well. Music, art, poetry, short stories, whatever. There is such a thing as fair use. Some of fair use is pretty clear cut (you can’t copyright a title, for example, hence we have many songs titled Hello in the world) but some fair use gets pretty gray. For example, if someone creates a sculpture, and you photograph that sculpture, can you sell that image? (The answer is not obvious and depends on whether it’s in a public place, if it’s considered ‘public art’, and so on.)Whenever there’s any doubt, do your research, and if there’s still doubt, err on the side of caution. For example, it’s ‘common knowledge’ that musicians can incorporate short bits of music from another artist into their own. Well, except when they can’t.DNA was very lucky when, rather than suing, Suzanne Vega and her team decided to buy in on the 2008 sampled version of Tom’s Diner. That example is particularly telling in your situation because they used the whole song.Copyright law can be complicated, befuddling, and yes, it can stifle creative endeavors, but where copyright laws aren’t in place, creators tend to starve. I think that copyright is a bit overprotected in some countries, but I think that’s better than the state of a creative’s ability to survive in places where there is no copyright law. It’s in your own best interest, regardless of whether it seems ‘fair’ or not, to come up with another idea, or write the book but DO NOT publish it, even for free, anywhere.Here’s a clear article that will help guide you on this and future endeavors.10 Big Myths about copyright explained

Can I use real names of brands in my book?

Term=Fair use, not any specialist or anything so I too would like to know whats up.I don’t think it works the same, you’re not claiming ownership of those products or ideas, they’re objects in the story. Can’t say I’ve ever seen any issue or notes about coka-cola, name brand cars, gun names/designs, in a book before. Also could say I don’t read that many books! :PWhat does copyright protect?Copyright does not protect ideas, nor does it protect facts. It protects only the form in which ideas or facts are expressed. For example, you may read a copyrighted paper and appropriate its ideas, or facts it conveys, into your own work without violating the copyright. However, you may not reproduce the actual text of the paper (unless fair use or another exception to copyright protection applies), nor may you evade this prohibition simply by changing some words or thoroughly paraphrasing the content.Copyright and Fair UseKept reading on and found this :Can I avoid infringement by crediting the source?No. Copyright infringement and plagiarism are two different things. Plagiarism is the misappropriation of another's work, passing it off as your own without indicating the source. It is possible to plagiarize a work without infringing the copyright—for example if you take another’s ideas without proper attribution, even though you do not copy the language, or you borrow from a work whose copyright has expired. Conversely, it is possible to infringe without plagiarizing. Properly citing the work you are copying does not avoid liability for infringement.One last little bit here (basically confirms to me you’re free to do what you wanted)There are some things that copyright law does not protect. Copyright law does not protect the titles of books or movies, nor does it protect short phrases such as, “Make my day.” Copyright protection also doesn’t cover facts, ideas, or theories. These things are free for all to use without authorization.

Must authors get permission to name people in their acknowledgements?

A dedication and an acknowledgement are two different things. The dedication describes the people, things, events etc. that inspired the author to write the book. This could include people that contributed to the book, but it doesn't have to. I can dedicate my book to God or Nikola Tesla without their permission. If I dedicated my book to Taylor Swift (not likely, but for the sake of argument), I wouldn't have to get her permission either, but could find myself in a difficult position if Ms. Swift's management felt I was unreasonably borrowing her celebrity to promote my book or create confusion about her alleged connection to my book. An acknowledgement, on the other hand, recognizes all who contributed to the book. If these acknowledgements are factual and the contributors did not specirfically prohibit the author from disclosing their role in the creation of the book, no permission is needed.