Can i use a trademarked name in my book [FAQs]



Last updated : Sept 21, 2022
Written by : Gidget Alterio
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Can i use a trademarked name in my book

Can I mention names in my book?

Editors are frequently asked whether it's permissible for writers to mention product or business names in books. The short answer is yes. The long answer is be careful. By the nature of doing business, companies put their brands into the public forum and in fact usually appreciate publicity.

Can I use my own name in my book?

Yes, authors can self-publish using their pen name or nom de plume. If you're self-publishing a book, you can definitely use a pseudonym when writing and publishing your book. In fact, many indie authors use a pseudonym or nom de plume when they publish books in several different genres.

Can I mention a book in my book?

Ideas are not protected by copyright, but the expression of those ideas is protected. So, putting something in your own words or paraphrasing is usually okay, as long as it's not too close to the way the original idea was expressed.

Can I use the word Google in a book?

A Supreme Court order issued today closes the book on (or perhaps merely ends this chapter of) more than a decade of legal warfare between Google and the Authors Guild over the legality of the former's scanning without permission of millions of copyrighted books. And the final word is: it's fair use.

Can you use someone's name in a book without permission?

First, a simple rule. If what you write about a person is positive or even neutral, then you don't have defamation or privacy issues. For instance, you may thank someone by name in your acknowledgements without their permission. If you are writing a non-fiction book, you may mention real people and real events.

Can you use someones real name in a book?

The First Amendment usually wins unless the work is purely advertising, including political advertising. Using someone's name, image or life story as part of a novel, book, movie or other “expressive” work is protected by the First Amendment, even if the expressive work is sold or displayed.

Can someone sue you for using their name in a book?

Right of Publicity violation Nonfiction authors who refer to real people and use their names, images or likenesses in their books without permission (sometimes called a “Talent Release”) might be exposed to a lawsuit for a right of publicity violation.

Can I mention Disney characters in my book?

As a rule of thumb, you can mention trademarked items, have characters visit there etc - so long as you don't say anything untrue or defamatory. To set an entire story in a Disney-owned trademark - probably not wise.

Can you use famous people's names in books?

The good news is that celebrity names are not copyright protected, just used as a name. If the name is only used to describe the person, it is not covered.

Do I have to cite a book if I just mention the title?

Answer. You can mention the title of a book without needing to cite it on the References page.

How do you avoid copyright infringement when writing a book?

Fair Use. Under the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright laws, you can use limited portions of a work, including quotes, without permission for certain purposes such as book reviews, classroom lessons, scholarly reports and news reports.

How much can I quote without violating copyright?

One publisher requires permission for using 25 words or more from any one source, aggregate over the entirety of your book. This means if you quote 16 words in one place and 10 words in another, you must get written permission.

How do I find out if a book title already exists?

If you want to see if a title has been trademarked, you can use TESS, the online search at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Why were many authors upset with Google?

The Authors Guild complained that Google was "engaging in massive copyright infringement" by scanning books and that also that Google would be guilty of copyright infringement by displaying the search results to book-seeking users.

What do I need to write a book?

  1. Establish a consistent writing space.
  2. Hone in on your book idea.
  3. Outline your story.
  4. Do your research.
  5. Start writing and stick to a routine.
  6. Finish your first draft.
  7. Revise and edit.
  8. Write your second draft.

Can I quote another author in my book?

It's perfectly okay to quote an excerpt of another author's work in your writing, but it's not always okay to do so without permission. If you don't want to be sued for copyright infringement, it's important to know when you need permission and when you don't. And that's not always obvious.

Can you use real names in a nonfiction book?

If you'd really like to use real peoples' names, it's imperative to get their written permission just in case. The rule of thumb is that if you don't have their permission to write about them (whether good or bad), just don't do it. It's just a precautionary measure.

Can authors stay anonymous?

You can absolutely release a book anonymously or using a fake name known as a pen name. Many authors have done this for as long as books have been printed. Some reasons have changed over the decades as it is harder to keep the secret than in the past.

Can I mention Facebook in my book?

The author will just straight-up mention Twitter, Facebook or other services, usually in passing. The author will make up a way around it that conveys the same concept (calling it "Barker" or something)

What is it called when someone uses your name without permission?

Identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain.


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Can i use a trademarked name in my book


Comment by Latonya Splain

hi everyone my name is Marcela Dominguez and I welcome you back to my channel where I teach you everything you need to know about trademark registrations trademark renewals and trademark office actions some very popular book series include Harry Potter The Chronicles of Narnia Lord of the Rings so if you are an author and you are already thinking about how you're going to protect your book title then you need to be thinking about a series of works that you are going to create because in order to register the title of your book you are going to have to have a series this also goes for other creative works like audio recordings CD recordings any type of visual recordings so I want to make sure that it is clear and I have not left a single doubt in your mind that in order for you to be able to protect your book title that you need it to be a series I want others out there to know this rule before they come to an attorney expecting that single creative work to be protected it will save you a lot of headaches and probably most of all it will save you a lot of emotional distress people come to attorneys expecting that they're going to be able to protect their material off the bat and trust me I want to do my hardest to be able to do that for you but in order to provide you the best service I also want to make sure that you are aware of the rules and the laws the regulations that are currently in place and that dictate what we can do for you because we can only go do for you as much as the law allows so if the law says it has to be a collective series then that's all that we can do and we cannot override that law if you're an author and you're already thinking ahead about what you're going to do to protect your creative works then please keep in mind that you should have a series established or you should be thinking about creating a series so if that helps them please give me a thumbs up below subscribe to my channel so that you will be notified when I release important information that's in this video that's going to help you in your journey to becoming a best-selling author


Thanks for your comment Latonya Splain, have a nice day.
- Gidget Alterio, Staff Member


Comment by WestwagenU

Angela Lang lots here trademark and business law attorney I got a question on yesterday's live from Paul Montelongo so I'm answering it here I will tag Paul to let him know I'm answering his question the question was can I use a book title as a trademark as with everything in the law the answer is it depends it depends on how many works are a part of that title so there's a rule in trademark law that titles of things of anything are not capable of serving as a trademark this is because the title is considered merely descriptive of the goods for which you're trying to register the trademark and as I've already covered many times merely descriptive marks are very weak marks and don't make good trademarks unless they have acquired distinctiveness so if your book title has perhaps a choir distinctiveness just because it's really famous then you may be able to use that as a trademark but for most people who are putting out books the book is new it hasn't acquired distinctiveness yet so it is impossible for that merely descriptive mark to serve as a trademark for the books so what do you do well the answer is you make a series so if you have a series of books or a book and a CD or a book and a flash card set or a flashcard set and a CD now you have a series and you can register a series as a trademark so what's a good example of this well my best most favorite example is the for dummies series now everybody here in the United States and possibly overseas I don't know how how far this brand goes as far as the english-speaking world but you may have it abroad in Australia or in Great Britain I have no idea but here in the United States we have this pretty famous friend knot knot franchise I don't use that word because it means something else but this pretty famous series of books called the for dummies series and they produce a whole range of I'll call them like self teaching yourself books for people who want to learn various things and they have books about you know flower arranging and computer programming and for language and psychology and you know any number of titles where people want to know more and what practical skills for you know whatever it is they want to do so let me show you a couple things here I'm going to switch to my screen and we're gonna look at dummies so here is the for dummies website let me see if I can get that onto the screen here whoops it's not exactly working out here we go here we go there we go now you can see you can see up here the dummies it actually just says dummies a wily brand so Wiley publishing owns dummies but all of their books are entitled you know whatever whatever it is the thing for dummies okay so so here is their quick diabetic recipes for dummies as I said they have for dummies for just about everything you can imagine so so that's an example why don't we go ahead and go look at their trademark as well I pulled it up here in the USPTO dot-gov trademark registry and I want to show you that they do have four dummies for a wide variety of things in your international class nine for digital media okay so electronic publication so probably ebooks printed matter nonfiction publications books and booklets and pamphlets fine that's their print books online retail store services that's what we just saw here right this is their online retail store for dummies is branded that's their online retail store what else do they have a website featuring non downloadable nonfiction publication so this is looking again like they're ebooks right one of the things I also let's go back to the list view here let's look at the current list there are a lot of people who are trying to register for dummies like look at these people Medicare chatter for dummies and bad move why because the for dummies mark is a famous mark and it looks kind of like they're trying to piggyback they're trying to ride the coattails of the for dummies brand and I you know the mark is still alive right we can look over here and see that the mark see where it says live says live live right here so they haven't gotten the rejection they ever gotten hot in the rejection from the trade mark examiner yet but I predict they will let's see if they filed this without benefit of a trademark attorney I'm pretty sure they probably did because that's where I see these things the most no they've gotten an office action I bet the office action is a rejection based on being confusingly similar to D I bet I bet let's go have a look at it okay to D refusal for likelihood of confusion with previous for dummies formative marks okay I don't know I don't want to have to keep saying this do not approach famous brands you will be shot down either by the trademark examiner or if by some miracle the trademark examiner misses it you will be getting a note from the owners of the famous brand telling you to cease and desist or you'll be sued for trademark infringement okay now let's go look at this new application as I said I bet it was filed without benefit of legal counsel let's go have a look attorney information Oh bad move attorney very bad move okay so this is sometimes what happens either when you get an attorney who's not experienced in trademark law or you get just a plain old incompetent attorney I would have never in a million years filed this mark okay I would have advised my client about the pre-existing and famous okay for dummies brand and told them do not attempt to register this okay our clients don't always listen to us however I would have refused this work because I'm not doing this client any favors right so yes won't say his name it's okay not sure how much experience this person has but this should have never been filed okay that's my professional opinion so yes you can use a book title as a trademark but you need to be sure that you've actually got a series right like something for dummies that's a series now and not just a plain old book title because the plain old book title is not registered as a trademark if you've enjoyed this video please share it with your friends you can find me online at trademark doctor net you can find me on facebook at facebook.com forward slash trademark doctor and if you like my page you'll be notified every time i go live and if you have trademark questions i will answer them i'm answering some ones right now I'll answer yours too just message me on my trademark doctor Facebook page and I'll set you up have a great day


Thanks WestwagenU your participation is very much appreciated
- Gidget Alterio


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