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There is something I've always wondered about. Some authors seem to refuse to real world references. They write a story set in the US, but the characters shop at stores called Q*Mart, drink Fake Cola, eat at Tennessee Fried Chicken, and so on. Other authors seem to have include a TM or Copyright sign after every trademarked or copyrighted name. I don't see this in mass market fiction. Are those authors afraid of being sued? If I'm Coca Cola I'm suing someone with money, not some unknown writer on the internet.
Can someone that does that, or did that explain why?
Comments
It depends
Some are being very careful, because SOME brands are much more conscious than others - about use of their trademarked items.
And, yes, Coca Cola would go after ANYONE, not just people with pockets. If they don't, they run the risk of "Coca Cola" losing trademark status.
That company that has a big park in both California and Florida (Land/World) as well as elsewhere in the world has been known to send "cease and desist" orders to day care centers that have depictions of their characters on their walls (without having purchased them from a licensed vendor).
Some authors - use MouseWorld and OceanWorld in place of more familiar names to avoid issues. They are less likely to be called to task than someone who references the trademark/copyright after use. (Odds are most companies would consider the potential benefit from appearing in "print" here of little benefit, and the risk of their name being linked to "wierdos" would be a problem. *sighs* Though, this too is changing.)
Annette
In very poor taste
Some employees of that particular corporation were wont to refer to their employers as "Mouschwitz" until a notice went round telling them it was unacceptable.
So they changed it to "Duckau".
Overkill
A lot of it is, ultimately, overkill in protecting oneself from trademark legal actions. The way trade marks work is a little esoteric for some people, and they assume its better safe than sorry. Some of those people teach that hands off approach to others and it just sort of snowballed over the last two decades as online fan fiction became... huge. In reality, there's nothing wrong with using a brand name in a story as long as you don't make connections or imply in some way something that will reduce the market value of that trade mark. In other words, making Mickey Mouse the big bad in your story... will play negatively against his trade mark as the child-friendly mouse that we all know and love. Having your werewolf character chug a certain brand of coffee because its the only thing that makes him sick enough to throw up vampire parts after a fight... not really the flavor connections the company wants associated with the brand.
But grabbing a can of Coke from your fridge, hopping in your Audi, and going downtown to eat at Olive Garden before meeting the Fourth Prince of Fae in Atlanta... perfectly acceptable.
Of course, where things get into gray areas is... we are writing in a very particular sub-genre (TG fiction). And that means there could be a potential risk of ANY brand being upset about associating their brand with us. It would be petty of them, but they would be in the legal right... for now.