Some advice please

tbahh

After years of thinking of a suitable name for a location in one of my stories, I have finally come up with one. Like I do with some names that I think of, I typed it into google which only gave me just over 100 results. However, there was one of those blogs which had a very similar name to the one I thought of. In fact, there was just an extra apostrophe. Would I still be able to use that name as I see no legal copyright to it? Thanks

EileenG

There's no copyright on names. Just because someone else has a similar, or even identical, name, doesn't mean you can't use it. If it's the name of a real person, you can still use it, but make sure that you have enough differences that the question of libel doesn't arise.

Antilles

Are you sure? So I could create a character called Sherlock Holmes as long as he's nothing like the character of the same name created by Arthur Conan Doyle?

Kinski

Antilles wrote: »

Are you sure? So I could create a character called Sherlock Holmes as long as he's nothing like the character of the same name created by Arthur Conan Doyle?

Conan Doyle has been dead for 81 years, so his work is in the public domain; you can write your very own Sherlock Holmes novel based on Doyle's character if you wish. Though I don't know what would happen if you wrote a novel about a character called, say, Han Solo.

EileenG

Some names have been trade marked. I know Star Trek is, for instance. Not sure about Han Solo. But yes, in general you can use any name you like. The trouble is that if you use a famous name, everything you write will be compared to the original, and will probably come up short.

I'm willing to bet that JK Rowling is not the only person to have written a novel with a character called Harry Potter.

The Mad Hatter

I'm pretty sure I've read a short story or seen a film where the main character has a famous name, which constantly causes him/her annoyance.

Antilles

Conan Doyle has been dead for 81 years, so his work is in the public domain; you can write your very own Sherlock Holmes novel based on Doyle's character if you wish.

I'm fairly sure you're wrong, Kinski. It caused a lot of trouble for Star Trek.

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Elementary,_Dear_Data_(episode)

The Mad Hatter

Antilles wrote: »

I'm fairly sure you're wrong, Kinski. It caused a lot of trouble for Star Trek.

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Elementary,_Dear_Data_(episode)

Star Trek was 20-odd years ago, though, which would have put it in copyright.

EileenG

And Star Trek is trade-marked. It's like using Coco Cola or Pepsi in your story.

The Mad Hatter

EileenG wrote: »

And Star Trek is trade-marked. It's like using Coco Cola or Pepsi in your story.

I think he was talking about Star Trek's use of the Sherlock Holmes character.*

(It's also important, Antilles, that they weren't just using the Sherlock Holmes name; they were using whole stories and character concepts.)

*Ninja edit: Sorry, just saw that you brought up Star Trek, Eileen.

Kinski

An example of a TV series using a real person's name for a fictional character:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjK9GJMBpt0

They should have done an episode where he leaped into the playwright's body.

JaneHudson

I don't think this applies to the names of locations though. It's common practise to pick generic names like 'Springfield' or 'Stradbally' etc. that might already exist but are still realistic as a fictional place. You wouldn't have to invent a new word for every name you use.