Using Trade Names and Song Lyrics in Fiction

This afternoon, as I sat sipping my Starbucks™ coffee, I tried to come up with an idea for this month’s column. My younger daughter was trying to find her old Barbie™ dolls to take to a babysitting job. My older daughter was in her bedroom blaring the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s and Tim Rice’s “Evita”: “Don’t cry for me Argentina . . .”

As I reached for some Tylenol™ for my pounding head, it hit me—“I know what to write!”

Authors frequently use the names of trademarked products in their stories. They sometimes use song lyrics, too. What are the limits on such use? Are there times when authors should forego the use of protected names and lyrics, choosing instead to come up with their own fictional brand names or songs? The answers to these questions are rooted in trademark and copyright law.

Authors may use trademarked names in their writing whenever they are describing actual trademarked products. That means authors may write about characters drinking Kool-Aid™ and playing with Matchbox™ cars. In fact, trademarked names can add richness to a story if they tell us something about the story’s characters or help establish a sense of time and place.