With trademarks, there's that whole thing about nominative fair use that allows for trademarked names to be used by the general public when referring to the thing that, well, they're referring to. The issue is usually around whether a "moron in a hurry" would have difficulty distinguishing your use of a trademark from an authorised use. And, okay, a disclaimer might clarify it but I'd be tempted to say that in general there's enough extenuating circumstances that, really, no-one is going to mistake (say) my Authority fanfic for an official release by DC. It's the same as if I wrote a blog post about Coke or Iron Man or Verizon, or whatever.
Of course, this is one of those things there's no specific case law on (that I'm aware of!), so no-one can really say one way or the other. /shrugs
I can see about the credit thing, though; that makes sense, in that it's more a social obligation than a legal one.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-06-18 01:28 am (UTC)Of course, this is one of those things there's no specific case law on (that I'm aware of!), so no-one can really say one way or the other. /shrugs
I can see about the credit thing, though; that makes sense, in that it's more a social obligation than a legal one.