Using Real People in Stories

The "rule" appears to be that anyone can sue you if they feel like it. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/cel...ues-author-of-novel-that-stole-her-image.html

If you don't have their expressed, written consent to use their names attached to their likeness, you're liable to a lawsuit. Though, people have sued for just their likeness without their name.

Pretty much, if the person ain't willing to sign through legal paper work or you can't have them do this, just don't.

A recommended resource on this topic, out of print but easily available used or remaindered: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0870817426/?tag=absowrit-20

--Ken

Does this apply to "public figures" as well? With all the crap that the tabloids heap on the likes of Kim Kardashian (sp?), I find it unlikely that they have her permission.

Yes, I know, anyone can sue anyone for anything at any time, but let's stick to the realm of the reasonable. Kim is unlikely to launch a doomed lawsuit because someone mentioned her in their MS. The question is: does she have any actual hope of winning?

See the book by attorney William K. Jones, From Insult to Injury: Libel, Slander, and Invasion of Privacy, to which I linked.

--Ken

Angry Guy said:

Does this apply to "public figures" as well? . . .

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I think it's probably easier to include them if they are deceased, since a living person could possibly sue you. A mention is probably better for a living person than to actually have them as a character in the story.

First question should be is he pertinent to the story? If the use of a real person is not pertinent, then why open yourself to the risk of lawsuit? Uncle Buddy might be the perfect supervillian but do you really need to name him Uncle Buddy and include his home address and the identical scar over his left brow?

Satire becomes your friend at this point. I've found writing a parody of a notable figure has actually ended up enhancing my work more than including the intended person in the first place. Satire forces you to think outside the box and consider what traits or flavoring you really needed from that "person." Then you can make a character of your own who is perhaps more outlandish or unbelievable than the original.

I used a satiric, renamed version of Glenn Beck in a space opera novel. I'm casting two real historical figures (Maynard Dixon and A. Merritt) in a fantasy story set in 1930vs Arizona, but out of respect for their estates I've renamed them.

I just use the elements of real life people. parts of their background, skills, bad jokes, poor choices and their response to poor choices, that sort of thing. but never the whole and never by name. How ever I am no expert, just a hack who has delusions of becoming a writer one day.

In On Writing, King mentioned using some people as inspiration but being sure to change their name. Now granted I have no idea how much risk he took doing that. Frankly he could say that, because who would sue Mr. King?

Lawsuits over characters are based on libel: defamation or misrepresentation. However, what someone considers inappropriate or inaccurate varies wildly, and the burden of proof is not nearly as strict in a civil lawsuit, at least in the U.S. Also keep in mind you can be sued by relatives, not just the person himself/herself. As others have said, your characters have to be unrecognizable with respect to those they're based upon. You do tend to have more leeway with historical figures, but the further back you go, the safer you are.

The Raen said:

Lawsuits over characters are based on libel: defamation or misrepresentation. . . . .

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Also invasion of privacy. See Jones's book that I cited previously.

--Ken

What about if my character is obsessed with a real life public figure? Like those individuals who are obsessed with the Twilight stars? Say, for example, my character is obsessed with Robert Pattinson. She accumulates vast press clippings and videos, runs a fan website and fantasizes about meeting him, even attending fan conventions in the hope of doing so. Is it okay to refer to Robert Patinson the real person in this context when the story is not about him but rather about her obsession with him?

eggs said:

What about if my character is obsessed with a real life public figure? Like those individuals who are obsessed with the Twilight stars? Say, for example, my character is obsessed with Robert Pattinson. She accumulates vast press clippings and videos, runs a fan website and fantasizes about meeting him, even attending fan conventions in the hope of doing so. Is it okay to refer to Robert Patinson the real person in this context when the story is not about him but rather about her obsession with him?

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Rule# 1: Don't ask random strangers on the Internet for legal advice/opinions.

Rule #2: See Rule #1.

Seriously. People will sue for absolutely no good reason.

I'm not asking for legal advice. I was just interested in the conversation. In any case, this board attracts people from all over the world and as such, the concept of 'legal advice' is fairly meaningless as the law varies from country to country.

eggs said:

I'm not asking for legal advice. I was just interested in the conversation. In any case, this board attracts people from all over the world and as such, the concept of 'legal advice' is fairly meaningless as the law varies from country to country.

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Swap Robert Pattinson with Clive Palmer or Chris Kenny and see how it goes.

Heh! The idea of a fangirl devoting her life to filling the blogosphere with amorous odes to Clive really tickles my fancy. Frankly, I think Clive would be more inclined to snap up copies than to sue. In fact, we could probably get him to sponsor one. I imagine there would be multiple fantasy sequences involving Clive, the blogger and the numerous tropical fruits produced by his entrepreneurial constituants.

I think the issue of public figures making cameos, or being the object of the MC's fantasies will pop up more and more as younger writers begin to be published. They have grown up in a world saturated with celebrity culture, where writing fanfics about their celebrity obsessions is a natural step in their development as writers. It's inevitable that they will want to carry these cultural references over into their mature creative work. Perhaps the most famous example in recent pop culture is the song Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf. Rather than suing for the misappropriation of his name, Shia agreed to appear in a video promoting the song after it became popular on the internet. There's an interesting cultural shift underway in terms of celebrity culture and the public appropriation and manipulation of it. I have no idea where it will end up, but it is very interesting to watch it unfold.

because who would sue Mr. King?

Far more people than would sue you or me. He has more money (certainly than me, your mileage may differ), so is more worth suing.

Observing writers like Forsyth and Le Carre, I see that in a story set before the next election, if a major political figure only does something completely predictable (denounces a terror attack, presents an award) they will often be mentioned by name. The president of the USA in 2014 is Barack Obama in the same way that the capital is Washington. Nobody else can pardon the turkey. In essence this is the "defense of truth": even if the person did not do that particular act, they are the person who would do it.

If the Tuckerized political figure does something non-automatic and positive or reasonably noncontroversial, the author will usually refer to "the President" or "the Prime Minister", give a couple hints ("she" was enough for Margaret Thatcher back in the day) to confirm that the RL incumbent is meant, and let the reader nod. This is the same "nondefamation defense" that applies everywhere. It's nuanced - ex-VP Cheney might consider himself defamed (or at least insulted) if given a speech denouncing torturers and those who abet them as subhuman scum. Most politicians would be flattered.

When the RL figure (or others) could consider the depiction defamatory, walk wide! In a book such as "The Sum Of All Fears" (where Tom Clancy depicts an incompetent president and an evil National Security Advisor), a fictitious character is necessary, if only for good taste and publishability.

I am not a lawyer, and if I were I'd be a Canadian lawyer, eh? But after a little more research, it seems to me that in the States:

(a) most inclusion of real people could be defended using the decision in Hustler vs Falwell to the effect that what nobody will believe factual cannot be libelous, even if malicious and unpleasant. (My understanding is that this might not have the same force in most other countries: it's specifically a First Amendment thing.)

(b) inclusion of public figures could also be defended based on NYT vs Sullivan and related decisions. I think a somewhat narrower version of this might apply in other common-law countries, much less so in (for instance) France.

This does not necessarily make including real people a good professional move.

Robert Dawson said:

. .This does not necessarily make including real people a good professional move.

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Anyone can sue anyone for anything. This can be an expensive nuisance, even if the one suing does not have a chance of prevailing.

--Ken

eggs said:

Heh! The idea of a fangirl devoting her life to filling the blogosphere with amorous odes to Clive really tickles my fancy. Frankly, I think Clive would be more inclined to snap up copies than to sue. In fact, we could probably get him to sponsor one. I imagine there would be multiple fantasy sequences involving Clive, the blogger and the numerous tropical fruits produced by his entrepreneurial constituants.

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If this were the case, why not just get Clive's permission up front and avoid the uncertainty?

eggs said:

Heh! The idea of a fangirl devoting her life to filling the blogosphere with amorous odes to Clive really tickles my fancy. Frankly, I think Clive would be more inclined to snap up copies than to sue. In fact, we could probably get him to sponsor one. I imagine there would be multiple fantasy sequences involving Clive, the blogger and the numerous tropical fruits produced by his entrepreneurial constituants.

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He he he...That does sound like a goer. But what if he decided that it was mocking him? Or -- more to the point -- what if he thought it was someone making money from his public image? (In fiction, of course. Not non-fic.)

And Chris Kenny, you'll remember, sued the ABC for a Chaser skit.

eggs said:

I think the issue of public figures making cameos, or being the object of the MC's fantasies will pop up more and more as younger writers begin to be published. They have grown up in a world saturated with celebrity culture, where writing fanfics about their celebrity obsessions is a natural step in their development as writers. It's inevitable that they will want to carry these cultural references over into their mature creative work. Perhaps the most famous example in recent pop culture is the song Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf. Rather than suing for the misappropriation of his name, Shia agreed to appear in a video promoting the song after it became popular on the internet. There's an interesting cultural shift underway in terms of celebrity culture and the public appropriation and manipulation of it. I have no idea where it will end up, but it is very interesting to watch it unfold.

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We've been saturated by celebrity culture for centuries. Apart from raising the chance of being sued, using celebrities in books tends to date the text. It's also geographically and culturally localised.

I'm not sure that Shia LaBoeuf sets the standards. Not for that sort of thing.