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Using Other People’s Work, Copyright Law for Writers

Use of someone else’s work, such as song lyrics, a quotation, or a character, in your story is subject to copyright law. Copyright protects the expression of an idea from unpermitted copying, modification, publication, or performance (“infringement”). Copyright only protects the expression of the idea, not the idea itself. J.K. …

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Trademark Law for Writers

Using a trademarked product in your fiction can set a scene or tell the reader about a character. Sure, you can have someone drink a soda, but so much more is conveyed to the reader if that soda is described as a Coke, a Pelligrino blood orange, or a Kroger …

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