READER’S FORUM

August 21, 2024 at 02:32 pm Reply

Ember

Hey Mr. Korman,

in a few of your books you've mentioned real life movies, books, bands, such as Star Wars and Imagine Dragons. My question is, do you need to get some sort of permission to mention real life properties in your books? Can one only reference certain pop culture works, and get into trouble for using others? Where is the line?
Many thanks,

Ember
August 21, 2024 at 04:34 pm Reply

object(stdClass)#836 (23) { ["ID"]=> string(5) "26275" ["post_author"]=> string(1) "3" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2024-08-21 16:34:32" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2024-08-21 16:34:32" ["post_content"]=> string(881) "
Hi, Ember,

You can mention any group or item that is in existence. The trouble comes when you take their work as your own, or attempt to fundraise using other people's property. Mentioning Star Wars is fine; using a Star Wars character as your own is not. To mention Star Wars or Star Trek (my personal favorite) is one thing. To use their story or characters is quite another matter.

So the line is pretty clear. Other people's material belongs to them, and yours belongs to you. Having said that, I'm aware that there is all manner of fan fiction out there. It's fine, so long as it doesn't become a commercial enterprise.

OK? ---GK---
" ["post_title"]=> string(5) "reply" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(10) "reply-9101" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2024-08-21 16:34:32" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2024-08-21 16:34:32" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> string(5) "26274" ["guid"]=> string(49) "https://gordonkorman.com/uncategorized/reply-9101" ["menu_order"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_type"]=> string(5) "reply" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" }

Hi, Ember,

You can mention any group or item that is in existence. The trouble comes when you take their work as your own, or attempt to fundraise using other people's property. Mentioning Star Wars is fine; using a Star Wars character as your own is not. To mention Star Wars or Star Trek (my personal favorite) is one thing. To use their story or characters is quite another matter.

So the line is pretty clear. Other people's material belongs to them, and yours belongs to you. Having said that, I'm aware that there is all manner of fan fiction out there. It's fine, so long as it doesn't become a commercial enterprise.

OK? ---GK---