Legal Ease

or How to Stay out of Trouble

I don't pretend to be an attorney, but I've read extensively about authors getting into legal trouble and I’m the paranoid type. They seem to involve four issues: plagiarism, copyright, trademark infringement, and slander.

Do you want to end up in court because you made a mistake? If an author isn't making money from selling their books, they just might use you to make a killing another way. We live in a time where people sue one another quickly and often. Some individuals live off the money they make from lawsuits.

Here are some suggestions:

• Do not use quotes or words from songs, television, film, or advertisements unless they are over one hundred and twenty years old (works for hire.) It reads ninety-five years, but I’m playing it safe here. If you want to read the particulars, read this article. If you use more recent things, you must get permission from the copyright holder. When in doubt, leave it out. I had a character that loved poetry and I wanted to use poems. It became too difficult to find poems I wanted to use that were in the public domain, so I ended up writing my own and throwing them in her journal.

• Do not use the names of products in your story. You could take a chance and say your character took an Uber or they went to McDonalds, but what if the company eventually finds out about it and doesn't like it? Their attorney might contact you and accuse you of trademark infringement. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but next year or five years when someone finally buys your books. It seems harmless, but again, it usually comes back to money.

• Please do not use the names of famous people in a way that slanders them. If they aren't happy about it, it could become a problem. If you simply mention their name and it’s pertinent to the story, then it's most likely okay.

• Do not use the words of others as your own. This is plagiarism. This is very, very bad. If you read about copyright infringement, you will find that authors have a really tough time when they try to sue for copyright infringement of an "idea." It seems you can't copyright ideas, only creative expressions. Lynnise E. Pantin's Columbia Law School article covers it well. Do you think you have the only heartless Mafia hero who kidnaps a young girl from a flower shop, and her love turns him into a good guy? Think again. You can trace almost any idea back to someone else's idea, but there is no excuse for taking anyone's words. If the President of Harvard can be brought down by plagiarism, you can too.

  As a professor, I used several software programs that could pick out plagiarized works in seconds. The students always acted surprised when they were caught. In their case, all they had to do was put the section they wanted to use inside quotation marks and cite that work, yet they didn't. Was it laziness or stupidity, or were they really trying to steal? In the case of fiction writers, finding replacement words isn't difficult. There are programs like MasterWriter that can help you find new words if you're stumped. I've used the program a few times for fun and found it a valuable dictionary and thesaurus and used it several times to find more specific words to re-write things into something better. There have also been times that I decided not to rewrite it because after re-reading it, I didn't feel it was as powerful as I initially thought. You can also run plagiarism checks on fiction. Programs like Prowriting Aid offer them for an additional charge.

• Create an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) to write under. Instead of Kay Freeman or Kay Klotzbach it's Kay Freeman LLC. It will cost you about $275.00 if you create the LLC online, but it will protect you personally from liability. Kay Freeman LLC has very little, and Kay Klotzbach doesn’t have gobs either, but I don't want to lose what little I do have because I'm pursuing this craft. Therefore, it makes sense to create an LLC to protect myself. Realize there will be other charges that vary state by state.

• While protecting yourself, protect your work, and at least have a copyright page when selling your book on Amazon. Now that you have read the article from Columbia Law, you know how to go about it, if you didn't before.

• If you decide to go with a publisher, read your contract carefully before you sign with them. The publishing landscape and expectations are changing quickly. Get familiar with contract language and exit strategy. The contract is the foundation of your relationship, outlining your responsibilities and theirs. Become familiar with what constitutes a breach of contract. If they specified a marketing person in the contract but suddenly eliminated her position, did they breach their contract? Know what rights they hold; Book, movie, translation, audio? Don't be afraid to ask questions. If they have all those rights, do they do anything with them? If not, don't be scared to ask to hold them yourself.

• What suggestions can you offer that would protect authors from themselves?

We cannot see every problem that may come our way, but we can take preventative steps to protect ourselves.

Have a great week authors and readers and stay healthy!