Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37063
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37063
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

> Are their any ramifications of characters reading real books, following real blogs, and using real websites? Could I get into copyright trouble?

I am not a lawyer, and this is a question for lawyers; but read this (from a lawyer): [Trademark Law and Book Titles](http://www.copylaw.com/new_articles/titles.html).

Basically, book titles cannot be copyrighted; but they might be, in whole or part, **trademarked.**

So if you refer to some title of a book or blog, and talk about an idea actually in it, as long as you are not denigrating or lying about that, and as long as you aren't including directly quoted passages from it, you are unlikely to be infringing. You have even given them credit by mentioning the source.

### But you need lawyers to decide that.

If you intend to publish this through a full-service publisher, their lawyers and editors will review your work to ensure you are not doing something actionable. I would encourage you to get a lawyer to review it before you self-publish.

And **definitely** get a review if you intend in any way to insult an author's work, or insult an author's intelligence or veracity or motives. That kind of writing can be the basis of lawsuits.

Original score: 4