Washington | Intellectual Property
Legal Question
use of brand name
in a published story about drinking beer, the main character's name is Blatz, is this a violation of the exclusive rights of the brand name of Blatz Beer? Though never in the story does Blatz brand beer ever appear.
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Legal Answer
Re: use of brand name
I think this would be considered fair use. The question is whether there is any likelihood of confusion as to whether your product (the story) comes from Blatz Beer, which seems unlikely. Still, if you are basing a major business decision off of this, then you should talk to a trademark attorney about your specific situation. Otherwise, if they do not like it then they are likely to ask you to take it down (assuming it is published on a website).
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