Bland name products and Captain Ersatz

[32bit-RedMage]

I am merely asking out of curiosity, since it's always bothered me.

In most cartoons, comics, movies , tv shows and webcomics bland name products and
captain ersatz characters are used instead of real brand names, e.g, Caca-Cola instead of Coca-cola or Mike Jaxon instead of Michael jackson.

Then there are some who DO use real brand names.
Just take a look at family guy.
Family guy refers to movies, games, actors etc. by their real names.

Is that legal? Don't they get sued for that, and if it is legal why does everyone else not use real names and brands ?

As far as I know it is forbidden to use real logos, but I've seen some Tv-shows use 'em anyway...

Does anybody know what's up with all this?

[Bells]

If i'm not mistaken you have to pay every time you use show or mentions a brand... also the same if you show photos of some people if i'm not mistaken.

It's not illegal, as long as you pay... now "how much" or how to know "How much"... i have no idea.

[Amake]

If you're rich and famous enough people will pay you to mention their brand names. But I think you can get away with anything that isn't trademarked.

[Jagos]

MMM...

It's been a while but the laws changed on some things. If they're used for parody, then it's fair game. If it's used as a critique, no money is owed.

Overall, patent, trademark, and copyright law has gotten retarded so IQ has the best assessment so far.

[Seil]

Then there are some who DO use real brand names.
Just take a look at family guy.
Family guy refers to movies, games, actors etc. by their real names.

Is that legal? Don't they get sued for that, and if it is legal why does everyone else not use real names and brands ?

According to Seth McFarlane on the commentary of the season... four (?) DVD, in Mother Tucker, when they're going into a McDonald's, McFarlane comments on this. He says that when able, Family Guy writers like writing in acutal brand names and the like, because they allow the world to feel more real.

Alternatively, he admitted that for a gag when Sauron lost his contact lens, they did not contact anyone from Peter Jackson or Tolkein's camp.

In the Clerks Uncensored DVD, Kevin Smith mentions meeting people associated with McDonald's on in the episode... I don't know, the Outbreak episode. He mentions the meeting they had with them and trying to convince them to allow the View Askew team to mention certain character names and the like.

I guess that in some cases, they have to clear something. In others, they go ahead with it and when someone has a problem with it, they take it out. Seth Green mentions - in a question asked by Weird Al - that people usually object before something goes onto the air. They never object after something is on TV.

But this is all case-by-case, not actual intellectual property law.

In all cases, I would imagine that things have to be cleared with the company that owns it. Going back to Family Guy, they often talk about not being able to "clear" a song, because a particular company or artist doesn't want to let them use it.

[Meister]

Father Ted mentions well-known movies and personalities all the time. It's actually a little unsettling because it makes you realize how rarely TV shows do that.

[Nique]

Pretty sure there are different ways you can mention or use well-known products that fall under fair-use, yeah?

Brian, talk to us about Mr. Pibb some more, I miss those days.

[Donomni]

That will only lead to Brian's disappointment: I'm pretty certain they scrapped the Pibbmobile.

[Nique]

NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooo!!!