Big Bang

[Kenneth Brody]

Quoting Fairlight (Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:40:43 -0400):

> Y'all catch dis heeyah?  Howie been jivin' 'bout like:
>> A few months ago Bill called to ask permission to use my name for a
>> character in a new series he was developing.
>
> That's a bit paranoid, IMHO.  Imagine all the John Smith's out there
> filing lawsuits...  Besides, that's what the safety clause, "...no relation
> to real persons" [really, really loosely paraphrased--I don't have it in
> front of me] is for.
>
> I've known authors to pull names randomly out of phone books.

Well, from the way Howie worded it, it sounded more like an informal
"hey, would you mind if..." question, as opposed to "sign these legal
documents allowing us to...".

And, from a legal standpoint (not that I'm saying there would be any
problems in this case), imagine using the name of someone you worked
with for years (as opposed to pulled randomly out of a phone book)
and having that character either (1) do things that the real person
would never do, or (2) do things that the real person really did.
The "no relation to real persons, living or dead" defense sort of
lacks any weight.

-- 
KenBrody at BestWeb dot net        spamtrap: <g8ymh8uf001 at sneakemail.com>
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