Brand Names, the old usage issue question.

[Astro Pen]

Aware that we live in an increasingly litigious culture, ask any musician about recent copyright suits, I am giving my MO a touch on the wheel.
Ten years back I wouldn't have worried, but the legal environment is changing for the worse.
I have just been asked for a short story by an organisation. I have written it and am happy but it is a nostalgic piece and I have used the "evocation value" of a couple of brand names. Now I generally skim that field of thorns with names like Beemer, Merc, Jumbo, Bonnie etc' but many things don't have that option.
For example (not from the story in question):
The reassuring scent of Germolene as a mother's finger massaged it into a grazed knee...
The reassuring scent of antiseptic ointment... just doesn't carry the same nostalgic weight.
So two questions.
1 Broadly speaking how are you guys dealing with this? (the web advice I have found is as nebulous as it is useless)
2 Any useful 'safe for print' work around names you use or come to mind?

ps Sorry if this has already been discussed. I did search.

 

[HareBrain]

It has been discussed before, but the answer is simple. Use them all you like unless you're casting a slur on them. You don't need permission.

 

[tinkerdan]

Here...

Using real brand names

Hey everyone, I was wondering if there are rules about this, official or unofficial: can, should, or shouldn't you use names of actual brands in your writing? My particular case is this: I grew up in the village where Porsche has their development center. Now, I've written a short story that...

www.sffchronicles.com

is...

 

[Astro Pen]

Thanks everyone.
OK. I've sent it off, brand names and all.
The publisher can decide.

 

[Steve Harrison]

FYI, my recent novel is littered (affectionately) with brands, trademarks and companies and this is the note on the publisher's page:

Death Star and Star Wars are trademarks of Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd LLC; NASA is a trademark of the US Government and its Government Federal Agency National Aeronautics & S[ace Administration; Star Trek is a trademark of CBS Studios Inc. Use of trademarks has not been authorised, sponsored, or otherwise approved by the trademark owners.

 

[sknox]

The only caveat I would (belatedly) add is this: I would not assume your reader knows what that brand is or means. I've never heard of Germolene.

Which goes back to advice I heard long ago. If you're looking for a word, make sure you're not looking for a shortcut, I was told. Now, if my character is looking to get hired by NASA, that's one thing. But if I'm looking to evoke a particular scent, that's something rather different. Makes sense to me, anyway.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Another point about brand names for everyday products is that they usually differ by country. So if you include them, you could end up only appealing to the audience of a single country.

 

[Vladd67]

Another point about brand names for everyday products is that they usually differ by country. So if you include them, you could end up only appealing to the audience of a single country.

Unless you live in the US, their brand names seem to get thrown in left right and centre and the rest of us are expected to know what they are. It’s like the name the tv show thread, post a picture of an old British series and hear people moan, but post a picture from an old American series that never made it to screens outside the US, well that’s just one of those things.

 

[Matteo]

Looks like it's answered - and I would say you're fine to use them as they're in the public domain - and some of the more well-known will have acquired generic status.

You could always contact the UK Patent and Trademark Office in Newport to be sure.

Oh, and I remember Germolene….is it still around?

 

[HareBrain]

Another point about brand names for everyday products is that they usually differ by country. So if you include them, you could end up only appealing to the audience of a single country.

I dunno, one of the things I liked about Bored of the Rings was the American brand names I'd never heard of at the time, but then came across piecemeal over the ensuing decades.

And if readers abandon a book because they don't recognise a brand, it might have other problems!

 

[Ursa major]

Unless you live in the US, their brand names seem to get thrown in left right and centre and the rest of us are expected to know what they are.

Even very well-known brands in one country (even a big country such as the US) can be a mystery to those living outside that country.

I was reminded of this when reading Thursday's post on John Scalzi's blog, which included this sentence:

Additionally, things are further apart in rural counties — a trip to our “local” Kroger, for example, is 10 miles each way.

I'd never heard of Kroger and wondered if it was a local (to part of Ohio**) retailer of some sort, so I looked it up on Wikipedia and read the first paragraph:

The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the United States' largest supermarket by revenue ($121.16 billion for fiscal year 2019), the second-largest general retailer (behind Walmart). Kroger is also the fifth-largest retailer in the world and the fourth largest American-owned private employer in the United States. Kroger is ranked #20 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

** - Scalzi lives in Darke county, Ohio.

 

[Dave]

Unless you live in the US, their brand names seem to get thrown in left right and centre and the rest of us are expected to know what they are.

I've been watching Ozark on Neflix and every episode has a warning at the beginning "This episode contains product placement." I find myself distracted trying to identify what the brand actually is that is being promoted. I can't for the life of me find one, but I'm guessing it is something I've never heard of.