legal comic questions

[dave 2006]

What is the name of your state? california

hello, im in the process of launching a small urban t-shirt company. in addition to this i am preparing myself to take online orders from my websitel.
To keep my local customers coming back to my website, i am planing on incorporating a comic page which i will update regularly. what i would like to do in this comic page is reference local and current topics within my city. for example: i would like to have my character attend one of the L.A. hight schools, and refer to that school by name and street. i would also like to have scenes in the comic where the character might be at a local business like a burger joint. and i would also like to have shots where the character might reference to a local news reporter or celebrity. i know that this is expecting alot, and im certain that this would go beyond fredom of speech. but my question is, could i do this for an online comic? nothing would be negativelly mentioned.
what would be the consiquences of this if it is not permitted? would i get some type of cease and desist letter, or immediatally be sued? would the city go after me for mentioned the city name and streets? would the school district go after me for mentioning names of schools, and what about the local businesses? i would think that such an idea would only be free advertising for them.

i would appreciate any advice for this idea constitutes a large portion of what im hoping will allow my site to be revisited.

 

[divgradcurl]

To keep my local customers coming back to my website, i am planing on incorporating a comic page which i will update regularly. what i would like to do in this comic page is reference local and current topics within my city. for example: i would like to have my character attend one of the L.A. hight schools, and refer to that school by name and street. i would also like to have scenes in the comic where the character might be at a local business like a burger joint. and i would also like to have shots where the character might reference to a local news reporter or celebrity. i know that this is expecting alot, and im certain that this would go beyond fredom of speech. but my question is, could i do this for an online comic? nothing would be negativelly mentioned.

An online comic is nothing special -- you will be subject to the same rules concerning defamation (libel and slander) that any other publication would be subject to. Basically, governmental entities (federal, state, local) have limited rights to sue for defamation, so unless you call people out by name, you are unlikely to run afoul of defamation laws.

Private businesses, however, can be defamed. However, simply using a business' name or location isn't defamation. If you use a business name or logo, you'll want to make sure you use it in a way that makes certain that the reader doesn't think that the business sponsors or agrees with your comics in any way.

Idividuals, of course, can be defamed. So long as you are truthful, or what you right is non-hurtful, then you should be okay. But be careful -- what you think is not hurtful might be hurtful to someone else.

Of course, these are very simplified rules-of-thumb -- the laws are much more complicated, so there are always grey areas.

what would be the consiquences of this if it is not permitted? would i get some type of cease and desist letter, or immediatally be sued?

If someone wants to sue you, they can. There is no requirement for a cease-and-desist letter to be sent. Nobody knows what someone will actually do, of course.

would the city go after me for mentioned the city name and streets?

Would the city go after you? How could we possibly know that -- it would depend on what you uwrote, and how the city attorney feels. However, the city name and streets essentially cannot be defamed, so there is little to worry about.

would the school district go after me for mentioning names of schools

Again, probably not. But if they are private schools, the school certainly might.

and what about the local businesses

They could.

Here's the thing - as long as what you are writing does not disparage anyone, or cast anyone is a bad light, you are unlikely to run into any trouble. As soon as you start making of fun of people and companies, or tarnish a company's image, then you may get into trouble.