Literary references as product names

[Ill Eagle?]

I am working on branding a line of soft drinks, and I want to know if it is acceptable to name the drinks after the literary figures/characters/phrases that inspired them. Would this pose problems with intellectual property? I've attached a list below to show you what I mean. I don't want to get too hung up on these names specifically. Many of them would be terrible soft-drink names. I'm just trying to represent a wide range of specificity, from directly naming an author or work to simply alluding to a line of text. In some cases, where I thought the name itself would not infringe, I attached a description that I thought might pose problems. I want to try to gauge where the line is.

The Oscar Wilde
The Hemingway
The Papa - A bold, new take on Hemingway's favorite mojito.
Lady Ashley
The Gatsby
Prufrock
Banquo's Ghost - A witch's brew of exotic flavors.
Wine-dark Sea

If there is a line here between copyright infringement and legal use, where is it? Does the age of a work make a difference. I feel like I see bars all the time naming drinks with obvious and not so obvious literary allusion. But I wouldn't imagine I could call a soft drink "The Stephanie Myers" or "Twilight: a taste of Robert Pattinson." These beverages also won't be sold in bars but direct-to-consumer online. Does that make a difference? I'm looking for all the help I can get in understanding this gray area.

Many thanks!!!

 

[Ill Eagle?]

an additional question

Along with the products, either printed directly on the labels or printed on a small slip of attached craft paper, would it be legal to include a relevant famous poem or quote from a novel/poem?

 

[quincy]

I am working on branding a line of soft drinks, and I want to know if it is acceptable to name the drinks after the literary figures/characters/phrases that inspired them. Would this pose problems with intellectual property? I've attached a list below to show you what I mean. I don't want to get too hung up on these names specifically. Many of them would be terrible soft-drink names. I'm just trying to represent a wide range of specificity, from directly naming an author or work to simply alluding to a line of text. In some cases, where I thought the name itself would not infringe, I attached a description that I thought might pose problems. I want to try to gauge where the line is.

The Oscar Wilde
The Hemingway
The Papa - A bold, new take on Hemingway's favorite mojito.
Lady Ashley
The Gatsby
Prufrock
Banquo's Ghost - A witch's brew of exotic flavors.
Wine-dark Sea

If there is a line here between copyright infringement and legal use, where is it? Does the age of a work make a difference. I feel like I see bars all the time naming drinks with obvious and not so obvious literary allusion. But I wouldn't imagine I could call a soft drink "The Stephanie Myers" or "Twilight: a taste of Robert Pattinson." These beverages also won't be sold in bars but direct-to-consumer online. Does that make a difference? I'm looking for all the help I can get in understanding this gray area.

Many thanks!!!

What is the name of your state, Ill Eagle, or if not in the U.S., what is the name of your country? Laws can vary in significant ways between countries, and publicity right laws vary in significant ways between the different states. The following information applies to U.S. law.

In the U.S., copyright, trademark and publicity right laws can intersect, so all might need to be considered when naming a product.

What your listed examples would mostly fall under would be trademark and publicity rights laws. Names, titles and short phrases cannot be copyrighted.

Although I don't have the time right now to research all of the names you have listed to see which might be protected under these laws, I can tell you that Robert Pattinson and Stephanie Myers would be protected under publicity rights laws and cannot be used without authorization from them (see http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/publicity), and Hemingway and Oscar Wilde might be protected by their estates under both trademark and publicity rights laws. U.S. trademark law can be reviewed on the following U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website: http://www.uspto.gov

Under copyright laws, and as a general rule, you can freely use anything that is in the public domain. You can name your drinks "Romeo" or "Juliet" or "Shakespeare," because all of Shakespeare's works are in the public domain. A common reason a work enters the public domain will be the age of the material. For example, works published before 1923 are in the public domain. Other materials that are in the public domain can be researched through the U.S. Copyright Office website: http://www.copyright.gov

Whether famous quotes and poems can be used depends on the particular quote and the poem. Again, public domain materials are free to use (e.g., "To be or not to be") but copyright laws come into play with newer material. The amount of material quoted, for instance, can make a difference in whether a portion of a poem that is quoted is a "fair use" of the copyrighted material or not. Making commercial use of another's copyrighted material will often require permission of, or a license from, the copyright holder prior to use. For other "fair use" factors that a court will look at you can go to the following site: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/index.html.

I recommend that you go over all specific facts with an attorney in your area, before settling on any particular name or quote or poem for your product.