Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Pennsylvania

Re: using names of real people in a published book

You asked if you could be sued when naming real persons in a work based on factual events.

In a word, yes. The questions here are numerous and you need the right representation to help you protect yourself against any eventuality. That's my job as a lawyer.

You need to consider how well each fact is sourced and substantiated. Are the facts subject to interpretation? Is it more important to the story that the accounts be accurate or would the message of the work come across if facts are obscured. Or can the story can be fictionalized?

The publisher and producer are going to press you to indemnify them against liability for any statement in the work. That means even though they have the deep pockets, you would have to pay for a suit against them.

You need an attorney on your side to help you negotiate the terms and conditions of the deal and to work with you throughout the process.

Feel free to call me when you have the opportunity.

Regards,

Roger

Re: using names of real people in a published book

You can be sued for defamation. The people that sue you may not be successful but you will spend money in defending yourself. It is a rather complicated area of the law. I would be glad to discuss this further with you (for a fee) or you could contact another attorney that post here or in your community.

Re: using names of real people in a published book

You can be sued for picking your nose on a Monday on Route 66 but that doesn't mean the plaintiff will win. True as my colleagues suggest it can be an annoying and expensive pain but if you are telling a true story and deal in facts you will probably win any defamation suit. You will likely be pressed hard by a film or TV company to verify all facts but that's standard procedure. I suspect you self-published. If not, your publisher (or their attorney) should have carefully reviewed all facts, in which case you would have already gone through the process. They should have an errors and omissions policy in place on which you are an additional named insured. But since you're on this board, you probably haven't consulted an attorney previously. If you need assurance, by all means have your book reviewed by an attorney specializing in libel. One last point: your screenwriter may want to wax eloquently and fictionalize some of your work. Make sure your agreement with the screenwriter (YOU DO HAVE AN AGREEMENT, RIGHT?) indemnifies you for added material furnished by the screenwriter and make sure the screenwriter isn't judgment proof.