How does product copyrights work with comics

[Lineofdeath2]

iCarly, and Drake and Josh (TV shows on Nickelodeon for those not in the know). The characters don't have Apple products. They have Pear products. Clearly a riff on Apple.

I've seen some comics reference brand names and companies.

What exactly is the limit with comics?

Edit: I misspelled copyrights in the title.

[Caley Tibbittz]

I taped iCarly tonight. No spoilers, please.

[The Zevad]

I taped iCarly tonight. No spoilers, please.

Carly, Sam, and Freddie were all killed by Spencer years ago. Turns out he's a split personality and used to work for Disney. So for all this time you've been following androids he built! Sam malfuctioned and killed Tuvok and massacred the entire school. Freddie sacraficed himself and in a big explosion destroys himself, Sam, and their Highschool.

Carly-bot confronts Spencer and has him build a robot version of himself, a new Calry, Sam, and Freddie and let's them all know who and what they truly are. After the new bots leave. She has Spencer take her out to the woods and kills him and herself in a giant explosion.

The End.

iCarly 2.0 starts this fall.

[stevapalooza]

It's not really a legal issue so much as the fact that most big companies aren't really interested in doing free commercials for other big companies. Exposure is a commodity just like anything else. Giving it away for free would be foolish. Especially since many companies are willing to pay for product placement.

Now other copyrighted intellectual property is another story. If you want to include song lyrics in your comic you better get permission first or it's infringement.

[MayorMitch100]

Carly, Sam, and Freddie were all killed by Spencer years ago. Turns out he's a split personality and used to work for Disney. So for all this time you've been following androids he built! Sam malfuctioned and killed Tuvok and massacred the entire school. Freddie sacraficed himself and in a big explosion destroys himself, Sam, and their Highschool.

Carly-bot confronts Spencer and has him build a robot version of himself, a new Calry, Sam, and Freddie and let's them all know who and what they truly are. After the new bots leave. She has Spencer take her out to the woods and kills him and herself in a giant explosion.

The End.

iCarly 2.0 starts this fall.

There are too many facts in there for this to be false.

[The Zevad]

There are too many facts in there for this to be false.

It was dark turn. I thought about what about Sam and Freddie's relatives (Their moms) and it turns out they were all androids as well. Spencer killed all their immediate families. They've been saying for years that Carly and Spencer's parents were off on some military assignment. NOPE. Dead. Creepy shit.

[Lineofdeath2]

It's not really a legal issue so much as the fact that most big companies aren't really interested in doing free commercials for other big companies. Exposure is a commodity just like anything else. Giving it away for free would be foolish. Especially since many companies are willing to pay for product placement.

Now other copyrighted intellectual property is another story. If you want to include song lyrics in your comic you better get permission first or it's infringement.

What about song titles? Would using that in a comic be infringement?

[bartleby]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_displacement

[stevapalooza]

What about song titles? Would using that in a comic be infringement?

I think so.

[majorjoe23]

What about song titles? Would using that in a comic be infringement?

My understanding is you can't copyright a title, but you can trademark one.

[Lineofdeath2]

What do you mean?

[majorjoe23]

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html

How do I copyright a name, title, slogan or logo?
Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. In some cases, these things may be protected as trademarks. Contact the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, 800-786-9199, for further information. However, copyright protection may be available for logo artwork that contains sufficient authorship. In some circumstances, an artistic logo may also be protected as a trademark.

[Dan-C]

The question of legality is likely displaced by the fact that you likely don't have the kind of money they would sue you for anyway. A company like Apple would probably spend more to draft and file a complaint than they would collect from you. If you're planning on writing something, but haven't sold or produced the work yet, just write it in there and change it later if you have to.