: Re: Can I legally use experimental items in my book? I am looking to write a book and include real experimental weapons and aircrafts. Is this possible or could I be sued. Say for example if

@Heady158

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If this is classified information and you only know about it because you have a high-level security clearance, than publishing the information in any form could put you in danger of criminal charges.

But assuming that this is publicly available information, so that there's no issue of espionage or treason charges, and you're just thinking about copyright or trademark violation: No, there's no issue. You are completely free to describe objects that exist in the real world. Just like: If you mention that a character drove a car, car makers can't sue you for mentioning their product without permission. Or if you say the character put on a shirt, the National Association of Clothing Manufacturers cannot sue you. If you mention a specific brand name, you do have to use it properly, like you can't write "coke" with a small "c" or the Coca-Cola company lawyers may be contacting you. And of course if you write disparagingly of a particular brand -- if you say that Coke causes brain cancer or some such -- the owner of that trademark might have grounds to sue you for libel. Whether they'd win would depend on just what you said, etc, but that's getting on a different subject.

BTW, under U.S. law, any information published by the government is public domain: it is not copyrighted. The reasoning is that as taxpayers paid to produce it, it belongs to the people and not to the government. There is something of a loophole in the law that if a private company produces some document or pictures or whatever, it can sell the copyright to the government, so if you see "Copyright 2015 United States Army" or some other branch of government, it was a copyright the government bought.

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