: Re: Legal ramifications for writing about fictional relationships with celebs I’m thinking about developing a blog where the main character is fictional and has fictional relationships with well known

@Angie602

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I am also not a lawyer but have experience in this matter. You may generally use a character in a work of fiction as long as they are in the public limelight. A celebrity, political figure, and so on. It has been upheld in court that since the person is a public figure they are open game for a fictional work. And as previously stated you may not use a picture or graphic representation of the person.

Furthermore, if what you or someone on your blog writes or comments about, you may get into trouble. Your level of tolerance and what offends someone else may be two separate items altogether.

My advice is to only write about persons already dead. I know this is not what you want to do, but here in the United States it's a lot safer. You can legally write ANYTHING you want about a dead person. It can be a story set when the person was alive and you can tell a totally fictionalized account of an event - or use them as a character in a fabricated story.

The caveat here is that you MAY NOT write about a person who is still alive. So if the dead person's wife or children or friends are still alive you have to leave them out of the story. Or get permission from them.

Just some food for thought. :-)

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