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I've been working out some of the incidentals regarding a certain YA project that's been percolating in the forefront of my mind, and a question stirred to the surface.
Namely, what are the legalities revolving around naming super-hero/super-villain characters after songs and/or bands? I have one secondary character who's demanding to be named after a '70s rock band, another who's named for a famous country song, and possibly a few others taking their inspiration from that sort of thing. But is it fair use, or do permissions need to be obtained, or am I better off filing off the serial numbers and making them thinly-veiled references instead?
I know plenty of legit comic book characters have gotten away with song-related titles, from Lucy In The Sky of the Runaways, to an entire gang of paranormals in the late, lamented D.P.7, and the Wild Cards anthology series likewise snuck in a bunch of characters named for songs ... but what might have been involved?
It's really just a random question tossed out to see what sort of knowledge turns up in response. When in doubt, I'll probably play it safe, but it's nice to know these things.
Namely, what are the legalities revolving around naming super-hero/super-villain characters after songs and/or bands? I have one secondary character who's demanding to be named after a '70s rock band, another who's named for a famous country song, and possibly a few others taking their inspiration from that sort of thing. But is it fair use, or do permissions need to be obtained, or am I better off filing off the serial numbers and making them thinly-veiled references instead?
I know plenty of legit comic book characters have gotten away with song-related titles, from Lucy In The Sky of the Runaways, to an entire gang of paranormals in the late, lamented D.P.7, and the Wild Cards anthology series likewise snuck in a bunch of characters named for songs ... but what might have been involved?
It's really just a random question tossed out to see what sort of knowledge turns up in response. When in doubt, I'll probably play it safe, but it's nice to know these things.
