Many writers wonder about using the real names of people, places and brands. Basically you CAN use actual names so long as you don’t lie, betray privacy, damage a person's livelihood, slander a person or company, or misuse a trademarked name. These rules are similar for both fiction and non-fiction writing.
I’ve always tried to use a basic rule in my fiction – if I am using a restaurant for a negative scene, I try to use a false, made-up name. For instance, if I am writing a scene where everyone eating in a restaurant gets food poisoning, I am not going to use a real restaurant name. Most businesses will not frown on the use of their PROPER name if it is as a non-biased or positive mention.
Make sure that you use trademarked names (like Zerox, Campbell’s, Viagra, etc) properly; they are not verbs, they need to be treated as proper names and capitalized, and if possible use a recognized trademark symbol (™ or ®). If you misuse the trademarked name you are literally inviting a lawsuit. In order to protect the trademarked name a company MUST show that they have taken all reasonable steps – if they let you “get away with it” they can lose their rights as owners.
Using a general location like New York City and mentioning some of the famous landmarks like Central Park is safe and may even help your readers become a part of the story and scene. Be careful about labeling specific neighborhoods with unusually high crime rates, gang activity or corrupt politicians unless these are actual publicly known cases (as in news reports). If you are basing your fiction on actual events and facts, it is a good idea to state in your book’s introduction that the story is a “fictionalized account of real events”.
When using real names of real people you cannot lie or betray personal information –if you mention publicly disclosed facts such as what was reported in a newspaper, you will probably be safe from lawsuits. If you damage the person’s reputation by relating information which is not true or otherwise “sealed” (such as a youthful offender conviction), you CAN be sued. Don’t forget peoples’ feelings en you write your memoirs – if you really have to use people that can be identified, you might want to let them read the manuscript first and give you (written) permission.
Please note that I am not a lawyer; this post is based on research and the directions I've received from editors and publishers over the past almost 30 years. It is a good idea to have a lawyer well-versed in publishing law look over your manuscript before it goes to print if you use real people, businesses or brand names; many larger publishing companies have legal departments as well.
Writing exercise: Create five characters that are loosely based on real people. Write their resumes and obituaries. How many of their attributes are truly identifiable with a real person? See if you can disguise them using habits, appearance, backgrounds and physical description.
Writing prompt: Look around you and write down as many trademark names as you can see. Think of the function of each trademarked item and use descriptive verbs that describe the article and yet do not infringe on the brand name (ie: the Xerox brand copier is used for photocopying).
