Nominative Fair Use

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What is it? It's the rule that says you can use a brand name in your writing without adding on the trademark symbol or getting the trademark holder's permission, but only in specific ways. For instance, you can mention that your character drives a Chevy Tahoe without putting (TM) or (R) after Chevy or Tahoe, as long as the mention doesn't appear to be an endorsement of the brand or suggest an affiliation between the brand and the writer, and it's necessary to identify the vehicle the character was driving in. Another example would be if a character says they prefer Coke to Pepsi. This is considered nominative fair use because it is relevant to who the character is and what they like. "It would be obsessive (and stylistically unpalatable) to use the R-in-a-circle symbol or the TM symbol every time you refer to a brand name in your text. And, as long as you do not write falsely and disparagingly about real brands and the companies who manufacture them, you are unlikely ever to run into a problem." - Mark Folwer, Rights of Writers. From the two articles below and several others I've read, it seems the thing to do regarding brand names in your fiction is to use them sparingly, and only when necessary to the storyline, otherwise, generic terms like cola, soda, sedan, pickup truck, and the like are workable alternatives. https://www.inta.org/fact-sheets/fair-use-of-trademarks-intended-for-a-non-legal-audience/ http://www.rightsofwriters.com/2010/12/can-i-mention-brand-name-products-in-my.html