# Is this fiction disclaimer adequate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 13, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955 "2015-05-13T17:08:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/1 "2015-05-13T17:08:21Z")
This is what I’m tentatively planning to use as a disclaimer for my novel…is there anything I should add, change or remove? _“This is a work of fiction, and all characters are fictitious. The author makes no claim of historical or factual accuracy with regards to events, technologies, organizations or scientific concepts depicted in this novel, some of which exist in real life and some of which do not.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Teach-me-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a4c791/32.png) [@Teach-me-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teach-me-not)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/2 "2015-05-13T17:36:45Z")
IANA lawyer or an author, but: In the versions I have seen, there are clauses about **resemblance** to real events or persons. Like, “Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.” ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/3 "2015-05-13T21:01:20Z")
If some jackass is hell-bent on suing you, you might have a weakness in the phrase “some of which exist in real life.” He’ll claim that he is in that category. **Teach-me-not** quotes the most commonplace disclaimer, which avers that all resemblances are coincidental. You can know, privately, that it isn’t true, and that “Xaxx, the Evil Warlord” is based on your supervisor at work. But you’ve made it that much harder for either of them to prove it in court. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/4 "2015-05-13T21:17:43Z")
What are you worried about? That is, what is your disclaimer supposed to protect against? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/5 "2015-05-13T21:57:55Z")
It’s very, very standard. You see it in many novels, and at the end of most movies, too. It’s intended to help prevent someone from saying, “Hey, Bullwinkle Moose is a defamatory caricature of me, and I demand to be paid damages and punitive fees too.” ETA: just ask Durward Kirby! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/6 "2015-05-13T22:23:58Z")
If you defame real people, no disclaimer can protect you. Even if you disguise a real person as a fictional character, that real person can win a defamation case if a reader can reasonably identify the real person. OTOH, defamation is hard to prove. The claimant has to show that he or she has had demonstrable harm or loss of income as a direct result. OTOOH, some people will sue just because you happen to use their name. IANAL but this woman is, and I think the column is [full of excellent advice](http://helensedwick.com/how-to-use-real-people-in-your-writing/). ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/7 "2015-05-14T14:15:23Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > If some jackass is hell-bent on suing you, you might have a weakness in the phrase “some of which exist in real life.” He’ll claim that he is in that category. But if I’m writing about a real organization (i.e., an intelligence agency), then I can’t say it doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/8 "2015-05-14T14:31:48Z")
Oh, nvm. I get your point - do away with that disclaimer part and change it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/9 "2015-05-14T14:39:46Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But if I’m writing about a real organization (i.e., an intelligence agency), then I can’t say it doesn’t exist. It is almost impossible to be prosecuted for defamation of a government agency in this country. That’s a high form of free speech. Consider the conspiracy theories about 9/11 or the Iraq War or Bin Laden’s death or even the Fed, which probably hasn’t killed anybody outright. You can still get into trouble for a specific knowingly false claim against an individual, which is called “actual malice”. If you say that ex-CIA Director David Petraeus raped and killed your mother while you watched, he would have a strong legal case. Otherwise - I mean, have you ever read the Internet and what it says about government agencies? ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Call_Me.Tim)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/10 "2015-05-14T16:55:08Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > You can still get into trouble for a specific knowingly false claim against an individual, which is called “actual malice”. If you say that ex-CIA Director David Petraeus raped and killed your mother while you watched, he would have a strong legal case. There’s something of an exception to that, too - if the false claim that is made is so obviously false that no reasonable person would believe it, then it’s also not considered slander. See [Hustler Magazine v. Falwell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_Magazine_v._Falwell). In your example, this might be used as a defense. I mean, what reasonable person would read your story and actually believe that he would leave a witness alive? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/11 "2015-05-14T17:28:19Z")
Technology and institutions don’t sue you. People do. Forget about disclaing the reality of technology. Spend your time disclaiming that the characters in your work are not based on any real people. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/12 "2015-05-14T19:14:08Z")
> [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](#): > > There’s something of an exception to that, too - if the false claim that is made is so obviously false that no reasonable person would believe it, then it’s also not considered slander. See [Hustler Magazine v. Falwell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_Magazine_v._Falwell). The court did say that, but the particular circumstances of the case was that the portrayal was inserted in a parody of an advertisement and parody is protected, however broad. That’s why undefined questions like the OP’s are absolutely impossible to answer properly. Everything about a case depends on the exact facts of the wording and the context. The only proper answers are “it depends” and “talk to a lawyer.” Without specifics you’re just wasting everybody’s time as we flail around trying to figure out what the question is. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/13 "2015-05-14T20:51:42Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But if I’m writing about a real organization (i.e., an intelligence agency), then I can’t say it doesn’t exist. Doesn’t matter. The disclaimer says “Any resemblance to real persons…is purely coincidental.” The CIA is not a person. (Ah, but be careful, because the Ford Motor Company is. Kinda.) Anyway, as noted, the CIA isn’t going to sue you if you write about a secret black CIA hit squad killing witnesses in the U.S. But if you write about Ford having a secret hit squad…they might get frosty. So: change the name! Your story is about the Stone Motor Company, based in St. Paul, maker of the Whip line of sports cars. They can have a hit squad that kills people who have evidence that they covered-up safety defects in their cars – and you won’t get sued for it. Heck, if Marvel Comics can get away with Roxxon, you’re golden! ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fiction-disclaimer-adequate/719955/14 "2015-05-15T03:37:05Z")
Good advice everyone, thanks!