Using real GLO names in TV/movies?

[Bob Dole]

Originally Posted by AChiOhSnap

Hi everyone,

On the O.C. last night (I know you were all watching Grey's instead), there was a little guest role of a rich, young obnoxious trophy wife. The character talked about how she loved to party, described herself as a "total alcoholic" and that she loved to go back to her college sorority to "party" and do shooters with her sorority sisters. One of the other characters expressed surprise that she would still go back to party with her sorority after graduating. The trophy wife character then named a real NPC sorority and said "A member in college, a member for life."

What is the legality of having a ficitious character belong to a real GLO? Are GLO names copyrighted? I know Charlotte on SATC was a Kappa but nothing about her characterization would really be defamatory to Kappa. The OC character was portrayed as an irresponsible mother, a bimbo, just an all around obnoxious rich sorority girl type. It's not like the character used some nickname like "Sigma" which could represent any GLO with "Sigma" in the name. Could the writers of a TV show or movie get sued for using the name of a real GLO in a defamatory way? What do you all know about this sort of thing?

Sorry if this has been discussed before but I didn't find anything when I searched.

If that stereotype is true, which I assume you believe so, because you used it to describe her. Did they not accurately portray her character? It's social commentary, I don't think a sorority will go head to head with a major media corporation.

[AChiOhSnap]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Is it any different than having a fictional character attend a specific university? Those names are just as copyrighted as our GLOs. Are people are less likely to say, "oh all Yale graduates are like Rory Gilmore" than they are to say "all XYZs are like this O.C. character"?

I'm not sure. I personally wouldn't care at all if AXO were used as the sorority of a fictitious character even if it wasn't the most flattering representation. I just don't know if my or anyone else's HQs would feel the same way.

A lot of times the names of universities and colleges are changed for movies/tv/books if the characters are particularly wild. Bret Easton Ellis novels come to mind -- the characters in those novels and movie versions are so out of control that I can't imagine a small private college wouldn't sue if their institution was named in Rules of Attraction. I think the difference here is that everyone is familiar with Yale, but for example Alpha Chi Omega might not be a household name to people that weren't involved in a college greek system with a chapter of AXO. I think the more smaller and more specific the institution, the more members would feel the need to protect the image of that institution.

Originally Posted by Bob Dole

If that stereotype is true, which I assume you believe so, because you used it to describe her. Did they not accurately portray her character? It's social commentary, I don't think a sorority will go head to head with a major media corporation.

No I obviously don't believe the stereotype, otherwise I wouldn't be in a sorority. I'm not really sure what you're getting at, but I didn't think the way this character was written was particularly creative... she just was a dumb, ditzy, drunk, sorority girl stereotype. If they were trying to create biting social satire, they didn't do a particularly good job of it because the character was so over the top.