Writers Beware: Game Workshop thinks they invented "Space Marines"

[Paynesgrey]

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/02/06/space-marines-and-the-battle-of-tradem-ark/

Games Workshop recently got a self-published E-book, titled "Spots The Space Marine" pulled from Amazon by threatening to sue on the ground that they own the trademark to the term "Space Marine." 

A brief history of Space Marines before Games Workshop invented them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_marine

And already, the humor begins...



Anyway, I'm posting this because we've a goodly number of folks who have or are planning on e-publishing and self-publishing, and this could be an issue if Amazon were to start pulling anything with "space marines."  Granted, anything that doesn't use it in the title would probably stay off the radar, but if somebody were to hit it big with a self-published kindle book, GW might serve up one of these notices and get your work pulled. 

John Scalzi has commented that as president of SFWA, this issue "is on his radar," but hasn't gone into any further detail. 

[Shecky]

Seems like half the SF people on Twitter have put "Space Marine" in their handle or in a hashtag since yesterday. Rockin'!

[Galvatron]

Lol a great thread to come across as Im sitting at my desk with my Horus Herasy book!

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Games Workshop recently got a self-published E-book, titled "Spots The Space Marine" pulled from Amazon by threatening to sue on the ground that they own the trademark to the term "Space Marine." 

Sfaict, they don't seem to have much of a leg to stand on, looking at opinions by reasonably well-informed people such as http://scrivenerserror.blogspot.ca/2013/02/D206x.html and Games Workshop have not been entirely above being a bit blustery in this sort of direction previous.

It kind of makes me wish one could find some IP somewhere that GW are using that someone like Palladium, Paramount or Disney had a claim on.

[Paynesgrey]

That's the trick with many "Strategic Lawsuits."  You intimidate someone into capitulation.  Sometimes the target simply cannot afford to fight back, or in the case of amazon, simply doesn't care to bother fighting back.  If they went to court with Amazon, Amazon would eat their lunch and feed GW the bag. 

But GW's betting that the author doesn't have the means to fight back, and Amazon will not think it's worth the hassle to defend one self-published ebook out of the thousands.

Similar lawsuits have been used to silence critics of both corporate and government policy.  In your blog, you criticize my position on panda shiving, and I sue you for slanderous libelizational defamatory inflectation.  You'd beat me in court... but you'd need to be able to afford the lawyers to fight me for a few years...

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Similar lawsuits have been used to silence critics of both corporate and government policy.  In your blog, you criticize my position on panda shiving, and I sue you for slanderous libelizational defamatory inflectation.  You'd beat me in court... but you'd need to be able to afford the lawyers to fight me for a few years...

You really are determined to get maximum possible mileage out of this panda metaphor, aren't you ?

[Paynesgrey]

mmmmmm..... pandas.....

[vultur]

It kind of makes me wish one could find some IP somewhere that GW are using that someone like Palladium, Paramount or Disney had a claim on.

Well, they use "Eldar" in 40K, which is a Tolkien term...