Hey, so you know this "space marine" thing?

[Fiddleback]

If we can go around retroactively filing trademarks for words and concepts that already exist and have done so for more than 30 years I'd like to call dibs on Computer, Automobile and Cellular Phone as well as any and all derivatives of those same terms. I'll start by asserting it in all electronic media with any social element since I have begun claiming it here on EN World.

You are all on notice.

Don't make me lawyer you.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Looks like either GW or Amazon changed their minds, the book is back up!

http://www.amazon.com/Spots-Space-M...332071&sr=8-2&keywords=spots+the+space+marine

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If we can go around retroactively filing trademarks for words and concepts that already exist and have done so for more than 30 years I'd like to call dibs on Computer, Automobile and Cellular Phone as well as any and all derivatives of those same terms. I'll start by asserting it in all electronic media with any social element since I have begun claiming it here on EN World.

You are all on notice.

Don't make me lawyer you.

I trademarked "lawyer", "attorney" and all derivative terminology, including "shark", "snake" and others.

You owe me $0.25.

 

[Morrus]

I trademarked "lawyer", "attorney" and all derivative terminology, including "shark", "snake" and others.

You owe me $0.25.

I trademarked "trademark".

Meta-win.

 

[sheadunne]

Shark Week is going to write you a fat check . . .and then probably eat you

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I trademarked "trademark".

Meta-win.

Bah! Try finding someone to help you enforce it in court...

(Yes, I also got the British terms tra...errrr...covered...with my filings!)

 

[Morrus]

Bah! Try finding someone to help you enforce it in court...

(Yes, I also got the British terms tra...errrr...covered...with my filings!)

You have to get past my space marine first.

 

[dm4hire]

You know it's really sad though that they were able to effectively shutdown the book just on that basis. I really wish they would reform copyright and trademark laws, but that's a pipe dream as long as the RIAA and Hollywood can lobby. Though it was nice to see that a few Republicans actually had some common sense in their proposal last year that got shot down. If you haven't seen it it's a pretty smart and well thought out proposal. You can find it here.

 

[wingsandsword]

They're a British company; they wouldn't go through the USPTO whatever happened. They'd use the Intellectual Property Office.

GW may be a British company, but Amazon is an American company, the author is American, and they are asserting a trademark violation of something a US author wrote, and tried to sell through a US company to a US audience.

So, unless the British Intellectual Property Office has jurisdiction in the United States that I am unaware of, GW would need to go through the United States Patent and Trademark Office to register a trademark stateside.

Also, while I am certainly not a lawyer and know that we have lawyers here (S'mon and dannyalcatraz come to mind, and S'mon is specifically an expert on British IP law IIRC so he may be the best ENWorlder to weigh in on this issue), I was under the impression that common law trademark is pretty weak IP protection.

Claiming a common law trademark on a phrase that can clearly be seen as in use in an entire literary genre dating to over 50 years before your company ever used it, and has been in significant use in literature and other creative works like video games since you used it sounds like a recipe for failure. Note that GW only tried to use it against a small-time independent author, not against any of the larger companies to use the term, but thanks to the Internet, this little shakedown attempt became big news.

 

[Nagol]

You know it's really sad though that they were able to effectively shutdown the book just on that basis. I really wish they would reform copyright and trademark laws, but that's a pipe dream as long as the RIAA and Hollywood can lobby. Though it was nice to see that a few Republicans actually had some common sense in their proposal last year that got shot down. If you haven't seen it it's a pretty smart and well thought out proposal. You can find it here.

The big gun is Disney. So long as that mouse has value, they'll buy lobby the government bodies to extend copyright retroactively.