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  1. #1

    Angry In the Future, All Space Marines Will Be Warhammer 40K Space Marines

    According to this article, Games Workshop has made a rather significant move in the realms of legal trademarking...
    [url]http://mcahogarth.org/?p=10593[/url]

    TL;DR
    basically, This guy wrote a book called, "Spots the Space Marine". - Not a WH40k product.
    In mid-December, Games Workshop told Amazon that he’d infringed on the trademark they’ve claimed for the term “space marine”. Amazon blocked the e-book from sale.

    He's a small indie author, not part of a publishing house, and hasn't the resources to fight it, but would like to start some kind of battle to save the term "space marine" from GW's exclusive usage.

    Considering that the idea of the space marine goes back at least to the Lensman series in 1934, and includes such notable sci fi alumni as Heinlein, Cameron, and much more, I think it's unreasonable for GW to try to snatch that term for their exclusive use.

  2. #2
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    *She* - author is female.


    I've got to say this is pretty low. [URL="http://www.popehat.com/2013/02/06/the-popehat-signal-help-an-author-against-a-bogus-trademark-claim/"]Popehat is encouraging people[/URL] to write to GW and point out how stupid they are.



    Edit: via [URL="http://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/games-workshop-trademark-bully.html"]BoingBoing[/URL]

    * Amazon didn't have to honor the takedown notice. Takedown notices are a copyright thing, a creature of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. They don't apply to trademark claims. This is Amazon taking voluntary steps that are in no way required in law.
    Last edited by Gotthammer; 02-06-2013 at 02:15 PM.

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    I am no lawyer, but I think the issue is using it as Space Marine and in the title.
    When I read the title I thought sounds like a strange 40k novel. A marine in space could be called a space marine as that is its description. I believe the Heinlein books didn't name them as space marine as a proper noun, but more of a common noun, with the space being an adjective and marine being the noun.
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    well, it is only natural, GW is a company is way too big for their product and have to do all kinds of things to keep the cash rolling in. from turning out new editions that have nothing to do with ironing out little mistakes but are deliberately kept faulty so that they have a reason to bring out another one in a few years to to strong arming other companies that are trying to make a buck by threatening them with costly lawsuits.

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    GW as a company may be big, but there is no reason for them to be throwing their weight around. They make think that they invented the term space marine, and the double eagle too now that I mention it, but they are wrong. They have created the likeness of their models I won't question. I really wish someone would come along and prove to the people that matter, ie the courts and GW themselves, that not everything revolves around them. This book would in all likelihood have zero impact on GW financial bottom.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wolfshade View Post
    I am no lawyer, but I think the issue is using it as Space Marine and in the title.
    When I read the title I thought sounds like a strange 40k novel. A marine in space could be called a space marine as that is its description. I believe the Heinlein books didn't name them as space marine as a proper noun, but more of a common noun, with the space being an adjective and marine being the noun.
    If the first thing you think of when you hear "Space Marine" is "40k", you kinda need to get out from under a rock. Space Marines are near-ubiquitous in sci-fi. Halo is about space marines in power armor struggling against overwhelming odds fighting xenos warriors. Sound 40k-like to you? Not even close.

    Heinlein might not have called his MI space Marines, but that doesn't mean there are countless other uses of the term both long before and after GW started up.

    Point is, space marine is a term anyone can use, and anyone who tries to claim rights to that term is an idiot.

    For reference: [url]http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpaceMarine[/url]
    Last edited by DarkLink; 02-06-2013 at 08:19 PM.
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    It is also very hippocritical of them to claim people are "stealing" their IP when in reality everything about 40k is "inspired" by books like Dune, Star ship troopers etc.
    I think it is because they are worried about their existence with the flood gates opening for models from different companies, books, games and so on.

  8. #8

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    Yeah, I agree that they're going overboard here a little... but this is part of a bigger movement going on with games workshop.

    If you've been following some of their attempts to sue indie companies for copyright infringement (companies making chapter specific shoulder pads, etc), you may have noticed that games workshop appears to have completely screwed up royally on laying a foundation for some of their copyrights. Like as in, they never actually copyrighted some of this stuff. Woops. They're attempting to fix some of this now...

    and one key part of copyright law, is that you have to protect it. If you let 100 people infringe your copyright, you pretty much can't throw the book at the 101th person to infringe it. You have to treat each case seriously, and drop a nuke on their head if they so much as look at your copyrighted content. I might be wrong on this, but I believe I heard somewhere that if you don't protect your copyrighted content, someone can actually take control of the copyright away from your company. Serious stuff.

    Yeah, it's sad they're trying to copyright "space marine"... but anyone remember when microsoft tried to copyright the word "windows".

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Warptiger View Post
    Yeah, I agree that they're going overboard here a little... but this is part of a bigger movement going on with games workshop.

    If you've been following some of their attempts to sue indie companies for copyright infringement (companies making chapter specific shoulder pads, etc), you may have noticed that games workshop appears to have completely screwed up royally on laying a foundation for some of their copyrights. Like as in, they never actually copyrighted some of this stuff. Woops. They're attempting to fix some of this now...

    and one key part of copyright law, is that you have to protect it. If you let 100 people infringe your copyright, you pretty much can't throw the book at the 101th person to infringe it. You have to treat each case seriously, and drop a nuke on their head if they so much as look at your copyrighted content. I might be wrong on this, but I believe I heard somewhere that if you don't protect your copyrighted content, someone can actually take control of the copyright away from your company. Serious stuff.

    Yeah, it's sad they're trying to copyright "space marine"... but anyone remember when microsoft tried to copyright the word "windows".
    GW Overboard? Ya i think they reached that point a fair while back banning web comics from using anything that looked like an aquilla...

    On a side note This IS SO DAMN STUPID it hurts.

    Oh and nice to see another Tiger!
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  10. #10

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    Some of you talk like GW do this for fun. I really wish the attitude of GW being some big, evil mega-corp could be dropped, but hey ho.

    Look, it's simple. Providing that they have a copyright/trademark on 'Space Marine', it is in place, in the first instance, to protect their IP. As ugly as it might seem, they are obliged to protect it, no matter how large or small the infringement.

    GW's legal department doesn't sit there with their fingers and thumbs an inch a part, aimed at people in the distance, going, "Hah, I squash your head!"

    Seriously, though, this whole 'GW is the devil!!' shtick has to stop. 'Cus if GW is the devil, well then most of youse are a bunch of heathen satanists. :P
    Last edited by pauljc; 02-07-2013 at 06:14 AM.

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