Tag Archives: legal

Spots vs Games Workshop, One Month Later

Posted by on March 4, 2013 1 comment

Sales have slowed to a quiet trickle, but I am pleased, very pleased to see a lot of reviews by people who bought the book because of the GW issue and have gone on to enjoy it. On Amazon alone there have been seven new reviews in the past week with comments like “Definitely on my re-read list” and “a proper page-turner.” Most of those reviews comment about the format and then go on to say that while strange, it seems to suit the narrative… I’m glad they thought so. I did too!

Traffic is still washing to my website from articles on BoingBoing, the BBC and various forum threads where people are still discussing the topic. It’s gone from several thousand hits a day to a few hundred, which is more typical for my blog, but a surprising number of people are just discovering the news and coming here to my original post.

I’ve written a summary of events for my wiki page on the problem, so if anyone wants an explanation you can hand that over. It links to all three of my original posts on the topic, as well as to all the major articles (and a lot of the minor ones) that I know of.

I’d be surprised if this didn’t blow completely over within another month. But I am tempted now to prioritize the Spots sequel since, as one new reviewer said after reading “Letters,” the epilogue to the novel, “Need more plz.”

If there are three sweeter words for an author to hear, I can’t think of them right now. :)

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

Posted by on February 5, 2013 423 comments

Update! Spots the Space Marine has been reinstated! Read about it here and on the EFF.

In mid-December, Games Workshop told Amazon that I’d infringed on the trademark they’ve claimed for the term “space marine” by titling my original fiction novel Spots the Space Marine. In response, Amazon blocked the e-book from sale [original post and update]. Since then, I’ve been in discussion with Games Workshop, and following their responses, with several lawyers.

To engage a lawyer to defend me from this spurious claim would cost more money than I have, certainly more than the book has ever earned me. Rather than earning money for my family, I’d be taking money from them, when previously my writing income paid for my daughter’s schooling. And I’d have to use the little time I have to write novels to fight a protracted legal battle instead.

In their last email to me, Games Workshop stated that they believe that their recent entrée into the e-book market gives them the common law trademark for the term “space marine” in all formats. If they choose to proceed on that belief, science fiction will lose a term that’s been a part of its canon since its inception. Space marines were around long before Games Workshop. But if GW has their way, in the future, no one will be able to use the term “space marine” without it referring to the space marines of the Warhammer 40K universe.

I used to own a registered trademark. I understand the legal obligations of trademark holders to protect their IP. A Games Workshop trademark of the term “Adeptus Astartes” is completely understandable. But they’ve chosen instead to co-opt the legacy of science fiction writers who laid the groundwork for their success. Even more than I want to save Spots the Space Marine, I want someone to save all space marines for the genre I grew up reading. I want there to be a world where Heinlein and E.E. Smith’s space marines can live alongside mine and everyone else’s, and no one has the hubris to think that they can own a fundamental genre trope and deny it to everyone else.

At this point I’m not sure what course to take. I interviewed five lawyers and all of them were willing to take the case, but barring the arrival of a lawyer willing to work pro bono, the costs of beginning legal action start at $2000 and climb into the five-figure realm when it becomes a formal lawsuit. Many of you don’t know me, so you don’t know that I write a business column/web comic for artists; wearing my business hat, it’s hard to countenance putting so much time and energy into saving a novel that hasn’t earned enough to justify it. But this isn’t just about Spots. It’s about science fiction’s loss of one of its foundational tropes.

I have very little free time and very little money. But if enough people show up to this fight, I’ll give what I can to serve that trust. And if the response doesn’t equal the level of support I would need, then I still thank you for your help and your well wishes. For now, step one is to talk about this. Pass it on to your favorite news source. Tell your favorite authors or writers’ organizations. To move forward, we need interest. Let’s generate some interest.

I am available for questions for anyone who has them; you can reach me at haikujaguar at gmail. Thanks, everyone.

***

Finally, several of you have asked about the Spots the Space Marine charity. I have always donated a portion of my profits from the sale of the book (in all editions, serial, e-book and print) to The Wounded Warrior Project, a charity recommended to me by the servicemen and servicewomen who also helped me with my many questions while writing. I’m not sure when Spots the Space Marine will be available again, but until I figure it out, I commend this charity to you. There would be no space marines without the real thing.

Update on Games Workshop’s Quarrel with Spots the Space Marine

Posted by on January 3, 2013 36 comments

In mid-December, Games Workshop made a complaint to Amazon that I had infringed on their trademark of the words “space marine” with my novel Spots the Space Marine (a near-future military science fiction novel about real marines). Their US trademark covers only gaming materials, not novels; the word “space marine” has been in use in science fiction since it was coined in the 1930s, by authors like Heinlein and E.E. Smith, among others. However, based on that complaint, Amazon blocked sales of my e-book.

After some delay due to the holidays, I’ve had a phone conversation with Games Workshop about their issues with my novel. My takeaway from that conversation, then:

Games Workshop has trademarks in the US, UK and Europe. The US and UK trademarks cover only games and miniatures, as I mentioned previously. The European trademark, however, includes Class 16, which reads:

Paper, cardboard and goods made from these materials, not included in other classes; printed matter; bookbinding material; photographs; stationery; adhesives for stationery or household purposes; artists’ materials; paint brushes; typewriters and office requisites (except furniture); instructional and teaching material (except apparatus); plastic materials for packaging (not included in other classes); playing cards; printers’ type; printing blocks

Games Workshop brought their complaint to Amazon Kindle Publishing UK based on this class in the European trademark, which caused Amazon Kindle Publishing (in the US) to block my e-book in all the countries it was being sold. The paperback was not affected at the time of the complaint and has never been blocked from sale.

Salient points (even granting that the many prior usages of “space marine” in science fiction can be ignored):

1. Trademark rights are limited to the territory of the government that grants them. A European trademark cannot be enforced in the US. GW can make claims in the US based on their US trademark, but their US trademark does not include Class 16, the class upon which they told me they were making their claim.

2. My e-book is not “printed matter.” There is a trademark class recommended for covering e-books and other forms of entertainment like radio and television. Games Workshop’s trademarks in the US, UK and Europe do not include this class.

3. The paperback version of Spots isn’t being sold in Europe; I would have to toggle a specific distribution channel to approve Createspace’s distribution to Europe and that toggle is currently off.

At this point, the e-book remains blocked from sale in all countries. Spots was my homage to Heinlein and the greats of science fiction. I contributed some of the profit to charities benefiting wounded soldiers (notably the Wounded Warrior Project). The e-book edition of Spots is where most of the money comes from, and where most of my readers first encounter the story. I don’t appreciate having to defend my use of “space marine” to describe a cookie-baking mom no one could mistake for something out of Warhammer 40K.

I’ve had some positive discussions with lawyers on my next steps, and am now researching lawyers with specialties in international trademark law. If you know of any such people (or are one), I’d like to hear from you! Several of you have asked if you can contribute to a Spots legal defense fund; I hope not to need one, but I’ll keep you updated.