Remember this if you want to write about armored soldiers that fight outside the atmosphere

[jeriendhal]

Because if you call them Space Marines, Games Workshop will sue you.

Short Version: M.C.A. Hogarth, aka haikujaguar, writes sci-fi and fantasy novels. One of which is titled Spots the space Marine. Originally appearing as a crowdfunded serial on LiveJournal, it followed the adventures of Magda "Spots" Guitart, a middle-aged housewife and USMC reservist, who gets called up as a replacement to reinforce a Marine detachment guarding a critical anti-matter production facility that's under threat by the "Crabs".

It's been available as an ebook on Amazon since 2009. At least until a couple of months ago, when Amazon yanked it on the request of Games Workshop's lawyers, based on the notion that her book infringes on their copyright of the phrase "Space Marine", despite the phrase being in use since the days of E.E. "Doc" Smith.

Hogarth would like to fight this. Plainly the phrase has been in use in science fiction novels since the 1930's, and in roleplaying games since the 70's. But GW's lawyers are bigger than any she can afford, and she's going to lose this fight unless the Internet community can shame them into giving up, with perhaps a bit of help from traditional publishers who don't care for this overreach either.

Otherwise, future authors won't be able to use these two words on their covers, and possibly in the book itself, until basically the end of time.

Comments

[allah-sulu.livejournal.com]

Don't Marvel and DC also claim to jointly hold the copyright on the term "superhero"?

So what happens when we launch actual US Marines into space? Will Games Workshop sue the Pentagon?

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

It may help to tell the odious corporation that you are boycotting their products for attempting to rob the English language of a phrase they didn't create and which is already in wide use elsewhere.

Re: Yes...

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

I haven't bought any of their products since I was in college over 20 years ago. At this point I think the explosion of disapproval from the Net has a better chance of influencing them than anything I can say personally.