
Row blows up over ownership of 'space marine' term - hansbo
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21380003
======
brudgers
Previous discussion of original story:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5176820>

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Kurtz79
The really absurd thing about the issue is how it is possible that someone
gave they the exclusive right to use what in the end is just two standard
english words stuck together.

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Samuel_Michon
You mean, like 'Internet Explorer'?

[http://news.cnet.com/Microsoft-settles-trademark-
case/2100-1...](http://news.cnet.com/Microsoft-settles-trademark-
case/2100-1001_3-212931.html)

~~~
protomyth
I would have gone with "Windows" since it was a common term for a UI element
at the time.

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cygx
And you're still free to call the UI element by that name.

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protomyth
Yep, but don't use it in part of your product's name.

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kryptiskt
A nifty revenge would be for the net to repurpose the term "space marine" as a
synonym for some disgusting activity, like vomiting. For example, IP lawyers
makes me space marine all over my carpet.

~~~
masklinn
A much more nifty revenge would be to have Games Workshop stripped of all
their trademarks, not to use a SciFi staple into nonsense.

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lutusp
A quote: "The claim emerged when it was used to _get_ an American ebook about
the futuristic soldiers _taken_ off Amazon."

Surely there's a way to construct this sentence that doesn't move two key
words so far apart. The distance between the related words "get" and "taken"
is seven interloping words -- this isn't world class (for that one needs to
learn German) but it's definitely a contender.

How about "The claim emerged when Amazon was forced to pull an American ebook
about the futuristic soldiers"?

There was a time when publications employed as many editors and proofreaders
as writers. _(sigh)_

But apropos the topic, I was once forced to stop using the title "Sun
Computer" for my sunrise and sunset computer page. The complainant? Sun
Computer, of course. My page appeared before theirs in search engine listings,
so they hired a lawyer to write and object to my use of the word "sun". After
trying to apply common sense, I gave in.

The full story:
[http://arachnoid.com/lutusp/sunrise/index.html#The__Sun_Comp...](http://arachnoid.com/lutusp/sunrise/index.html#The__Sun_Computer__Story)

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lenkite
We better trademark the terms "Space Rangers", "Space Seals" or should that be
"Speals"?, "DeltaSpace", "Space force", etc..

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jacques_chester
By the way, this is a timely reminder.

If you have a brand that you want to protect, go get a trademark registered.
It'll cost you a few thousand dollars at most. Less if you play not-a-lawyer-
lotto and do it yourself.

~~~
tech-no-logical
another reminder : if you're starting a brand, DO NOT simply throw together
two generic words and expect to be able to hold on to your trademark.

this is just silly.

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dalke
Common words like "face" and "book"? "My" and "space"? "You" and "tube"? "Fox"
and "news"? "Seven" and "eleven"? "Virgin" and "records"/"atlantic"/ ... ?

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isleyaardvark
Those are common words used in an uncommon way.

Using "space" as a prefix is a cliche in science fiction. "Spaceship", "space
station". "The spacelanes have been packed with spacetraders this whole space
year. The space police should send some space fighters on space patrol."

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dalke
I was commenting that the g'parent poster's assertion was incorrect, and not
about the term "space marine."

From the NewsRadio episode "Space": "Your space pod is so cold and drafty."
"Fine, I'll get a space heater."
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NDiBCD55-Y#t=10m40s>

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bsphil
Wasn't at all surprising to me. Have they never heard of Warhammer 40,000?

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wmeredith
This got quite a lot of discussion or reddit the other day and someone
supplied a link to term used in fiction from the 30's. it predates this
company by about 50 years.

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wmeredith
Well, apparently prior art has nothing to do with trademark. So, to paraphrase
The Big Lebowski, they're not wrong, they're just assholes.

~~~
cygx
The problem is not prior art, but the descriptive or generic nature of the
term.

Just because there's a software company selling music or even a music label
with trademarks on 'Apple' doesn't mean I cannot call a song about apples
'Apple Song'. See the case cited in section b of [1] as to why 'space marine'
might not be the best choice if you want to put a trademark on a book's title.

'Prior art' is helpful insofar as it establishes the nature of the term in
question. The term 'space marine' is not as widely used as I initially
believed (eg it's neither used in Starship Troopers nor Aliens, and might not
be in Starcraft - did not verify with the game itself and online sources are
ambiguous).

However, it can still be found in a lot of places:

Misfit by Heinlein, Grayson Space Marine Corps in David Weber's Honorverse,
Doomguy and the Quake marines, the Star Blazers TV series, Death of the
Daleks, the movie 'Space Marines' from 1997, Colonel Scott of the US Space
Marines from Moonraker, to name the ones I could come up with.

[1] <http://www.copylaw.com/new_articles/titles.html>

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wisty
Using the term _inside_ a work might be less dangerous than using it in the
title. IANAL, but GW might be able to argue that using it in a title is going
to trick consumers into think it is an officially sanctioned GW book.

~~~
cygx
Look at the link I gave:

""" Noting the inherent weakness of plaintiff's title, the court commented
that the words chosen by Random House [the defendant] were an apt description
of its book, and therefore in the public domain. Rejecting plaintiff's unfair
competition claim, the court further noted that because of the weakness of
plaintiff's title, _combined with the differences in the overall look and feel
of the two books_ (including Random House's prominent use of its distinctive
logo on the spine and back jacket) there was no likelihood of confusion.
McGraw-Hill Book Company v. Random House, Inc., 32 Misc. 2nd 704, 225 N.Y.S.2d
646, 132 U.S.P.Q. 530 (1962). """

