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"GW does it again! Author can't say "Space Marine"" Topic


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3,015 hits since 17 Dec 2012
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Comments or corrections?

Schogun17 Dec 2012 12:15 p.m. PST
Meiczyslaw17 Dec 2012 12:21 p.m. PST
richarDISNEY17 Dec 2012 12:23 p.m. PST

Pollyanna meets Starship Troopers in this web serial about a 30-something Marine called out of retirement to join the war against the crabs. But shattered morale is the least of her company's problems, and their survival may hinge on an unlikely friendship forged between an alien weapons designer and a mother-turned-warrior….
doesn't sound like GW IP work there anyway.
Not sure if this will hold.
beer

79thPA Supporting Member of TMP17 Dec 2012 1:15 p.m. PST

Space marine! Space marine! Space marine! Take that, GW!

Artraccoon17 Dec 2012 1:29 p.m. PST

So is the Star Wars IP holder gonna sue the Germans(or anyone else) over the name "Stormtrooper"?

Mako1117 Dec 2012 1:42 p.m. PST

Okay, I'm on board too.

Also interesting that their trademark doesn't cover "miniatures games", or books, which seems to me to be glaring omissions.

Space Marine!

Space Marine!!

SPACE MARINE!!!

Charles Marlow17 Dec 2012 1:56 p.m. PST

GW are ridiculous! Oh, yeah… SPACE MARINE!

Personal logo javelin98 Supporting Member of TMP17 Dec 2012 2:35 p.m. PST

Sounds like James Cameron and Paul Reiser better call their lawyers, since Reiser's character used that exact term in "Aliens", IIRC.

freewargamesrules17 Dec 2012 3:00 p.m. PST

I'm a Space Marine and so is my wife!

Admiral Yi Sun Sin is my Homie17 Dec 2012 3:06 p.m. PST

I remember "colonial marines" being used in Aliens. I don't think any actor used "Space Marines" in Aliens. I think I would have picked up on "Space Marines" being used but I could be wrong. I haven't watched it since September though. Time to watch it again I think! thumbs up

Personal logo miniMo Supporting Member of TMP17 Dec 2012 3:22 p.m. PST

Oh yeah, GW renewed their copyright on 'space marine' in 1955, after the 1932 one expired….
link

GildasFacit Sponsoring Member of TMP17 Dec 2012 3:25 p.m. PST

Which parts of Dick and Head don't these people understand ?

Zephyr117 Dec 2012 3:47 p.m. PST

Does the author's Space Marines have skulls on them? Just wonderin'….

eek!

picture

Rassilon17 Dec 2012 3:58 p.m. PST

Bleeped text!?

Personal logo Tacitus Supporting Member of TMP17 Dec 2012 4:15 p.m. PST

Next Lucasfilm is going to sue Austria-Hungary for using Imperial Stormtroopers.

Meiczyslaw17 Dec 2012 4:21 p.m. PST

Next Lucasfilm is going to sue Austria-Hungary for using Imperial Stormtroopers.

Um, doesn't GW have an "Empire" faction? Just like SW has an "Empire"?

And aren't there "Stormtroopers" in the Imperial Guard faction?

Does anybody have a phone number to Disney's lawyers?

skippy000117 Dec 2012 4:27 p.m. PST

US Marines were checking the feasibility of the shuttle being a orbital artillery spotter and they considered the soldier to be a Space Marine. So I want to see GW go after them.

Rassilon17 Dec 2012 4:58 p.m. PST

Isn't Space Marine at its core a descriptive term?

Marine + Space = Space Marine.

How can a base descriptor within a language infringe on IP? *sigh*

Pedrobear17 Dec 2012 6:48 p.m. PST

The guy who works at my local librarian can no longer call himself a librarian…

PJ Parent17 Dec 2012 7:58 p.m. PST

Is your local library on a Marine base?
And if it could somehow be in the town of Space that would be too much.

Twilight Samurai17 Dec 2012 8:46 p.m. PST

There is a lot of yanking going on at GW.

SPACE MARINE!

Zephyr117 Dec 2012 9:48 p.m. PST

If it wasn't for GW, Princess Ryan would still have Space Marines….

flicking wargamer18 Dec 2012 5:41 a.m. PST

There are several book series that have Space Marines in them and use that term. I think his publisher just did not want to pay him anymore.

I understand several religions are suing GW for using the term Chaplain.

Personal logo John the OFM Supporting Member of TMP18 Dec 2012 8:24 a.m. PST

All this shows is that the deeper pockets rule.
The more you can afford to spend on lawyers, the better your chance of prevailing.

Lentulus18 Dec 2012 6:07 p.m. PST

Meh.

If *Space Marines* is the best term you can come up with, you should have your SF writing license taken away.

StarfuryXL519 Dec 2012 1:00 a.m. PST

I remember when TSR slapped a "TM" on the word Nazi in their Indiana Jones game.


Space Marine StarfuryXL5

Personal logo Parzival Supporting Member of TMP20 Dec 2012 4:30 p.m. PST

To be fair, TSR was trademarking the specific logo design, not the word itself.

Space Marine Parzival

StarfuryXL521 Dec 2012 12:27 a.m. PST

No, there was a "TM" on the word "Nazi" on the base of the cardboard figures supplied with the game. It was just a word, not a logo. I don't think they had a "Nazi" logo or letterform design.

SPACE MARINE StarfuryXL5

3rd Foot and Mouth22 Dec 2012 4:23 p.m. PST

I've heard it claimed the TSR didn't actually try and trademark Nazi, rather it was on the list of Lucasfilm trademarks that TSR was required to acknowledge.

Rudysnelson23 Dec 2012 5:26 p.m. PST

What about the Space marines in 'Space and Beyond"?

I remember the TSR and German WW2 trademark conflicts. I think it may have been Gestapo rather than nazi. It was part of the 'Top Secret' game system supplements.

Oh YeahI know of several game systems that used 'Space marine' terms in their games long before GW came out with their system. Several of these I saw in the Zocchi Distributor warehouse back in 1983. They all had copyrights in the late 1970s.

So GW did not invent the term SPACE MARINE so can not be intellectual property.

RobWolsky30 Jan 2013 9:55 p.m. PST

Mark Ratner published a set of rules in the 70's called "Space Marine". It was re-issued a few years later by Fantasy Games Unlimited with the same title. I still have copies of both, can't throw any set of rules away!

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