Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Glad to hear that the author is getting some pro-bono legal services. Usually these things are unfortunately a case of

"we're bigger than you, so give up before we take you to court because you certainly can't afford it!"

I do think alot of folks who are talking about GW's space marine novels or games are missing the point. It's a widely used term, that predated GW, and one which has already been demonstrated by the courts to not be the sole property of GW (I believe this was the 2nd circuit case mentioned above) .

Regardless of the intentions of the author, with the above established, this seems like a pretty clear case of C&D Lawyer bullying.

 Kanluwen wrote:
I really wish more of these stories would include the fact that the "book"(I hesitate to call it that) was continuously placed into listings with Black Library novels, had some 25 fake reviews equating it to "Starship Troopers" in terms of cultural and literary significance, and was regularly showing up as a "Suggested Item" for anyone who looked at Games Workshop stuff on Amazon.

I know that when I went to order a few BL novels from Amazon in December, that author's "book" kept showing up in "Customers who looked at X, also bought Y".

The placements along side BL novels is the fault of Amazon's programs, not the author. As for the reviews, I'm not going to be so quick to call them "fake", and comparing it to Starship Troopers is not at all related to the GW case.

It's clear you have a low opinion of this author and her books, but that's just your opinion and not really material to the case.

 mercer wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
You certainly can patent the engineering design of an innovative type of brick, and LEGO did so with their brick design.

However the patents expired, allowing the design concept to be copied by other companies. Hence Megabloks, and other similar products.

I don't now if LEGO sued Megabloks for anything.

Megabloks has been out ages so I am not sure when the patent expired. Lego did attempt to sue Megablok if I remember right, though it gone thrown out because it's just a brick and you can't copyright a brick.

That's pretty much what happened. LEGO has failed quite a few times to enforce their ownership of the brick, specifically the studs and tube interior construction.

The plot thickens when one realizes that the original LEGO brick (before stud and tube construction) is an unlicensed copy of the construction bricks made by Englishman Hillary Page of KiddiKraft. LEGO ordered a batch of samples, rounded the dimensions down to metrics and sold them with no license!
http://www.hilarypagetoys.com/
LEGO finally bought the patents to kiddiecraft bricks for a rediculusly low sum nearly 40 years later a few years before failing against TYCO and their "Superbricks". (LEGO won initially, but it was overturned.

Sorry to get all off topic, but I'm a nut for anything LEGO related, even the darker side of the story.