I had not heard of cockygate until Natalie Solent mentioned it at Samizdata. Long story short, Felena Hopkins an indy author of romantic fiction was very silly and tried to trademark the word “cocky” and then went after any other authors who had used the word in the titles of their books. She has subsequently been monstered for her stupidity – because you cannot trademark a word in such a manner.
Anyway I noticed this:
And apparently now is looking into some issue in the UK having to do with trade marking the word “rebellion”.
Having just published a novel by that name, I got a jolt, I can tell you. Still, my response to any cease and desist letters is all ready and waiting. I shall merely refer them to the response given in Arkell v Pressdram (1972).
Still, the capacity for human stupidity never fails to raise a smile.
One of the funniest things about cockygate is that she’s about to get a lawsuit thrown at her from the guy who created the font she used for the stylised version of the trademark (she filed two, stylised and just the wordmark). Apparently the licence clearly states the font can’t be used for trademarked works. The creator is aware, and is going to lawyer up once he returns from his holiday. Between that, the RWA taking on the case, and the lawyer working on getting the trademark revoked, I wouldn’t like to be Faleena Hopkins.
Regarding rebellion, apparently that issue is mostly cleared up now. https://twitter.com/RebellionJason/status/995044776771817472
Apparently the LitRPG genre have a trademark troll of their own. Someone trademarked the term LitRPG some months back (coined by Russians, but was well on its way to becoming a thing in several countries before this guy filed his trademark request), and the cockygate and rebellion upsets have brought this one to a wider audience. Legal action to get that trademark revoked is also forthcoming.
Regarding “Rebellion” – prior art protects you in UK