The world of romance books is in the middle of an uproar. It seems an author with a series decided to trademark one word in that series. The word Cocky. It seems that if anyone else has that word in the title of their book, she is demanding they change it. My first thought was, what if someone decided to trademark the word, The.
Of course, people are upset. I believe Romance Writers of America has their lawyers involved.
At first, this woman threatened people with lawsuits and was quite nasty. Now she's playing the victim. I don't buy it. She knew what she was doing and thought herself so important she could do whatever she wanted. Now, she's finding out that she's not as high and mighty as she thought.
What a crazy situation. I do hope her trademark is taken away. My opinion is that anyone should be able to title their stories any way they want. This action could start a whole new batch of other trademarks. Not good.
I have to say, just Wow. It's not like it is a unique word or even something that is original.
ReplyDeleteThat is true, Sandra. I don't believe she should have been able to trademark that word. But now we have to deal with it and hopefully right the wrong.
DeleteI am pretty sure it will be overturned, if for no other reason than one of the statements you make when filing for a trademark is "To the best of the signatory's knowledge and belief, no other persons, except, if applicable, concurrent users, have the right to use the mark in commerce, either in the identical form or in such near resemblance as to be likely, when used on or in connection with the goods/services of such other persons, to cause confusion or mistake, or to deceive."
ReplyDeleteI hope so. This stunt was just that. A stunt.
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