#cockyidiot -The crazyness that is Faleena Hopkins
If you've been following the writing world any this past week then you've probably seen the hashtags #cockygate #cocky and my favorite #byefaleena floating around on social media. You also may be scratching your head like I was at first so let me give you the low-down:
Author: Faleena Hopkins
Genre: Romance
Offense against Humanity: Trademarked the adjective "Cocky"
Result: I am currently looking over my shoulder for fear that Faleena Hopkins' lawyer will beat me down for using said "word that shall not be written" in my blog post.
Seriously! This author is sending out notices to any author who has used the word "Cocky" in their book title demanding they rename their books! Because for some reason Faleena has decided for the whole world that she is the only human entitled to use this word in a book again.
Well, there goes my title "Cocky Clyde" for my book about my favorite rooster who happens to be older than this
stupid trademark! Sorry Clyde :(
But on second thought, I could trademark the word "Cock" and title my book "Clyde the Cock" and in one big sweep put the porn industry out of business. Or maybe I should stick with an adjective trademark like Faleena and grab up the word "Beautiful" or "Lovely" or "Hot".....I guess you all get my point here. This is the worst type of crookedness you can pull against your fellow authors. How can you literally take a word away from writers? We need all the words!!
But do you think people are going to just sit by while their favorite authors are being bullied into changing their own books? Absolutely not! The Romance Writers of America is working with an intellectual property lawyer in response to Hopkins’s trademark, and has asked writers contacted by Hopkins to get in touch. Author and retired lawyer Kevin Kneupper has separately filed a legal challenge to have the trademark cancelled, writing that “as a competing author in the same field who has described characters in his books … as ‘cocky’ and who may use this word in … future titles”, the registration is “causing injury and damage”. There's also a petition to cancel Faleena Hopkins' "Cocky" trademark and you should go sign it if you're as appalled as I am.
I guess the biggest question now is how far will this snowball be allowed to tumble before someone turns a blowtorch on the #cockyidiot ?(my new favorite hashtag soon to be trademarked ;) )
Thoughts? Hit the comments below!
Genre: Romance
Offense against Humanity: Trademarked the adjective "Cocky"
Result: I am currently looking over my shoulder for fear that Faleena Hopkins' lawyer will beat me down for using said "word that shall not be written" in my blog post.
Seriously! This author is sending out notices to any author who has used the word "Cocky" in their book title demanding they rename their books! Because for some reason Faleena has decided for the whole world that she is the only human entitled to use this word in a book again.
 |
| My rooster Cocky Clyde |
stupid trademark! Sorry Clyde :(
But on second thought, I could trademark the word "Cock" and title my book "Clyde the Cock" and in one big sweep put the porn industry out of business. Or maybe I should stick with an adjective trademark like Faleena and grab up the word "Beautiful" or "Lovely" or "Hot".....I guess you all get my point here. This is the worst type of crookedness you can pull against your fellow authors. How can you literally take a word away from writers? We need all the words!!
But do you think people are going to just sit by while their favorite authors are being bullied into changing their own books? Absolutely not! The Romance Writers of America is working with an intellectual property lawyer in response to Hopkins’s trademark, and has asked writers contacted by Hopkins to get in touch. Author and retired lawyer Kevin Kneupper has separately filed a legal challenge to have the trademark cancelled, writing that “as a competing author in the same field who has described characters in his books … as ‘cocky’ and who may use this word in … future titles”, the registration is “causing injury and damage”. There's also a petition to cancel Faleena Hopkins' "Cocky" trademark and you should go sign it if you're as appalled as I am.
I guess the biggest question now is how far will this snowball be allowed to tumble before someone turns a blowtorch on the #cockyidiot ?(my new favorite hashtag soon to be trademarked ;) )
Thoughts? Hit the comments below!
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