Wasn't at all surprising to me. Have they never heard of Warhammer 40,000?
You say that like sticking two generic words next to each other is somehow novel or noteworthy. I wouldn't call it borrowing or infringing when the thing in question is utterly mundane.
Just because there's a software company selling music or even a music label with trademarks on 'Apple' doesn't mean I cannot call a song about apples 'Apple Song'. See the case cited in section b of [1] as to why 'space marine' might not be the best choice if you want to put a trademark on a book's title.
'Prior art' is helpful insofar as it establishes the nature of the term in question. The term 'space marine' is not as widely used as I initially believed (eg it's neither used in Starship Troopers nor Aliens, and might not be in Starcraft - did not verify with the game itself and online sources are ambiguous).
However, it can still be found in a lot of places:
Misfit by Heinlein, Grayson Space Marine Corps in David Weber's Honorverse, Doomguy and the Quake marines, the Star Blazers TV series, Death of the Daleks, the movie 'Space Marines' from 1997, Colonel Scott of the US Space Marines from Moonraker, to name the ones I could come up with.
""" Noting the inherent weakness of plaintiff's title, the court commented that the words chosen by Random House [the defendant] were an apt description of its book, and therefore in the public domain. Rejecting plaintiff's unfair competition claim, the court further noted that because of the weakness of plaintiff's title, combined with the differences in the overall look and feel of the two books (including Random House's prominent use of its distinctive logo on the spine and back jacket) there was no likelihood of confusion. McGraw-Hill Book Company v. Random House, Inc., 32 Misc. 2nd 704, 225 N.Y.S.2d 646, 132 U.S.P.Q. 530 (1962). """
But not books.
> Its trademark claim covers the use of the word in connection with many aspects of tabletop gaming and video games, she said, but also extended to published works.
Basically, GW is the largest fish in their pond. They are trying to expand into a bigger one and are testing the waters by eating their first small fish.
Obviously the 1930s has both trumped.
Was that before or after 1959 when Starship Troopers came out?
Starship Troopers is about "Mobile Infantry." This is about the term "Space Marine" not the concept of marines in space.