Hacker News Reader

Comment by dalke | Hacker News Reader

Common words like "face" and "book"? "My" and "space"? "You" and "tube"? "Fox" and "news"? "Seven" and "eleven"? "Virgin" and "records"/"atlantic"/ ... ?

View on HN

Those are common words used in an uncommon way.

Using "space" as a prefix is a cliche in science fiction. "Spaceship", "space station". "The spacelanes have been packed with spacetraders this whole space year. The space police should send some space fighters on space patrol."

I was commenting that the g'parent poster's assertion was incorrect, and not about the term "space marine."

From the NewsRadio episode "Space": "Your space pod is so cold and drafty." "Fine, I'll get a space heater." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NDiBCD55-Y#t=10m40s

most of those would be equally silly if they had a space between the two words.

if "my space" was a brand, would they _really_ be able to forbid me to publish a book called "my space and time" based on that trademark ?

if they actually could, the world would be even sillier than previously thought. and I'd see it burn, gladly.

You can use a trademark in a book title. There's a book titled "Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired--and Secretive--Company Really Works" and another "One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com." This is nominative use of the trademark.

You can use a trademark in a title even when the book isn't about that trademarked product. There's a book titled "Amazon Warriors" which has nothing to do with Amazon. This is trademark fair use. Some trademarks create new words in order to avoid this possibility.

So no, a hypothetical "My Space" could not forbid you to write a book titled "My Space and Time". There are exceptions, like if there's a reasonable likelihood of confusion. For example, the title "My Space and Time Magazine Award Winner" is almost certainly a no-no because it implies endorsement which isn't present.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com