If you can prove that you have just as much a right to the term as he does (which shouldn’t be very hard at all), then his trademark won’t be enforceable at all. Frankly I think you’re giving that shitegibbon entirely too much credit. There is absolutely no way he has thought this through to that extent - or really any extent at all.
You are confusing clever with sleazy. The guy runs a small cult and his FB page actually features a collection of popular litrpg writers so it would give the appearance of being popular as people comment regarding different books under the same genre instead of his own like every other author's page. If he is allowed to keep going you are going to find a board or something made for this sub-genre with him as the chair. His book. the actual book was in the bottom three of the popular vote in the latest book awards on goodread XD
He does have a certain low cunning when it comes to marketing, but there’s only so far you can go with that kind of brute force approach to branding. I can sit here and repeat “the sky is puce” over and over for the rest of my days but that doesn’t make the sky any less blue. Just like Dinky Kong repeating “I am the father of American litrpg” over and over doesn’t mean he’s the father of anything at all. Credit where credit is due though, he probably wasn’t the first to have the idea of building a following like he has, but he’s the first person who was morally bankrupt enough to turn thoughts into action.
Sure, you know that. I know that. We all do. But when Tommy B. hears about LitRPG for the first time and searches for it online, he's going to lean heavily toward the guy labeled as "the father" of the genre. If the judge has never seen the sky and has only ever heard that the sky is puce, then to him it may as well be. Beats by Dr. Dre were never even close to being the best headphones for the cost, but they were iconic. Marketing is less about the product and more about the packaging.
Evil wins when good people do nothing. Just because he tries to project a "I'm one of you dudes lol" image doesn't mean he can't be taken down. I'm not familiar enough with the community but I do know the fine bros withdrew the trademark application because the community -creators and fans- pressured them. I'd suggest doing the same here and exposing him for what he really is.
So launch a counter campaign. Make it so that when Someone sees “father of litrpg” they’re also seeing mockery of the title and his grandiose claims. Get some valid bad reviews of his work up on Amazon and, more importantly, have people mark them as helpful. Engage your author mailing lists, work your contacts in the industry, get this conflict blown up in public and fight it in the court of public opinion. Added together, the authors here have a bigger following than the Cult of Dong.
No bloodshed necessary. Just very loud bitching and linking this back to the Fine Bros. attempted copyright of the word “react”. Maybe some actual honest reviews of the tripe he spews onto those poor dead ... err, digital trees, too. They aren’t deserving of anything more than two or three stars and he is NOT flying spaghetti cthulhu’s Gift to the genre.
I think that contesting the moniker is a really good idea. I'm a little less on board with attacking his content (or anyone's content) directly. This community is so supportive that it would be tragic if content creators were to start attacking each other's works regularly--plus, ultimately, that would favor the bigger dogs as they can survive the fallout better than those new on the scene.
I'm with Kevin with regards to not attacking his content. I refuse to read it, so I can't accurately review it. But, as I mentioned some pages back (I think) his Facebook page is him, so a review there is a review of him...
As much as I would be on board with attacking his content -trash is trash and I have no issues saying so!- but you're right. It would muddy the waters. The focus should be on attempting to copyright the genre and how it would hurt the current and future content creators. If my memory is correct quite a few channels started researching trademark laws and how they differ from copyright and patent because of the scandal. I would say look that up to use as ammo and even turn his fans -please read cult!- against him. What he's saying is word for word what the fine bros said, only here he is running unopposed. One thing you can hit him with is the wording, if he REALLY is doing it for innocent reasons then he should make it specific. let him copy right his own domanin's name or the title "father of litrpg" he loves so much. the word Litrpg is too broad and is casting him in a suspicious shadow. Of the top of my head those two youtubers attacked the bros the hardest (Defranco) (Boogie2988) Defranco's vids I remember the most since it was mostly facts. There is also this second video by an actual trademark lawyer talking about how this works and how it is contested.
It’s bugged me for awhile that his reviews are artificially inflated by his groupies. And it also bugs me that it’s pretty obvious that his groupies are the ones who’ve given so many authors unfair reviews after they’ve spoken out against the whole Kong ... thing. Not just his trademark attempt, but how he runs his community, or whatever else triggers him. That said. I’m not saying sling undeserved mud, just give it an honest, accurate review on a full 1-5 Star scale instead of the absurd 4-5 scale that’s currently the norm. Point out the flaws in his work, like we’ve been doing here. It’s all public, so it’s not like we’d be doing a bombing run or what have you.
meh, the truth has this nasty habit of coming out in the end. Believe it or not the Phantom Menace was championed as the best movie ever for months... MONTHS after it came out. When a group of people all agree something is awesome us mere mortals feel we should agree, what do we know right? And now? it's actually a nickname for self delusion when you can't believe how bad something really is... like King's new book lol! people were voting that up and giving it five stars BEFORE the actual release. I mean, it's king right? he could do no wrong.. till now apparently.
Doom Despair Agony on me What in the world will I do about this trademark on LitRPG? Me thinks I'm going all in on GameLit. Even if it's hard core LitRPG, it will still fall under GameLit. I'm not going to purge "LitRPG" off my covers, titles, subtitles until the his LitRPG Nazi Gestapo attacks with a cease and desist, but I'm going to stop using it (after the current book I almost finished writing). I think we can still put LitRPG in the keywords, though I'm not sure how much good that is without the LitRPG somewhere on the sales page for the readers looking for it. Some very popular LitRPG books don't have it in the title (Or I missed it). If nothing else, change all FB pages, websites from LitRPG to GameLit. Honestly, if he starts enforcing his trademark, then he might do more damage to the genre. BUT, if he allows even one non-LitRPG book a pass, that opens the floodgates for anyone to use it. If you don't enforce your trademark, then you effectively lose it. Ask Xerox.
I think I miss understood. I thought the TM he was applying for was for websites only. meaning he could take down the forum and any other website that uses (litrpg) in the domain name.
wow someone was brave enough to share that post in kong's own FB page 30 minutes back! wanna bet it'll be gone before the end of the day? https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=536535836739102&set=gm.1648486398508023&type=3&theater&ifg=1
Well, I feel better now. We'll see what actually happens, but if he doesn't plan to use his TM to control who uses it, then why go for the TM in the first place? No one TMed S&S, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction. Jeeze.
