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... 2 interesting opinions.... hm... between those two I'm sure in 2 (in secondary selection) ... all of those are very subjective but I sill more like ICE/MERP's visualisation of Middle-earth... figures resemble more (ME) worldly
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Barliman wrote:
Their marketing policy is bizarre. Have you seen the price of their Hobbit-based releases? £30 for a box of six PLASTIC cavalry, £12 for a single RESIN figure, and £25 for a foot and mounted figure combo? Who are they expecting to buy them at those sorts of prices? In addition the quality of their resin castings is questionable, though I'm told they're gradually improving.
I think they may have shot themselves in the foot with these greedy prices, since they must surely have alienated their traditional teenage market. If so, I've little sympathy.
And did you see a couple of weeks ago on the BBC internet news - the story may have had a wider distribution - that GW wanted to claim copyright on the term Space Marine - not sure if this was shoved up their celestial 'arris, but what next, the exclusive use of the word Mithril?
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well indeed i know you're joking but it seems that actually Mithril is not a trademarked word... so everybody can use it
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Gildor Inglorion wrote:
well indeed i know you're joking but it seems that actually Mithril is not a trademarked word... so everybody can use it
Certainly not joking about the Space Marine terminology Gildor
, that was real enough and I wish I had put the link on the board - it would have been good for a laugh or two, even though the potential implications....... 
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Here it is......
minus the headline style text and associated images!!!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21380003
Row blows up over ownership of 'space marine' term Games Workshop is best known for its tabletop wargames Continue reading the main story
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UK toymaker Games Workshop has been criticised for asserting a trademark claim to the phrase 'space marines'.
The claim emerged when it was used to get an American ebook about the futuristic soldiers taken off Amazon.
Science fiction writers have called the firm "absurd" for saying it has a trademark to the use of the term in fiction.
A UK media lawyer said more and more firms were using trademark law to protect their creations.
Generic term
The row started in December 2012 when US writer Maggie Hogarth found out that her novel called "Spots the Space Marine" had been removed from the Amazon ebook store following a complaint from Games Workshop.
In emails sent to Ms Hogarth this week, Games Workshop claims that its entry into digital publishing gives it a "common law trademark claim" over the phrase.
Ms Hogarth wrote a blogpost about the row and expressed her fear that if Games Workshop started actively pursuing its claim, science fiction could lose one of its "fundamental" ideas. Ms Hogarth said a lack of funds meant she was unable to defend herself against the claim. However, she is now in touch with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which campaigns on digital rights, about the case.
The blogpost received a huge amount of publicity and has provoked responses from best-selling SF authors Cory Doctorow, Charles Stross and John Scalzi. Many people sent messages to Games Workshop's Twitter account using the #spacemarines hashtag criticising the firm.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
If you have a registered trademark you can stop people using it in the course of trade for goods that are not yours or licensed or approved by you”
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Susan Hall
DWF
Mr Scalzi, who is currently president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, said it was "absurd" for the firm to claim ownership of the phrase and its use in literature. In a blogpost, Mr Scalzi said it was "pretty damn generic" long before Games Workshop began using it to describe its toy soldiers and in tabletop games,
A spokesman for Games Workshop said it had a "blanket policy" of not talking to the media and had no comment to make about the row or its trademark claim.
Media and intellectual property lawyer Susan Hall from DWF said Games Workshop might struggle to assert its trademark claim in America.
"In the US they'll come straight up against the First Amendment and that's one issue they'll have to overcome," she said.
Ms Hall said Games Workshop could launch a similar protection campaign in Europe as it had had a registered trademark for the term "space marine" since 1995. 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.
"If you have a registered trademark you can stop people using it in the course of trade for goods that are not yours or licensed or approved by you," she said. "It puts the person with the mark in a very strong position."
Many firms, she said, were registering trademarks to help them keep control of intellectual properties that were now out of copyright. There were dangers in this bid for control, said Ms Hall.
"You need strong IP laws," she said, "but you need to have the ability to rub up against those in a way that allows people to be creative and allows creative freedom."
Last edited by ddaines (Mon, Feb25 2013 10:48pm)
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I daren't say anything in case I get sued for calling anybody "a bunch of arses".
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Masters, Do you know the products of this website? I find their creations very detailed and beautiful:
http://www.tabletop-world.com/merchantsHouse.php
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Ah yes, someone bought these to our attention some months ago. These are excellent models indeed. They're arguably too "High Medieval / Gothic" for Middle-earth, but I still like them. And thanks for bringing them to our attention again - because I see they've released some more models since I last looked - including a stone windmill, which I've been trying to find an example of for ages! I've just ordered one, and will report back at some point to tell you how good the actual kit is.
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Thank you very much Master Barliman. I thought that I had found this information here 
... I put it in my favorites and had forgotten it.
I had noticed their cottage, which would allow me to try their creation and I have seen as a good cottage for Tom Bombadil, but I fear that make a little small, what do you think about this ?
http://www.tabletop-world.com/cottage.php
Last edited by sevlag (Tue, Feb26 2013 8:47am)
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Another excellent model - full of character. Tom obviously needs to do some work on the roof before Goldberry has another washing day, or else there will be a river running down the stairs and out the front door!
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sevlag wrote:
Thank you very much Master Barliman. I thought that I had found this information here
... I put it in my favorites and had forgotten it.
I had noticed their cottage, which would allow me to try their creation and I have seen as a good cottage for Tom Bombadil, but I fear that make a little small, what do you think about this ?
http://www.tabletop-world.com/cottage.php
.... one and only croatian small company for producing products like that....
they produce great diorama accessories....
Last edited by Thingol (Tue, Feb26 2013 2:42pm)
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Yes, but I may have already encountered my first snag buying the windmill, which is to do with cost. When I ordered it this morning I thought Croatia was already part of the EU, but I find that it doesn't "officially" become a member until July. I may therefore have to pay the UK's exorbitant handling charges for goods coming from outside the UK - as much as €20 for this order.
I may be lucky and these charges may have already been dropped, or perhaps our Customs & Excise bloodsuckers might not notice it arriving, so we'll see. If I'd thought about it sooner I'd have delayed ordering until July!
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13€ is obviously their standard mailing charge - the windmill cost the same. Mail charges are pretty horrible from everywhere these days - have you ordered anything from the US lately? It would almost be cheaper to buy your own jet and fly over to collect things yourself.
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You gave me excellent idea for the Tom Bombadil cottage.... maybe I will order it also... they live one and a half hour away from me.... all of us will build the same diorama... 
Last edited by Thingol (Tue, Feb26 2013 4:38pm)
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Huoommm ... that's why I think it's always necessary to have a very close look at the charges for an item and conditions for p&p (especially on Ebay) ... huom ... I just can confirm what you said about all that, Master Barliman ... rhuoomm ... but mind, please, that those "customs bloodsuckers" are not only sitting at one side of any border ... huomm ... though you should have been aware of the fact, that Croatia until now is not part of the EU, as the USA also is not ... rhuomm ... then there is the UK, as you mentioned, and its "orbitant handling charges for goods coming from outside the Uk", as you put it ... huoomm ... which indeed is a bit more than strange, as for some years by now I always thought that the UK (still) is inside the EU ... rhuôm ... but, just to calm you down a bit, I would like to add that the customs-charges here, where I live, can be quite "heavy" for the addressee, too .... huoomm ... this seems to be the time for a regular to offer the barkeep a drink ... huomm ... would you mind, Master Barliman, I buy you a drink? .... huôm ?
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Thingol wrote:
You gave me excellent idea for the Tom Bombadil cottage.... maybe I will order it also... they live one and a half hour away from me.... all of us will build the same diorama...
Oh yes, Master Thingol, It will be really nice to do the same project with the same creations and see what happens
. This encourages me to embark on this new idea. Are you agree, Master Thingol ?
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Theobald wrote:
then there is the UK, as you mentioned, and its "orbitant handling charges for goods coming from outside the Uk", as you put it ... huoomm ... which indeed is a bit more than strange, as for some years by now I always thought that the UK (still) is inside the EU.
As you say, Master Tree, the UK (also known as Bree) is indeed in the EU (though not for much longer if certain politicans could have their way); but it's the fact that Croatia currently isn't that brings about the exorbitant mail charges here. When I heard last year that Croatia was joining I made the mistake of assuming that it now had. I expect you'll just say that the extra cost I may have to pay is an apt punishment for my being over-hasty. But unlike certain trees I know I have all the patience of an avalanche.
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Unfortunately we will run into the EU in July this year.... I'm not Eu fan indeed... now I have figures without VAT and sometimes also without custom expenses.... after july VAT for mithril miniatures will be back and customs tariffs will disappear... any way shit happens.... I hope Hobbit vignette will be on the market before EU in Croatia....
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sevlag wrote:
Thingol wrote:
You gave me excellent idea for the Tom Bombadil cottage.... maybe I will order it also... they live one and a half hour away from me.... all of us will build the same diorama...
Oh yes, Master Thingol, It will be really nice to do the same project with the same creations and see what happens
. This encourages me to embark on this new idea. Are you agree, Master Thingol ?
Severine... This is an interesting offer.... I will let you know if I decide to but this cottage... currently I'm short of money... and we could postpone the project until the end of the year. I have a good idea of how to use the cottage.... but first I must cut the door and left it open...
I already bought furniture from them last year....
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Don't worry, Master Thingol, this is not a race, it's also in my projects because I've a purse a little empty too
. Don't be hasty
. But I'll think about it 
And I hope to have one day their blacksmith's house, wonderful, perhaps for my birthday (I'll have to negotiate it with my husband
)
This is perhaps the only Croatian factory, but they work very well, it's superb.
Last edited by sevlag (Tue, Feb26 2013 7:46pm)
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huoommm ... Master Barliman, that image of a "patience of an avalange", which I think was very well-chosen, I can well understand ... rhuoomm ... I did not intend to harm Breeish customs at all ... and can well understand your anger, as such is mine ... huoomm ... but unlike "some barkeeps" I have all the patience not to haste ... huoommm ...
so, you refused my offer of paying the barkeep a drink indeed?
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Didn't refuse it, Master Tree, in my haste to reply to your post I just didn't pay close enough attention to notice the kind offer! I'll have a James' whiskey, thank you.
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Barliman wrote:
Ah yes, someone bought these to our attention some months ago.
more like two years ago, dear innkeeper. 
http://mmp.faerylands.eu/viewtopic.php?pid=21591#p21591
a round on me for everyone here please, for i have been absent for a while -- snatching a nice cozy place from the orcs in mordor is no easy task, i tell you -- but they didn't stand a chance against a (rules) lawyer troll. 
Last edited by cameosis (Thu, Feb28 2013 1:44am)
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