Last Friday, August 6, I received a letter from the lawyers of Penny Publications Limited Partnership complaining about my use of the word Astounding and a logo which “resembles” a logo on which they have a trademark.

There is indeed a TARR (trademark lingo for a trademark registration record) in the database that shows someone registered the name Astounding as a line of Science Fiction Books and Trading Cards. I seem to remember that 21st Century Archives released the original Astounding Stories covers as a set of collectors cards. Penny must have acquired the trademark from that company.

I immediately took the site down and have since re-published it at a different URL without the Astounding Stories name.

It is interesting that the date of the TARR is 1994 with a “First Use” of 1990. I need to know if it is significant the the first use of the logo and name is actually 1930 and that after 1937 the magazine dropped the name (which was actually “Astounding Stories of Super Science”) and used “Astounding Science Fiction” as the title. Since then, another magazine “Astounding Stories Year Book” used the name during the late 1960’s, early 1970’s.

I doubt if the use of a common adjective to describe Science Fiction as “Astounding” is a strong trademark. SF is, by nature, astounding. The trademark logo might be enforceable as a trademark, but I erased all of my copies.

Anyway, this is keeping me up at night. I want to use this experience to my advantage. My head is buzzing. I am writing my reply to the Penny letter tonight. Wish me luck.