INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The whole thing started in May when a self-published romance author, Faleena Hopkins, began attempting to enforce her copyright on books
This included, but was not limited to, Cocky Cowboy, Cocky Biker, and Cocky Roomie, all titles in Hopkins oeuvre.Hopkins filed a trademark
for the use of the word Cocky in romance titles and began attacking other others who used the word cocky, including Jamila Jasper who wrote
a book called Cocky Cowboy and received an email from Hopkins.After taking up the cause on Twitter and creating a solid example of Streisand
Effect, Jasper changed the title of her book to The Cockiest Cowboy To Have Ever Cocked
But other authors were hit by cease and desist letters and even Amazon stepped in briefly as well and took down multiple titles for a short
time.From the Guardian:Pajiba reported on Monday that the author Nana Malone had been asked to change the title of her novel Mr Cocky, while
Other writers claimed that Hopkins had reported them to Amazon, resulting in their books being taken down from the site.This went on for a
complaint that Plaintiffs failed to conduct a reasonable pre-filing investigation before racing to the courthouse
Indeed, the number and extent of defects alone call into question whether the filing was made in good faith
author Penny Reid is the former, while Defendant Jennifer Watson is the latter (Ms
Defendant Watson cannot offer Plaintiffs the relief they seek as she bears no responsibility for The Cocktales Anthology they wish to enjoin
In fact, Cocky-gate has encouraged other authors to try this tactics
hunts for USPTO applications for words in titles.Now that the cocky has been freed, however, it looks like the romance writers of the world
are taking advantage of the opportunity to share their own cocky stories.
