> Certainly in the UK, it's a defence to use a trade mark in good faith in a descriptive manner.
Using it in a descriptive manner is something like:
"I have here for sale two boxes of Kleenex tissues and one box of Band-Aid bandages and one Warhammer 40K rulebook."
You are not infringing any trademarks, even though you are using the trademark in commerce, because you do in fact have those things (as created by the original maker, and resold by you). You are using the trademark to describe goods, not to indicate that you are the original producer of said goods.
The usage here is entirely different. She is not claiming anything about any actual Warhammer 40K merchandise. You're right that the trademark claim is crap, but not for this reason.
I would argue that in the UK, s11(2)(b) of the Trade Mark Act could be used to make my argument. The book features a marine who is in space aka a space marine. The usage is necessary to describe the product. Admittedly this may be a tricky one to run.
Your point is more about exhaustion of right where goods have been put on the market with the owner's consents. In the UK, this would be covered under s.12 of the above act.
Using it in a descriptive manner is something like:
"I have here for sale two boxes of Kleenex tissues and one box of Band-Aid bandages and one Warhammer 40K rulebook."
You are not infringing any trademarks, even though you are using the trademark in commerce, because you do in fact have those things (as created by the original maker, and resold by you). You are using the trademark to describe goods, not to indicate that you are the original producer of said goods.
The usage here is entirely different. She is not claiming anything about any actual Warhammer 40K merchandise. You're right that the trademark claim is crap, but not for this reason.