We all know GW loves to threaten legal action, and I usually hear that they kind of have to from the way the UK handles copyright law. Basically "enforce it or lose it". Yet I don't see the Rebellion group, Mongoose Publishing, etc going apeshit with lawsuits left and right.
So what's the deal in UK, is GW justified, are they just assholes, or a little bit of both?
Honestly, I think the people who are targeted tend to be the ones over-reacting. Without getting into details, they sent me what amounted to a cease-and-desist over my e-zine. It was very polite, they spelled out their case without using excessive legalese. When I told them I wanted to check it out before I made a reply one way or the other, they were understandably concerned about a timeline, but were gracious in allowing me the time to do so. I checked it out, lo and behold, they held the copyright (although they hadn't had a magazine of any kind in a decade or something). I apologized for my lack of due diligence, changed the e-zine to comply with their request, provided them with the links to the Citadel of Chaos forums so they could make sure I wasn't violating their marks in any way there, they promptly responded that I wasn't, I thanked them for their courtesy, they thanked me for the compliance, and we both went on our way.
In short, I am the exact kind of person that has not the legal experience or clout to raise a stink about it, and I am sure they have the finances to get my whole domain in a court of law, had they decided to pursue it. But they treated me with the utmost professionalism and courtesy during the whole matter. I am more inclined to believe bad behaviour is the exception rather than good behaviour. Especially in my situation, being the smallest of small fish in the pond.
Copyright law is generally the same everywhere, if you don't aggressively defend it, you run a high risk of losing it, so there is that element that they don't exactly have a choice in the matter. But after my experience with them, I had to re-think some of the claims I have read that GW is a horrible corporate bully that seemingly takes delight in causing problems.