Romance novelist tries to trademark the word ‘cocky’ to stop copycats cashing in on her success

A romance novelist has tried unsuccessfully to trademark the word ‘cocky’ in a bid to stop what she believes are ‘copycat’ authors trying to cash in on the success of her erotic series. 

Faleena Hopkins has written 19 books as part of her series, all of which begin with the word Cocky.  Her first, Cocky Roomie, flew off shelves when she self-published it in 2016 and she has had hit after hit ever since. 

As of last week, she has sold around 600,000 books from the series. Each cost $2.99.  

In September 2017, however, after a spate of other works cropped up with similar titles and, most concerning to her, similar font titles, Hopkins trademarked the word and font. 

She then sent letters to authors she believed had infringed on her series by intentionally or unintentionally making them look like hers. 

Author Faleena Hopkins has written 19 romance novels under the cocky brand. Above is one of her works 

What transpired was a barrage of online abuse and threats from other authors demanding that she stop writing and revert to using a pen name. 

A lawyer turned romance novelist filed a motion to try to disqualify her trademark and a group of outraged writers produced a retaliation book – Cocktales – afterwards. 

Faleena Hopkins sought a trademark for the title and font in romance fiction in September 2017 and was granted it 

Faleena Hopkins sought a trademark for the title and font in romance fiction in September 2017 and was granted it 

On Friday, the case was settled in a New York court where a judge said she had no right to stop others from using the word in their titles. 

Hopkins has since decided to give it up and Tara Crescent, one of the authors she was battling with, has agreed to change the cover of her book, Her Cocky Firefighters, to make it look less like her rival’s. 

Speaking to DailyMail.com on Saturday after her story made the rounds in the literary community, Hopkins said she never intended for the issue to get so out of hand. 

‘I set out to protect my brand with getting a trademark and I unwittingly set off a war that I still don’t understand. 

‘This has been really bad. I just want to tell my stories and entertain people.  I never anticipated any of this,’ she said. 

In June 2016, after spending 20 years working as a fashion photographer and actress, Hopkins published Cocky Roomie herself. 

'Copycats': Tara Crescent's Her Cocky Firefighters was one of the books Hopkins was concerned about. Cocky Roommate, published a year after Cocky Roomie, was another. Crescent has agreed to change her font to make it all blocks instead of including cursive writing

'Copycats': Tara Crescent's Her Cocky Firefighters was one of the books Hopkins was concerned about. Cocky Roommate, published a year after Cocky Roomie, was another. Crescent has agreed to change her font to make it all blocks instead of including cursive writing

‘Copycats’: Tara Crescent’s Her Cocky Firefighters was one of the books Hopkins was concerned about. Cocky Roommate, published a year after Cocky Roomie, was another. Crescent has agreed to change her font to make it all blocks instead of including cursive writing

It was well received and with the momentum of new readers behind her, she produced Cocky Biker in July that year and Cocky Cowboy the following month.  

‘It was pretty much a book a month and the series was really taking off,’ she explained. 

Over the next year, as she produced book after book, ‘copycats’ emerged. 

One such suspect was Claire Kingsley who wrote Cocky Roommate in July 2016 with a similar font to the one used on Hopkins’. Kingsley, Hopkins said, insisted that she had never seen any of her work when she confronted her about it over email. 

In August 2017, Crescent published Her Cocky Firefighters. On the cover, it said it was book one of ‘The Cocky Series’. Her Cocky Firefighters 2 was published in November 2017. 

In May this year, a group of authors published Cocktales: The Cocky Collective in an apparent act of retaliation against Hopkins' efforts  

In May this year, a group of authors published Cocktales: The Cocky Collective in an apparent act of retaliation against Hopkins’ efforts  

Frustrated by the number of authors using the word in their title with a similar, cursive font to her own, Hopkins took a business friend’s advice and sought the trademark in September 2017.

‘Because the series took off so well, there were so many copycats happening so I trademarked it. I never expected to get the trademark. 

‘A business friend had told me to do it.’   

When she began writing to the authors she thought had infringed on it afterwards, she received angry responses and letters from their lawyers. 

Some of the authors, she said, told her they thought the cocky theme was a trend that was fair game and not necessarily her brand. 

‘I felt really helpless. There were obvious ones but a lot of them weren’t on purpose. I asked them, “please don’t do this” and I got jumped on,’ she said.

As the fight waded on, Hopkins said some of her readers began mistakenly buying other people’s books thinking they were hers. She never tried to take sole possession of the word ‘cocky’, but merely wanted to ensure that no one was trying to pass their work off as hers, she said. 

In May this year, a group of authors published Cocktales: The Cocky Collective. 

It was a deliberate attack on Hopkins, she said, and done in malice in response to her trademark efforts. 

With this in mind, she sued Crescent, the author of Her Cocky Firefighters, Jennifer Watson, the publicist for Cocktales, and Kevin Kneupper, a lawyer who is also an erotic novelist and had tried to cancel out her trademark.   

Hopkins has now given up the trademark and is continuing to write. She said she never intended to create a 'war' in the literary community 

Hopkins has now given up the trademark and is continuing to write. She said she never intended to create a ‘war’ in the literary community 

Crescent and Hopkins have come to an agreement which sees neither side pay the either any money. 

Instead, Hopkins will give up her trademark in a gesture of good faith and Crescent will change her book covers to all block font. 

Speaking on Saturday, Hopkins said she is now eager to put the entire ordeal behind her. 

‘I never wanted any of this weirdness to happen. I would rather just give up the trademark and back away. My intention behind all this was a business move. I did not ever expect the war I created. 

‘Now we all agree that bullying is bad and that it got out of hand.’  

Hopkins is now working on a second edition of Cocky Roomie and is also in the process of producing her first feature film. It is a love story which she hopes to finish by September. 

She did not reveal its name for fear that someone else will use it for one of their books.  



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk