As a huge science fiction nerd and Games Workshop customer, this feels like rank betrayal. I expect this kind of legal bullying from big companies, but from a company that makes minifigs and other gaming accessories I expect better behavior.
Do what I did and stop being their customer. I stopped when they outlawed online sales of their products then jacked the price 200-500% over the course of a year or so. There are lots of other quality gaming systems that are not Games Workshop ( here is my current favorite [0])
They were using this sort of legal bullying as a tactic when I was a kid. They've seen more than their share of "PR damage" in the past and it doesn't put them off.
GW is a large company. And it is the behemoth in it's industry. They do not innovate, just rehash same properties. They are the incumbent, "monopoly", content holder who (attempts to) destroy little guys.
Legal wrangling aside, I don't see a problem with a lack of "innovation", the same WH40K I played as a kid would still be fun today, however it is certainly interesting to see how WoTC has attempted to innovate to sell new products.
The main difference, of course, is that WH40K is wargaming min-maxy and specific troop-based versus D&D allowing a great deal of flexibility in the rules and creative content.
I'm observing the difference between one approach to RPGs and another. WoTC is the current maker of D&D. Granted, they're competing more against World of Warcraft than other pen & papers these days, but it's still very interesting to see how they've tried to change their model. GW still seems very reliant on pewter miniatures for survival, which will not last as something like this http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/formlabs/form-1-an-affor... gets down to the $500 + cost of resin price level.
None of the stuff you had as a kid would be playable. The rules have changed, the figures replaced, old ones out classed, etc. GW rehashes so you have to buy new stuff constantly. They don't innovate (besides marketing/sales innovations).
Hasbro (wotc is subsidary) also rehashes, maybe more so. They're only innovations are sales and marketing based. They recent innovations online portal, 4ed and gamma world have flopped hard.
As much as I dislike it, I can understand their course of action. If they were to stop enforcing whatever trademark, or copyright they may hold, another judge at another point in time could potentially use that against them.
