“Will your new book be available in English too?” many of you have asked. And yes, that’s definitely the plan! There’s just one small technical problem. Or maybe not. Either way, it’s been on my mind.
The problem is the title. It would make sense to call the book Autastic Living, or An Autastic Life, or something along those lines. (A literal translation of the Dutch title, Autastisch leven.) Which immediately raises the first question: in the Dutch title, is “leven” a verb or a noun? But that’s not actually the biggest issue. The real problem is that an American woman has registered the word “Autastic” as a trademark. She founded a community for autistic women of color called “Autastic”, and she has officially registered the name. Including for books.
It’s a bit strange, really, that this is even possible. Before her trademark was registered, the term was already being used by multiple other businesses, podcasts, and organisations. It’s a fairly obvious wordplay, after all. Whether such a trademark would actually hold up if challenged is another question entirely. I’ve been using the word myself for years, for example when referring to my children’s book Ik ben autastisch! (I Am Autastic!) in English – that book was published in 2021.
Still, this woman seems quite protective of her trademark, and being right and getting your way are two different things. Besides, I simply don’t feel like getting into a fight. At the same time, it’s a real shame, because “autastic living” is also the core idea behind the book. So now I’m a bit stuck and not sure what to do.
- Just translate it and see what happens.
- Contact her and see whether we can come to some kind of agreement. (The downside is that if the conversation doesn’t go well, I may make things worse.)
- Come up with a different title, but still use the word throughout the book. (That doesn’t seem to be illegal.)
- Avoid the word altogether.
And if I go with option 3 or 4, what should the title be? Autistic Living? An Autistic Life? Living Autistically? Authentic Living?
Any ideas? And do you have any advice on how you would handle this situation?
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– “Yeah, it works great for us!”
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Easter egg
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