Games Workshop has initiated a worldwide Warhammer crackdown, suing 280 sellers, freezing accounts, and sales platforms.
If you’ve checked your favorite online marketplace lately and noticed a few listings mysteriously vanish, you’re not imagining things. Games Workshop just dropped the legal equivalent of an orbital bombardment—suing 280 sellers across the globe and freezing their assets in one sweeping move.
We’re talking shut-down stores, locked accounts, and some very panicked vendors. Some were clearly pushing counterfeit kits, while others got hit for less obvious reasons, like using the word Citadel in a brush holder listing. Let’s break down who got caught in the blast radius, why it matters, and what this means for the rest of us trying to hobby in peace.
Games Workshop Takes the Gloves Off
Quick Reference:
Case Title: Games Workshop Ltd. v. Schedule A Defendants
Court: U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
Case No.: 25-cv-21746-ALTMAN
Judge: Hon. Roy K. Altman
TRO Date: April 22, 2025
Preliminary Injunction Hearing: May 27, 2025
Plaintiff: Games Workshop Ltd.
Defendants: 270+ online sellers (Schedule A)
What’s Going On?
If you’ve been around the Warhammer community for more than five minutes, you’ve probably seen bootleg minis, knockoff terrain, and some… highly suspicious Warhammer-branded marks (think things like the Space Wolves symbol). Well, Games Workshop clearly has too, and this time, they’re not just issuing polite warnings. They’ve gone full legal hammer.
The UK-based Warhammer giant is suing nearly 280 online sellers in one fell swoop. Why? Alleged counterfeits — lots of them. We’re talking fake minis, improperly branded merch, and shady listings pretending to be the real deal.
Legal claims in the mix:
- Trademark Infringement (Lanham Act §1114)
- False Designation of Origin (Lanham Act §1125(a))
- Relief under the All Writs Act (28 U.S.C. §1651(a))
Basically, the argument is that these sellers are trading off the Warhammer name without permission, using branding that looks official enough to fool shoppers.
The Nitty-Gritty Allegations
Here’s how it played out: GW (through their lawyers) supposedly did a sort of round of undercover test purchases. Those orders didn’t pass muster. They say the goods were fake, low quality, and designed to imitate official Warhammer products — logos, box art, product names, the whole kit.
That kind of thing can cost a company more than just a few sales. The bigger fear that GW is claiming is brand dilution — if people can’t trust the quality of what they’re buying, that hurts those involved in the legit hobby, from independent shops to the players themselves.
In an effort to keep sellers from bailing out, hiding assets, or wiping their shop pages, GW made sure no advance warning was given before a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) hit.
What the Court Did About It
On April 22, 2025, the court signed off on a TRO as part of the full complaint, and that’s when things got serious. Here’s what came down:
- Sales Freeze: Sellers had to stop selling anything infringing.
- Asset Freeze: Their financial accounts were locked.
- Expedited Discovery: Marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and AliExpress were ordered to hand over seller details.
- Third-Party Compliance: Platforms had to freeze and disclose info on the accused sellers.
- Alternative Service: GW was allowed to notify defendants via email and Dropbox links. Yes, really.
- Bond Requirement: Games Workshop posted a bond of $10,000 per seller to cover potential damage if the court later finds they overreached. With 280 sellers, that’s potentially up to $2.8 million in bonds alone — not counting the legal bill.
If you’re thinking that’s a lot of legal firepower over some minis, well, you’re not wrong.
The Bigger Picture
This isn’t GW’s first rodeo, and it probably won’t be the last. These enforcement sweeps tend to focus on platforms like Alibaba, Etsy, eBay, AliExpress, and DHGate. And yes, most of the named sellers appear to be based in China and the UK.
We’re also seeing a familiar legal playbook here: file one mega-case with hundreds of defendants. It keeps costs down and pressure high, but it also means individual sellers can get steamrolled if they don’t know how to respond or can’t afford a lawyer.
It looks like GW is working with Brickell IP Group, a law firm that’s been attached to similar mass-defendant IP lawsuits. That move may also help GW dodge some of the community blowback by keeping their name a bit more out of the spotlight.
Is This Overkill?
Here’s where things get messy. A close look at the list of affected sellers shows most were, in fact, selling knockoffs or using the Warhammer trademarks without permission. But — and this is important — perhaps not all were.
A handful seem to have gotten caught up in the net unfairly:
- One seller was flagged over a gaming mat because the title mentioned Warhammer 40k.
- Another was penalized for a wooden brush holder described with the word Citadel.
- Some were tagged for using official logos in their store category page — not on products.
- At least a few listings seemed to be fulfilled through Shopify’s affiliate program (The Collective), meaning the entities named in the suit never even touched the goods.
That’s where the $10,000 bond per seller matters. If any of these claims are ruled excessive or unjustified, those funds could help cover damages to wrongly targeted sellers.
This part gives strong “Spots the Space Marine” vibes — you remember the infamous takedown campaign from a decade ago. Add in the recent YouTube copyright strikes, and you’ve got a pattern. Potential over-enforcement with a side of PR misfire.
Final Thoughts
Let’s be real: counterfeits do real damage to the hobby. If you’re printing knockoffs and slapping a GW logo on the box, you’re not the good guy in the story. But when enforcement gets sloppy — going after harmless hobbyists for naming conventions or a single category image — that’s a problem too, we think.
Games Workshop’s legal action is drawing a hard line. Whether it’s the right one, and whether they’ll keep the community on their side while doing it, is still an open question.
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What do you think about this sweeping lawsuit from GW against 280 companies?
Yeah kinda ironic that GW is going heavy handed when they themselves ripped a lot of other i.p’s off themselves (Aliens,Terminator,..etc ) and to be honest here for a minute. Nothing that I have seen have justified the insane price increase in their products,not to mention the disrespect for the community that GW have. For that ,all I can add is ….printer goes bbvvroom..!!!
GW sure is litigious for a company that has ripped off everything from Dune to Tolkien to Harry Potter to Alien.