William Gibson and the trademarking of cyberspace

William Gibson objected to Autodesk's 1989 trademark application for "cyberspace," prompting the author to write Gibson a conciliatory letter. The widely repeated story that Gibson retaliated by attempting to trademark "Eric Gullichsen" was actually a prank started by Timothy Leary and later amplified by others, not historical fact. The dispute was resolved amicably when Gibson and the author met at Art Futura 1990 in Barcelona.