Location: Linden Lab® “Brand Center”

Second Life®,  SL™, Linden Lab®, and more: Linden Lab® is now asking all of us who write about their invented world to include a trademark brand on certain terms.  I’m going to follow their usage, mostly because I want to point out how ridiculious and childish this all seems to Ignatius Onomatopoeia®, Pappy Enoch®, Beeble Baxter®  and more of us® in the Second Life® fake world. 

Neal Stephenson®  coined the term “Metaverse” in his novel

Snowcrash

, incidentally…maybe he should get the Lindens®  for infringement of his intellectual property.

By the way, I think I will always use the locution “fake world” now when referring to Linden Lab’s® Metaverse.  Maybe even “the Linden Lab®  Fake World Known as Second Life® .“

I’m catty that way.

While companies must protect their brands, I’m not alone in the Blogosphere in busting my gut laughing at this silliness.  Legally minded readers may wish to refer to the section on proper use of SL® terms in text.  The Brand Center, like any good LL® roll-out, is full of confusing bugs, but I’m certain that the Lab will iron them out with future releases….I’ll be holding my breath.

I want to thank bloggers and SL® personalities like Gwyneth Llewelyn® for pointing out, in her open letter to the Lindens, how contradictory and unenforceable their new policies are. Can they REALLY expect to be able to track down all of us who forget a copyright or trademark notice after common nouns and adjectives such as “Second” and “Life”?  Of course, is it bloggers and other lowlife the Lindens® are after?

Gwyn® does point out a legitimate need for Linden Lab’s® policy:

The second issue is that a lot of their competitors are placing ads with things like “Start your Second Life on There.com” or something similar. You might even see things like “Clothes for your Second Life” on Google Ads and be redirected to… IMVU. This is what LL needs to prevent.

Right now, the Lindens® cannot even keep their invented world online reliably.  Perhaps they will have more success with cease-and-desist letters

Be sure to check the “In a Strange Land®“ Archive for old posts

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