Comments on: It’s My Life, No Matter The Number In Front Of It

By: Ciaran Laval

Ciaran Laval — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:01:06 +0000

Agree with Ian on so many levels. I was up in arms about this at first, got into work, saw loads of brands in front of me and realised it was a marketing tie in they were talking about, not a generic you must always refer to us in this fashion.

Now I can see why they were reluctant to point this out but if for once in their lives Linden Lab would engage in some prior discussion (and giving people 90 days to comply is not prior discussion) then a lot of this could have been avoided.

By: Lunette

Lunette — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:52:59 +0000

“Do they have some training for that or use natural talent?”

Ha ha ha, that cracked me up. Love your blog, BTW.

By: dandellion

dandellion — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:02:10 +0000

Yes, classic LL screwup. You have to do something, you do it almost good and then fuck it down to the bottom with one single blog post. Do they have some training for that or use natural talent? My mom could tell what will happen.

By: Ian Betteridge

Ian Betteridge — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:19:02 +0000

I don’t think they actually did think of the reaction it would provoke – community relations is something that they’re just not very good at.

It’s classic Lab. The “inSL” programme is a great idea, as it gives real world businesses cleaar guidelines about how to promote their in-world activities without using LL trademarks (which the average corporate lawyer gets very worried about). Yet they announce it in a way that suggests the only way you can say “Second Life” is with their permission – something that’s clearly wrong.

By: dandellion

dandellion — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:08:38 +0000

Thanks for that link and post. It’s very insightful and clears lot of doubts. It makes me wonder why PR’s of LL cannot do that themselves. It is *their* best interest not to make confusion. Surely, they knew what reactions they will provoke.

By: Ian Betteridge

Ian Betteridge — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:43:28 +0000

I've written up some handy hints on trademark law and how it applies. Basically, it's perfectly within the bounds of fair use to use Second Life without any kind of TM after it, unless you're using it in a commercial context and as long as there's no danger of anyone thinking your use of it means you're sponsored by, associated with, or working on behalf of Linden Lab. Think of newspapers as a good example: if they HAD to put "TM" after every trademark they reported on, there would be no room for any actual stories.

By: Smiley Barry

Smiley Barry — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:15:43 +0000

@Dan: No, lol, it’s their replacement word for censored. Sounds better to say “What the bobba???” than “What the *BEEP*???” :-)

By: dandellion

dandellion — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:23:56 +0000

Otenth, it’s funny how all of a sudden, they made us thinking that we are doing them marketing. Surely, it wasn’t the best way to build better relationship with own customers.

Smiley, I don’t dare to think what “bobba” means. But, are there any requests by hotel management to put TM after it? :D

By: Smiley Barry

Smiley Barry — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:30:35 +0000

The bobba we won't! (Note to self: stop using Habbo-originated words) It finally made me crack and write a post myself at my blog. (Sorry for advertising though :-S) Great post you wrote here, very interesting and written very nicely :-)

By: Otenth Paderborn

Otenth Paderborn — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:53:17 +0000

I figure I’ll just use “viritual world” generically, or “Caledon” or “Wyre” if I want to be specific, and “the Company” if I want to be euphemistic. I’m not too anxious about infringeing a trademark when blogging or commenting, but at this point I don’t see any reason why I should do their marketing for them.