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Linden Lab alters stance: will ban
As the Second Life blogger's strike comes to an end, Linden Lab has clarified the clarification to their new trademarks policy. This clarification is a good one. It is quite clear and well set out, and hits all the high points in a clear and deliberate fashion. Despite any prior assurances to the contrary, yes, Linden Lab will apply the Terms of Service (section 4.4) to external violations of the brand center guidelines to ban accounts as a last resort, though it does make allowances for basics such as nominative use. This extends the Second Life terms of service to activities outside the virtual world for the first time, and for anyone who has logged in to Second Life since March 24.
Linden Lab sparks bloggers strike
Starting today, a number of prominent Second Life bloggers are on strike for three full days in protest at Linden Lab's sudden detrimental change of position on the use of current and new trademarks. These bloggers feel snubbed and threatened by the new brand guidelines, which they find contradictory, excessive and potentially restrictive to free speech, and are going on a symbolic three-day strike as a gesture to show that they do not find Linden Lab's answers to these concerns sufficient.
Linden Lab says no bans, TOS disavows
The inclusion of section 4.4 of the Second Life Terms of Service has caused considerable fear, uncertainty and doubt among the users, even leading some to refuse to log in, so that they do not accept those terms in their current form. On the face of them, the clause essentially makes any breach of the Brand Center guidelines a breach of the Terms of Service. Linden Lab's representatives say that they would not treat external breaches of those guidelines as a Terms of Service breach -- however, legally their statements to that effect fail to hold water.
Two little words
We're still waiting on answers to our queries to Linden Lab in the wake of their altered trademark policies. We're assured that we might get some sometime soon. In the meantime we thought you might just be interested in seeing the list of extra words that Linden Lab have trademark applications in for, and that you might suddenly start to see Brand Center regulations and usage guidelines on.
Making your mark
There are two basic pieces to Linden Lab's virtual world. There's Second Life Grid, which recently got a name of its very own, which is essentially the platform, technology and company behind it. Then there's the other bit. The part where Linden Lab so often says the real value is. Second Life, says the Lab, is the community, the content. All those people. That's the real value, it says. So, if so many users (the exact number isn't important here) are what is described by the marks SL and Second Life (as distinct from Second Life Grid, which describes the underlying platform) -- if that endless creation of and remixing of content and communities is called Second Life -- why don't the people who Second Life actually are get equal time with what is, essentially, their own collective name?
Linden Lab clarifies trademarks policy
This-evening, Linden Lab issued a policy clarification to the recent changes to allowed trademark use as a part of the Second Life Brand Center announcement. It doesn't actually directly address any of the questions that we put to Linden Lab, so we are resubmitting those, and it raises a couple of extra ones which we will add to the pile. The new policy appears to seek to clarify nominative fair use as being acceptable -- after all, you can't effectively talk about Second Life or Linden Lab without using those terms (well, you could say Linden Research Inc's unnameable virtual world, if you were desperate).
Linden Lab to make another trademark post
Linden Lab's PR agency have responded to our list of questions about assorted Second Life trademark issues, related changes to the Terms of Service and so forth with a notice that rather than answering the questions directly, Linden Lab is preparing another blog post which is intended to address many of the questions and responses they've received about the original. If this new post follows past patterns of policy follow-up postings, then we will likely have a whole new set of questions to ask in addition to the original set. We'll keep you all informed as things develop, of course. We're sure that you all are as curious as we are as to where this will go from here. The PR agency was unable to give us a better estimate for when the new post would appear other than "soon".
Linden Lab's laundry list of legalese: Terms of Service versus Fair Use
'I cannot read the fiery letters,' said Frodo in a quavering voice. 'No,' said Gandalf, 'but I can. The letters are English, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Lawyers, which I will not utter here. But this in the Common Tongue is what is said, close enough: 'You agree to review and adhere to the guidelines on using "Second Life," "SL," "Linden," the Eye-in-Hand logo, and Linden Lab's other trademarks, service marks, trade names, logos, domain names, taglines, and trade dress..' He paused, and then said slowly in a deep voice: 'These are the Master Rules, the Terms of Service that rule all accounts.'
Linden Lab asserts control of names and images
When Linden Lab chooses to shake things up, it doesn't do it by half-measures. Easter Monday saw an announcement by Linden Lab that they were introducing a new Second Life logo program, and changing the terms under which various words and images are presented. Unfortunately, we technically can't show you the new logo, since by all rights we have to go through the application process first. Actually, after reading all the terms and conditions a bunch of times, we are not sure that we're even allowed to mention its name. It's inSL, anyway. We'll let the company lawyers sort through the paperwork.
Apple applies for trademark protection on gaming devices
We're not gonna read too much into this just yet, but when everyone's favorite fruit-flavored consumer electronics company files to protect its trademark as it relates to a wide range of gaming devices, well, we feel you'd want to know. The USPTO sleuths over at Trademork just gave us the heads up on this recently-filed application from Cupertino, which requests protection of the word "APPLE" for products that classify as "toys, games and playthings, namely, hand-held units for playing electronic games; hand-held units for playing video games; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games." And come to think of it, we did see Apple file for a videogame-related patent not too long ago, so who knows: perhaps the iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV will soon have even more friends among the company's ever-expanding non-PC ecosystem. Then again, we've heard this rumor in one form or another countless times before, and right now pining for a resurrected Gizmondo is already giving us enough headaches.[Via Trademork]
SLART name in trademark dispute
Richard Minsky, founder of The Center for Book Arts in New York City and owner of SLART Magazine is asserting ownership of his trademark in the broader wilds of Second Life, and potentially the surrounding media-sphere. Minsky started SLART magazine in December 2006 "as a critical review and journal of the arts in Second Life". The trademark itself was applied for in March 2007, approved in December 2007, and now Minsky seeks to assert the rights and obligations associated with the SLART trademark.
Rumorang: Updated 'Dreamcast' trademark spurs Dreamcast 2 speculation
The internet has been all a-titter recently over the rumor that Sega might be getting back into the console manufacturing business. The source of this rumor is an updated trademark application for "Dreamcast," which overlaps with the current trademark filing for the title, set to expire in December 2009.At best, this rumor is a stretch. Renewing trademarks is a common practice for companies, and any overlap between previous filings and updates can be attributed to the indeterminable amount of time between filing and proper registration of those trademarks. To either confirm or deny the speculation, GameDaily contacted Sega for an official response, and while PR rep Charlie Scibetta was unsure of why the trademark was updated, he did state that Sega has no intentions of re-entering the console business. According to Scibetta, Sega's quite content with their current platform-agnostic status, and it would be unwise to shift their business strategy during a period of "outstanding growth." Sadly, it seems like this rumor might be little more than smoke and mirrors. Of course, we're always happy to be proven wrong.
Nintendo trademarks Body Controller, others
Nintendo has registered a few new trademarks (via CVG) in Japan that, quite frankly, will do nothing more than cause rampant speculation. We will list them here along with our own, ill-informed thoughts on the future of the product name: Wii Body Controller, the oft-discussed hula-hoop attachment Wii Handle: we're pulling out our dictionaries for the second definition of handle, a screen name. No, Nintendo wouldn't do that, we're actually guessing it's some sort of barbell attachment for Wii Weightlifting. Nintendo Magic: a game that prints money, obviously. Mii Audition: it's kind of like the Everybody Votes channel ... except the winner is probably the avatar that looks most like a penis. Soma Bringer: CVG tells us this is some kind of noodle. Could Nintendo be entering the culinary business? Will Mario be getting a new power-up? O, the anticipation! Additionally, Nintendo has renewed the Pikmin trademark -- and though the quirky game seems perfectly fit for the Wii and is no doubt in development, we're pretty sure Nintendo would have renewed its ownership regardless of current plans.
Apple's POD trademark app faces more opposition
We're pretty sure Apple faces about as much legal heat as every other big time corporation out there, but ever since Cisco invited Apple (or vice-versa?) to a few rounds of throwdown, "Apple" and "trademark" just seem to go hand in hand. Apparently, the POD moniker that has caught so much flack over the years is facing a slew of additional opponents, who apparently think the oh-so-coveted three letter word fits better in its own name. PodFitness, Inc., Secure-It, Inc., Varsity Group Inc., TastyBytes Software, Inc., VNU Media Measurement & Information, Inc., and Line 6, Inc. (makers of the highly-regarded "POD" lineup of guitar effects processors) are all crying foul on Apple's notoriously tight grip, but considering that all the filings are still marked as "pending," we can only assume the war wages on. Nevertheless, some of the filings stretch back to 2004, and although most things like this have a way of simply "vanishing" over time, we're fairly certain the grumpy plaintiffs are (at least somewhat) enjoying that "instituted for proceeding" bit. So while opposition continues to flail helplessly as it tries to disarm the almighty POD from Steve and Co., we're still left wondering how everyone and their next of kin can prefix any product at all with "i" without raising a fuss.[Thanks, Nikropht]
Leo Laporte wants to rebrand podcasts as 'netcasts' - I agree
If you're a TWiT fan (or a listener of almost any of Leo's other 200 podcasts), you might have heard in the past couple of weeks that he's pushing to change the term 'podcast' to 'netcast.' He's even gone so far as to start using it in his lingo on the shows (at least on the few of his shows I can keep up with), and is looking to trademark the term. Now before you run off and flame TWiT's forums, just hear the man out - because I think he has a good idea.Leo has a couple of reasons for hoping to move the mountain that is now podcasting. The first is Apple's recent bullish attitude towards the terms 'pod' and 'podcast,' as they've been filing their own trademarks and sending nastygrams to companies who get even just a little too close to using these words in their names or products. For a term that was born out of the grassroots web broadcasting movement and coined out of love for Apple's little music player, this understandably felt like a slap in the face to many - including even Leo, who was recently dubbed podcaster of the year. Of course, on the flip side of that coin, I can also understand Apple's interest in protecting their product likeness and the word 'pod.' After all - when else has such a goofy, nerdy word become such an icon? Oh what a twisted web of vocabulary and intellectual property we weave.Leo's second reason, and one that I feel is a bit more significant, is the implication of the deep roots the term 'podcasting' itself has grown, in light of its relationship to the iPod as a word and a product. Leo laments that to so many of podcasting's new target demographic (i.e. - all the non-early adopters who aren't listening to them, yet), the term 'podcast' itself implies that one needs an iPod to download and listen to them. Of course, it's pretty obvious to us nerds that this assumption couldn't be farther from the truth, but that is exactly Leo's point - he wants to change the term to drop that stigma for 'the other half;' the people who might or might not have heard of podcasting, but ultimately don't know much about it. Podcasting is all about leveling the playing field so anyone with some talent can share it with the world - but in this context, the term 'podcasting' is a bit counterproductive to the effort of breaking down the walls for one and all.Let's face it - there are a lot of other DAPs out there, and a ton of other products on which one can listen to music. The 'song' wasn't renamed to 'pong' or 'iPong' - maybe it would be better, and more accessible, to adopt a generic term like 'netcast,' so more listeners can join the party.
Apple not shutting down all use of "podcast"; still not so hot on "pod," though
You probably remember our post this past weekend citing a Wired Listening Post story which claimed that Apple was trying to claim ownership of the word "podcast"; we even got -- OMG -- Slashdotted. Well, Wired Listening Post has now printed Apple's letter to the company in question, Podcast Ready, and it seems that the real situation is a bit murkier than our original post might have led you to believe. While Steve and friends are definitely gung-ho about Podcast Ready abandoning the use of "myPodder" for its automation software (claiming that it is "very similar phonetically to Apple's iPod mark and appears to have been chosen intentionally to capitalize on the fame and goodwill of Apple's marks"), the letter goes on to say that "Apple, of course, has no general objection to proper use of the descriptive term 'podcast' as part of a trademark for goods and services offered in the podcasting field." What it basically comes down to is this: Apple objects to "Podcast Ready" trademark applications which cover "portable listening devices" and "software to manage digital content for portable media players," but is fine with an application for that branding which only refers to podcasting in general. It's still confusing as hell, since it's not entirely obvious where one would draw the line between "podcasting in general" and podcasting as it relates to portable listening devices and software for managing podcasts for portable media devices, but either way what is very clear is that Apple is determined to protect its turf and prevent anyone from using the words "pod" and "podcast" in any manner they believe might possibly infringe on its trademarks. [Via MacRumors]
