Your SL Business Name is not Safe!!!!!

I think I will start a business in SL making skins and call it Nomine, or Celestial Studios. Maybe I will make some animations and call my business ANOmations or Mr. P's. Le Cadre is catchy, don't you think? I think I will open a clothing store in SL and call it Pixel Dolls, maybe I will call it Deadly Nightshade Design Studios or how about Preen. CMFF. Midnight City. Simone. Nevermore. Panache. DarkDharma Avatars.

Maybe I will make some furniture and name my store Sky Designs. I might get the itch to make some airplanes and name my business Abbotts Aerodrome. Gee, a good name for my hair business might be Lil' One and don't you agree that a great name for my new club would be The Edge? I really like Curious Kitties too. I bet I would grab a lot of business if I were to name my business Naughty Designs....I really do like Bare Rose Tokoyo, very catchy.

Why not?

There was a time when LL had a policy that a member could not select a name for a business or sim that was already in use. But, as Liana Linden informed me when I called to complain because someone named named their business Gypsy Moon, a name I have used for my sim and business inside SL for more than 2 years, that SL is a "different world now" that there are more than 500K members.

What?

Yes, then she told me to file an AR, and gave me the following links:

legalese
more legalese
and more

Copyright? Trademark? DMCA? I am a lawyer and I know from first hand involvement with members filing DMCA notices that LL will not pursue this.

What happened to good old fashioned policy where a member could not use the name of a business or sim or group already in use? Does everything have to be a legal intellectual property issue now?

If Liana Linden is correct that LL will not do anything unless the name is trademarked, then its all up for grabs. Its a race to the courthouse for filing and I am going after the business names that are most well known in SL.

Just think about all that free automatic business in the directory!!

Does everything have to be an adversarial legal event in SL now? Whatever happened to policy? Why bother with any CS aspect of the TOS...let's make all conduct a legal encounter.

I do like the name Torrid Wear, dont you?

Ok so here is my notice, the CHARTER MEMBER who named their business Gypsy Moon, probably to harass me, is not associated with my store or sim that has been in existence for more than 2 years.

you could trademark it irl, but that is alot of hassle. The best way like most business' is to build up a brand, an image, and a good logo - which you will retain copyright on.

And people thought I was crazy centering my biz on myself and not a name...


'Waterworks' aint a thing without 'Siggy's' in front of it

Good idea. I think I will open a business named Siggy's Waterworks!

Be my guest - let me know how it works for you without 'The Siggy'

That is to say - my biz is very much centered around me... my personality... and thats something that can't really be ripped off by anyone

Besides - I'm in all my own product boxes

I have to agree that it is very sad that LL no longer will back up their long term supporters and subscribers.
I find it sad that people come into a virtual world and take the opportunity to be an ass, or to steal someone else's IP.

I wish I had a nice little answer to it all, but in the end, all I can say is that it will come back to haunt them - all of them.

/comfort - I wish you the best with this. I suppose one way is that you can make sure people know who the original creator of your company is. Based on profile date.. I know I will likely be checking things a little closer now when I go shopping.

Real life precedent: Apple Computer and Apple Corp both have the same name.

Two business can have the same name. I think it's pretty obvious that Gypsy Moon, the resort sim, and Gypsy Moon, the tiny anime store, are unrelated.

Besides, the name "Gypsy Moon" is hardly your original trademark; I see about a half-dozen stores or works with that name, and I'm sure they all predate your SL store.

Honestly, until you take Linden Lab's advice, you have nothing to complain about Linden Lab.

You're a lawyer, right? Why don't you start with a cease and desist letter to the other company? Follow up with a DMCA complaint to Linden Lab. They take them seriously.

It also helps if you have a website registered to your business, this way you can cite Internet law precedents and your business looks more or less more legit.

Now, everything I've learned about copyright and trademark tell me that a business name does not fall under copyright. You could argue that the sim is a work of art, and under that, the entity as a sim would be copyrighted under that name, but that would still not protect the name.

I've always read that it is the company's duty to protect their trademarks. Go at it.

And it costed Apple Computer over 25 million USD worth of fines/settlement fees and a number of court battles.

Katy is talking about SL, not RL. The point is that whatever name you choose for your business may be hijacked by the next person who could then profit off of the years of name recognition you rightfully earned.

Some sort of protection is needed.

Briana Dawson

I guess I don't understand why people who are making a fair wage (i.e. living off their SL businesses) are not doing the same thing that businesses everywhere have to do -- namely copywrite, trademark, and patent their original product.

I understand your frustration. And it sure is shitty of someone to take the name of your business and start using it. But everytime someone has a skin or other item copied, it seems to me that the business owners start yelling for DMCA and other lawful protections, yet when it comes to complying with the law themselves, to filing trademarks, patents, copyrights, to paying taxes on the income earned from SL -- the things that businesses everywhere else have to do -- then it isn't done and there's a complaint that LL isn't protecting them.

I know of one person -- she sells a portrait/photography studio and she knows who she is and can identify herself here if she feels like it -- who has gone to the trouble of patenting her product. When you buy her product, you get a notecard telling you the product has been fully patented and you get the patent number. Now THAT is the way to do some biz. THAT is the way to protect yourself.

Otherwise, the free ride was nice I'm sure, but I think its time to wake up and smell the thistles.

Further proof that LL no longer cares about the residents. And if whoever is using the name you chose first doesn't change it THAT is proof of his/her asshattedness.

Have you actually talked with the store owner yet? It seems like your first impulse was to call a Linden.

This RL Gypsy Moon clothing store has been in existence since 1991.

http://www.gypsymoon.com/

/just sayin'

Good idea. What happens though if you do not reside in the USA?

Who cares? This is about SL.

Briana Dawson

I wonder if it would be sufficient to register the trademark in California.

I know, that's why the /just sayin'

Now excuse me while I go build a McDonalds.

I originally called my store Chip Midnight's Fine Fashion, and then decided I hated it so much I shortened it to CMFF (note to people starting a business... put more than 14 seconds in to picking a name!). But now that this issue is being brought up I'm glad it's at least somewhat based on my name.

I know when I incorporated in RL part of the fee was to research my business name and make sure it wasn't already registered in this area. I'm not sure how big the territory is (probably state) but I have no legal standing over the name with anyone outside my area. I wonder if there's legal precedent for incorporation in a virtual territory?

Edit: Katy, you should definitely talk to the other Gypsy Moon proprieter. Chances are they didn't know there already was one and if their store is new they'd probably want to change it so they can have their own unique identity. I doubt it was on purpose.

Thats quite an assumption, yes I did talk to the store owner and she made a change to her name to distinguish her Gypsy Moon from my store. But if you think for one minute that this is a problem that applies only to me you are mistaken.

For the record, Gypsy Moon and Katy Kiwi are trademark protected with registration pending.

My point is exactly the one made by Briana and it relates to the LL change in policy that now allows members to use the same business names.

Good will and reputation are not matters of intellectual property and cannot be protected by registration with the US patent office.

It doesn't matter what a store sells or not, so what if I sell different items than another business, the policy that used to be in effect was one that made a more amicable environment in the community. The current policies create an environment in which the solution lies in a legal threat.

Anyone who has real familiarity with the legal system knows that the objective is to diminish the litigation and threats, not to encourage it as a matter of policy.

Isn't it interesting that many who bitched and moaned about how evil lawyers are chiming in here saying the law is the answer and too damn bad. Yes, I can handle my own legal matters and file papers for mere filing costs and write letter after letter on my own letterhead. My costs for protecting my rights are much smaller than the rest of you will face but why should that be necessary.

Those who cant see the unregistered value of reputation, good will that goes with a business are just not business minded.

It would be so easy for LL to have a registration service where a member can add the name of a business to his profile and that name cannot be used by another member while its active. It's a much easier solution than what is set in place now and one that would lessen discord rather than encourage it.

All those things you named are kinda UNIQUE.

But lets look at "Gypsy Moon".

http://www.gypsymoon.com/
http://www.gypsymoonemporium.com/

etc.

Google has 54,300 unique hits for "Gypsy Moon". None of yours are on top. Now take "ANOmations" as an example, 9790 hits, and everything on the first page is to do with the SL ANOmations.

You just picked up a non-unique name and is now crying over brand recognition just like this random bitch from google.

It's a good point, though I have to admit I'm not sure I can lay the blame at the feet of Linden Lab.

What if, for example, someone had a pre-existing virtual goods (say, from There or IMVU) business and brought their name into SL... would they have to give way to someone who had set up shop in SL before them?

I don't think SL can really play cop here, though obviously they have to respect trademark law. Perhaps the only real solution is register a trademark -

http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/ts/forms/tm-100.pdf

70$ at the California state level, and 350$ at the US federal level, I believe.

Register a trademark might become another income for Lindens next to the advertising fees.

katykiwi, have you suggested this through Feature Suggestions? it should be fairly easy to incorporate, although arguable as to whether it would relate to the whole of SL or simply a particular area, such as per continent.

while that would be excellent to see happen, i have to agree that creating a web presence is the easy way to create precendent. of course, there's the RL filing of said business (name, trademark, etc.).


by the way, i'm glad to hear that this isn't too much of an issue for you personally (at the moment) anymore, as you talked to the person and they changed the name!

Well, I think in a way, they already do.

If you want to reserve a trademark in SL, you probably have to buy an island and call it that.