Cat Cotton Speaks Her Mind ~ SL Blog

Since I don't want to be banned from SL I started my own blog Click on the second link in my sig to go there now.

Thanks

Cat

I absolutely love your blog Great job.

I agree with 99% of your Blog. I wrote some shit on the forum moderator thread and expected a warning and didn't get one. It was deleted though. Oh well, maybe next time

Hey Thanks I appreciate hearing that

Cat

Re: 'Thursday, January 19, 2006
I got your conspiracy theory right here pal!'

Offical warning for including the word 'An*heCo*p' in a form post hmmm?

Well anyone at LindenLab who is possessed of more than two working brain cells should take a look at this page where Graef IT-Consulting make it abundantly clear that 'Anshe, Anshe Chung, ANSHECHUNG.COM and Dreamland are trademarks of Graef IT-Consulting'!

I would recommend that people wishing to refer to Graef IT-Consulting's businesses in SecondLife add the ™ symbol immediately after the usage however, thus:

Anshe Chung™

As this is the registered trademark of a business entity (Graef IT-Consulting) I can see absolutely no justification for LL objecting to such usage - OR penalising customers who use it!

The webpage linked to and quoted above has been online for at least one month to my knowlege and it effectively makes the names in question business trademarks and enters that information into the public domain.

What next Linden? A ban for mentioning 'Microsoft'? 'Ford Motor Co'? 'Exon'?

Get your act together PLEASE! There are far more important issues in SL than this sort of petty behaviour!

Thanks Doc I sent the page you linked, to LL.

New Blog Entry enjoy.

Sunday, January 22, 2006
LL Shows It’s Might. Attachments may be out of sight?

Just curious, why are you Martin Magpie now and not Catherine Cotton?

Hey Red shoot me an IM ok

New Blog entry Enjoy!

Will SL become a haven for con artists?

According to the posted link they are not even registered trademarks and would likely fail any dilution test if they did attempt to register them as the marks have not been assiduously protected for years. Furthermore, the standard of having to note TM when making mention of the registered mark had been abandoned years ago when it was decided that mere mention of a mark was not a dilutionary action. You can see this most clearly in the change of software manuals that used to have pages of "IBM is a registered trademark... etc." replaced by "All trademarks used here are the property of their respective owners".

It is not a trademark issue at all. I think what can be derived from this is that you shan't be critical of RL firms that operate in SL in LL's sandbox, particualarly ones that are principal revenue sources of LL.

Oh well.

Its not? color me confused.

"I think what can be derived from this is that you shan't be critical of RL firms that operate in SL in LL's sandbox, particualarly ones that are principal revenue sources of LL."

Agreed, in whole.

There is a very specific legal distinction between the phrases "this is a trademark" and "this a regstered trademark". Here is what the USPTO has to say - in part - about the distinction. Also, the hurdles for foreign nationals obtaining a registration are considerably higher than those for citizens.

I completely agree that people should not be warned/banned for talking about a company (a business is not a person), but the message here is just that LL made a mistake. The rest of this is hyperbole IMO.

It's a bit over the top to me to title a blog entry "Will SL Become A Haven for Con Artists" when the substance of the article is just that she was banned/warned/whatever for mentioning something bad about a company. I was expecting something about the "Bush Sign" guy with a title like that.

That's the problem I have with a lot of this anti-LL stuff lately.
Sure, your mad. Got it.

But if your going to go around shouting in the town square, make sure the sky really *is* falling first maybe.

Please don't ascribe to me what others post in their blogs; I assume that was an honest error on your part.

Also, I'm not angry, I simply feel that through arbitary, inconsistent action, Linden Lab continually undermines their own stated objectives of being something more than a game. To date, Linden Lab has indeed allowed much more open critique of their actions than other game companies, but it may be the case their openness principle is shifting. That would be unfortunate and another example of how they assert interest in "transparancy" without necessarily adhering to it. Again, I feel that this would be to their detriment.

These forums have been the de facto discussion grounds because of the historical freedom that LL has afforded posters in civil critique. Should they begin to reverse that stance, there are plenty of third party players who would love to become the "forum of record" for SL. LL has to tread a delicate balance, so long as they remain relatively "free", no third party can credibly take their centrality; should they decide to bring the hammer down forcefully, they will find discourse heading to third party sites over which they shall have no control at all. I do not think this would serve LL's interests; indeed, I think it would destroy the
"community" that they claim to deisre.

I'm sorry you feel that way. I blog about what I think are issues in SL (double word deleted). Sometimes my post are purely informative. I'm open to suggestions on topics

Cat

sorry.

I am dumb. I was meaning Catherine's blog, but I followed up on your post so i can see how you thought I as referring to you. My mistake.

I'm open to suggestions on topics

LL does want a community. But only a specific one.

coco

Introvert is correct and helpfully points folks to the USPTO website. Anyone can claim trademark rights. Registration requires application, waiting for up to a year for USPTO approval, and usually several thousand dollars in legal fees. And grant of a Certificate of Registration is not assured.

And holding trademark rights on a particular word, image or symbol does NOT permit the holder to prohibit its use by others. Trademarks are quite different from copyrights in that respect. The trademark holder may have rights if an unauthorized user uses the mark in a way that dilutes the holder's rights or otherwise deceives the public as to the source of the goods or services with which the offending mark is associated.

Simply using the mark to correctly and fairly identify the holder of that mark is not dilutive or actionable.

Those interested in following issues of intellectual property law in Second Life may wish to follow this thread in the Law Society Group Forum: "Intellectual Property: Compiling Links to Threads"

Thanks Coco! that's an excellent suggestion.

Cat

Thanks Frank! Trademarks are a very complicated process it seems. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain this process and get me on the right track about trademarks and the process of recieving and using them. Much appreciated : )

Cat

This is something that bothers me a lot. The misuse of the word "your" and the contraction "you're". I know it is something I have to deal with. But I wonder why it bothers me. I almost have a fear that one day they will eliminate one and everyone one will just use your instead.

I still don't understand the Catherine thing either, but I guess to get that explained we have to IM the Magpie person. I'm glad LL is so secretive about things, only telling people who IM, otherwise they would be accused of something else.

<wanders back off the forums before it makes her too upset>

Ok lets not make this into more than it is, lets just put it out there

I am both Catherine Cotton and Martin Magpie. I cancelled the Catherine Cotton account. Martin Magpie was created a while back. After some time many ppl knew who I was. I could not lie to my friends and pretend I wasn't Catherine. The time came when I had to decide to let ppl know that; I was one in the same. Or watch someone else, out me in the forums. Reinventing who we are is fantastic in SL, but we are who we are If I had no conscience it would have been much easier lol.

Martin, sometimes a male av, sometimes a female av. Sometimes Elvis LOL.

I needed a break from what ppl thought they knew about me. From the forums, from the bs. I was able to do that and enjoy SL again.

See no dharma here just one lady who wanted to build and create and make friends. Friends who did not have a preconceived idea of who I was before they said hello

Mar/Cat/

Good lord! You actually finally followed through on that threat?!?! Color me stunned

Hell froze over and I missed it.

Hiya

I'm working on a blog entry, but I am having a bit of trouble and need your help. SL has expanded so much in the last year! Finding what I am looking for is literaly taking hours each day.

I am looking for places of interest that include "Themed Communities, and Interesting Themed Builds." Examples of what I am looking for are:

Planned communities
Themed areas that are not focused around commercial value.
Unique areas of SL that get little to no traffic but should, rpg community, gardens, parks, etc.

If you have an area that fits into one or all of these catagories please send your LM to me via email to: [email]martinmagpie04@yahoo.com[/email] with a discription of your project/theme.

Thanks much folks

MarCat

PS: I too have one of these areas I have begun called "The Wharf" if you get a chance feel free to stop by and check out my progress More details will follow as this project does.