SL brands protection

If I invent unique sl name (brand) and after some time someone else is using same name, is my name somehow protected by SL TOS? In other words: Am I able to do anything to stop them using same name? I registered .COM domain of that name and the sl group, and later they registered .DE domain of same name.

You realize that domain registration has nothing to do with Second Life, yes?

Also, no, your brand name is not protected anywhere in Second Life, but if you register it as a trademark in the real world, you can sue anyone in the legal domain of that trademark- assuming you know real-life contact information of the folks abusing your trademark. I believe this also means you have to have the mark registered worldwide when dealing in an international realm like SL.

There is precedent for this sort of thing in Second Life. For example, (I believe) the SexGen brand has been trademarked in the USA, and I do know the business behind that brand polices its use pretty frequently.

Anyway, aside from all the legal hassle, if this is something that's happened to you in-world (another business using your same name), you could always just contact that person and see if they can come up with a different name. That's happened in SL too.

Sure.



That's what I was suspecting.
Thanks Wildefire

I contacted them and he said "LOL" and "bye bye babe" )
I have reason to suspect he copied my idea cause is only few moths of difference.
Anyway, is not so important to me cos is only for few shops im renting, so is not worth registering a trademark perhaps.

Something similar happened to me - another player created a group called "Nature's Way - Gorean Capture" but she IMed me with a very polite note and I was't particualrly concerned. Her NWGC is a gorean perfume shop and my NW is a Nudist Colony so i would *imagine* that most people will notice the difference right away when they TP in

But where is does matter is there not a case for copyright and IP? You don't actually need to register a trademark as long as you can prove that you came up with the brand/idea first. If something is a blatant copy then presumably it falls under the same legal scenraio as selling a fake rolex or printing banknotes on your inkjet

gorean.. perfume... shop....

SL confuses me.