Second Life Copyright on group and business names?

Is Second Life making people change their business and group names that have "Second Life" in them? For example "Second Life Soccer League" "Second Life Modeling Agency" etc . . . I had heard they were cracking down on that. Is this true or just a rumor?

Yes.

http://secondlife.com/corporate/brand/

So then why are there so many groups out there with Second Life in their name? Are they enforcing this or not?

Unless you already hold an existing registered copyright to a name with SL in it (like SLART) you probably have no chance in fighting this.

In-world group names can't be changed by residents, can they?

Also, aren't business names trademarked rather than copyrighted?

The Lindens adjust group and avatar names when needed. They do contact some group creators to give them some new name choices at times.

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I thought having two nouns after "Second Life" made the name ok - like, say, "Second Life Tour Guides."

As always its a haphazard methodology they use. We for instance had to jump through hoops changing names for a group while LL allows similar groups to ours to use the same terms within these other groups.

We had a Linden change our name when this came up as Suezanne rightly said customers cant change the names themselves. We did change some of the details and pointed out the other groups that were the same as ours, since then LL have left our group alone. As i always say whats good for one is good for another.

Thanks Dekka for the URL i look forward to watching this case, very interesting indeed

Hmm, so basicly they just conquered a large part of the dictionary with it, we're nolonger to use any words wich include or start with SL. All of these words now belong to Linden Lab;

SLam-dunk!

slab slack slack suit slack water slacken slacker
slacks slag slagheap slain slake slalom
slam slam dance slam dancing slam-dunk slander slang
slangily slanginess slangy slant slantingly slantwise
slap slap on slap-bang slapdash slapper slapshot
slapstick slash slash pocket slashed slasher slashing
slat slate slate club slate pencil slate roof slate-gray
slather slating slattern slatternliness slaty slaughter slave ant slave driver slave market slave ship slave state slave trade
slave(a) slave-making ant slaveholder slaveholding slavelike slaver
slavery slavic slavic people slavish slavishly slavonic
sleazy sled sled dog sledder sledding sledge
sledgehammer sleek sleekly sleep sleep apnea sleep disorder
sleep late sleep off sleep over sleep talking sleep terror disorder sleep-learning
sleeper sleepers sleepily sleepiness sleeping sleeping bag
sleeping beauty sleeping car sleeping pill sleeping sickness sleeping(a) sleeplessly
sleepwalk sleepwalker sleepwalking sleepy sleepyhead sleet sleety sleeve
sleeved sleeveless sleigh bed sleigh bell slender slender centaury
slender knapweed slender loris slender rush slender salamander slender wheatgrass slender wild oat
slender-tailed meerkat slender-waisted slenderize slenderly slenderness sleuth
slice slice bar slice into sliced slicer slicing
slick slicked up slicker slickness slide slide fastener
slide projector slide rule slide valve slider sliding sliding door
sliding scale sliding seat sliding window slight slight care slightest
slightly slime slime mold slime mushroom slimed sliminess sling slinger
slinger ring slinging slink slip slip away slip clutch
slip coach slip in slip of the tongue slip off slip on slip ring
slip stitch slip-joint pliers slip-on slipcover slipknot slippage
slipper slipper spurge slippered slippery slippery dick slippery elm
slipping slipstream slit slit trench slither slithery
sliver slivovitz sloanea slob sloe sloe gin
slog sloganeer sloganeering sloop sloop of war slop
slop basin slop chest slop pail slope sloping sloppily sloppiness sloppy
sloppy joe slops slopseller slopshop slosh slot
slot machine sloth sloth bear slouch slouched sloucher
slouchily slouchingly slouchy slough slough of despond slovak
slovakia slovakian slovakian monetary unit slovene slovenia slovenian
slovenliness slow slow lane slow loris slow match slow motion
slow virus slow-moving slowdown slower slowest slowgoing
slowly slowness slub sludge slug sluggard
slugger sluggish sluggishly sluice sluicegate sluicing slum slumber
slumber party slumberous slumgullion slummy slump slur
slurp slurred slurry slush slush fund slushy

LMAO when put like that it shows just how ridiculous the whole case is

Second Life sue Slovenia!

I am not an attorney, but I do believe that US laws do not allow anyone to trademark or copyright single commonly-used words, so most of the examples here would not be a problem. When you add another word to SL is what they will try to enforce. So, Slump might be ok, but SLUmpire would not. At least this is as I understand the whole Second Life Trademark guidelines.

Ref: http://secondlife.com/corporate/brand/trademark/index.php

what about slum-pire?

The ghetto bloodlines game.

ROFL

I guess no Escort house could call their business S.L.U.T. Squad either because
it might stand for The Second Life Urethra Ticklers?

It's more complicated than that, with Apple being the obvious counter-example.

As this thread shows, people often confuse trademark and copyright protections. Trademark protection is more complicated than copyright protection. Personally, I think the easiest way for lay people to think of trademark protection is to imagine that each specific case is analyzed on its own merits, in which the impact on the trademark owner is studied. Generalizations about trademarks by non-lawyers are likely to be meaningless. Again, the obvious example are how frequently people foolishly dispute Apple's claims because their local supermarket "infringes" in their produce section.

I haven't read all of the SLART case documents, but the impression I get is that they're avoiding the entire issue of whether SL is a legitimate trademark. Instead, Linden is arguing that SLART's trademark application isn't valid because they didn't actually provide the services they claimed in the application at that time, while the SLART owner is claiming that their registration predates Linden's, and hence can't be challenged by Linden's SL claims, without regard to whether those claims are valid on their own. (I'll repeat: this is just my superficial, lay person's quick summary of that case.)

I love you FD!

Ok so . . . IF you are a group that has a name that is in clear violation of these 'rules,' what are you supposed to do? Nothing? Wait for LL to come and demand you to change it? Request that they allow you to change it? IMO, there are tons of tons of groups that would fall into this category . . . are they just cherry picking ones to mess with or what?

It's just my opinion, but I think that when LL let you create groups with Second Life in the name field, and the name was accepted, that was permission to use that group name. In other words, if they didn't want inworld groups to use Second Life in their group name, they blew it, and too bad for them. They could easily have programmed a check for "Second Life" into the group name creation system, and included a warning not to in the dialog that appears when you create a group, but they didn't.

That's just my personal opinion, not a view of what the law is.

It's out-of-world businesses, not in-world groups that their decrees about the use of "SL" are targeted at. If they want your in-world group's name changed... they will change it.

Aww thank you.
Sends you huggles.

ding, give the girl a cookie.

while LL might be able to change inworld content (arbitrarily I might add), a large amount of the web content using the name or variations on the short form 'SL' don't really have much standing, mostly because it takes more to infringe on a trademark... although their newer TOS gives them leverage in this respect, it's still pretty weak as long as they can't prove a direct association (like pretending to BE LL)... 'course they can always suspend your account.