SL Trademark change

Although not a legal expert, I have been a legal secretary at prominent law firms for the last decade. Perhaps a lawyer can confirm this, or SL's attorneys can address this. My understanding of trademark law is that if you don't actively enforce your trademarks, you give up that right to do so in the future. For example, by reading the new policy, slexchange.com, would not be allowed. However, Linden Labs has not only allowed this service to continue but has supported its existence by letting it use its Risk API, and in an indirect way by allowing its service to work in the first place. This example alone leads me to believe that at least on the surface, it is a little to late for Linden Labs to begin questioning the use of domain names related to its trademarks. I could be completely wrong, but I seem to be remembering that you essentially can't start claiming trademark rights if you have done little previously to police them. Any thoughts?

I am not trying to cause problems here, just trying to make sure everything is fair.

Thanks,

Everett

The hypocrisy of LL suddenly leaping forth to defend their trademark like this is astounding.

Pot calling the kettle black.

I would also like to point to the court decisions involved in Fox New's trademark of Fair and Balanced. The courts ruled that these words were too common, if I remember correctly, similar to say second and life, both common words. In fact, second life has been a common phrase long before the world Second Life came to computers. I am sure if we were to pool our resources and hire a trademark attorney, it would not be hard for the reasons mentioned to neutralize their trademark enforcement.

Having said that, I am a fan of SL and will try to respect their trademarks simply to show respect for the awesome community they allowed us to create, however, the more I think about it, the less likely I feel they would prevail in a trademark dispute as long as we had the same resources. Personally, I can't afford high-priced trademark attorneys, but as a community, if it should come to the point, I think a successful challenge could be mounted to their new trademark policy.

Everett