Lend me a hand

Inspired by the crackdown on automotive trademarks, I have begun flying around the world and Abuse Reporting people who are specifically selling Trademarked items -- avatars, clothing, furniture, etc. I've reported three today already, and it gives me a rather good feeling to know that I'm helping to pretect our Second Life popultion against lawsuits.

If you want to confirm the status of a Trademark, I suggest using www.ustpo.gov.

I'll check back later this week to see the status of what I've reported, but obviously I can't check every store in every sim. Help me help Second Life!

Cum by yah my Lord
Cum by yah
Cum by yah my Lord
Cum by yah
Cum by yah my Lord, cum by yah
Oh Lord cum by yah

Someone's sleeping Lord
Cum by yah - ect.

Someone's singing Lord
Cum by yah - ect.

Someone's hiking Lord
Cum by yah - ect.

Last verse hummed.

Real classy.

The Rainbow Connection as sung by Kermit the Frog

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
And rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we've been told and some choose to believe it
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers and me.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that, and someone believed it,
And look what it's done so far.
What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

All of us under its spell,
We know that it's probably magic...

...Have you been half asleep? And have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
...Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same
I've heard it too many times to ignore it
It's something that I'm s'posed to be...
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

Laa, da daa dee da daa daa,
La laa la la laa dee daa doo...

Didn't anyone ever tell you that nobody likes a tattletale?

Seriously, nobody likes the tattletale.

Now, I'm trying not to take sides on the trademark infringement issue, I can understand both sides. On one side, the sheer illigality if it cannot be denied, on the other it seems like a lot of to-do over very small peanuts. I guess it's the Libra in me.

Regardless, none of that matters because: No one likes a tattletale.

Not all people are raised to worry about being 'liked'. Some of us are raised to do what we believe is 'the right thing', regardless of if it's likeable or not.

Besides...the ones I've always found that didn't like tattletales were the ones that were up to the no good in the first place, and was getting caught by the tattletale.

Do no wrong, then there's nothing to tattle.


- Newfie

No one likes hall monitors either

I have to admit, I'd much rather see what happens when SL-native brands take matters into their own hands. Much more fun.

I must have fallen asleep before they got to "Someone's using trademarks, Lord...".
Actually, I just wondered if the misspell was intentional. I'm pretty sure it's spelled with a k. No big deal, but all the cums and Lords together in one post did catch my attention.

Unless you own trademarks in question I find your actions to be a frivolous waste of resources, and detrimental to the overall community. You mention the crackdown on trademarked vehicles being the catalyst of your crusade. If I had to guess I suspect you or a friend recently had items removed, or were ordered to halt sale of. Yes I'm sure it seems unfair that your item was singled out among many others that exist in world. What you must understand is Linden Labs functions as a service provider not an active content police agenency. If you want to live in a virtual world where everything is filtered go to There.com, but sadly even a few things slip past their approval team from time to time.

Let's do this, Jarod!

See you there, Newfie! And for the love of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior:

YOUR FORUM ICON
YOUR FORUM ICON
YOUR FORUM ICON
YOUR FORUM ICON
YOUR FORUM ICON
YOUR FORUM ICON
YOUR FORUM ICON
YOUR FORUM ICON











YOUR FORUM ICON

Im sorry but does that mean you are going to report any trademarks that I own ?

Wake up you silly person (Yes nasty words removed) Try asking about the legal status of the mark first, you may find out they own it... not to mention www.ustpo.gov only covers us trademarks....

I'm only talking about stores that sell Disney, Time/Warner, etc. items. If you own the Trademark, you're not doing anything wrong. But if people are making money based on items that are Trademarked -- car logos, animated characters, etc. -- then they need to be reported.

I see this as a massive waste of time. Why do you feel the urge to tie up valuable Linden resources with this? I suspect they are going to have to act on all these AR's.

What did I miss?

How do you know the companies themselves haven't created the products in world? Have you contacted the companies and received a response that they'd like you to act as their legal department? I know of several companies WITH trademarks that have given their permission for in-world items to use their trademark.

Have you contacted IGE with a cease-and-decist order since they registered the domain, "wwwsecondlife.com"? If you're so concerned, why haven't you? Oh, cause you're not interested in enforcing trademarks; just stirring the pot to get your jollies.

Once again, I think in cases where you are OH SO CONCERNED, you should contact the company who owns the trademark, not Linden Lab.

If you saw a fan web site dedicated to Mickey Mouse, would you contact the World Wide Web Consortium? InterNIC? Network Solutions? Or Disney?

My guess is DISNEY would be the point of contact in regards to their trademark.

So if you're really that concerned, contact the companies. If you're just stirring the pot as per your usual M.O., get a life.

Regards,

-Flip

Interesting question. Off I went wasting valuable work time to look this up.

What is a tattletale

1.Tells stories or reveals information about others; this student is easy to identify.
2.Expert at telling.
3.Enjoys seeing others get in trouble.
4.Threatens other children that he/she will tattle.
5.Proficient at stirring up trouble.
6.Knows when to begin such activities and when to stop.
7.Will often make a statement, then stand back and wait for the listener to respond.
8.Probably learned this behavior early in life.
9.Often complains.
10.Always claims to be innocent.
11.Others are always seen as wrong, but he/she never is.
12.Constantly raising his/her hand to gain attention or to tattle.
13.Often doesn’t follow instructions very well because he/she is so involved with others’ actions.
14.Never accepts his/her own mistakes.


How does this effect others?

1.Classmates are disturbed and irritated by the tattletale’s interruptions.
2.The class is disturbed by interrupting discussions, classroom lessons, and presentations.
3.Most important, personal conflict is caused among students, especially among those who are being told on.
4.Fights are caused.


How to stop Tattling?

1. Decide if what is being reported is tattling to get someone in trouble or telling to protect someone from being hurt.
2. Instead of tattling to get someone in trouble, talk with the person to remind them of the rules.
3. If someone is being threatened or hurt physically, tell a grown up.

Boy, there's gonna be a lot of cute stuff bite the dust here. Sesame Street slippers, all KINDS of stuff.

Legally, too, it's not just a matter of changing the logos, on the cars or whatever, but ieven if the item bears enough of a similarity, some law or other is broken.

Personally, I think this sucks big time. COH getting sued - I believe; correct me if I'm wrong - because the PLAYERS were using what was available to them to make avatars that looked like Superman and so on.

My own feeling is that a game is a game and the real world is the real world. Obviously, companies don't agree with that (and also don't even agree to using the things in the classroom).

And obviously, the people who like to think of SL as real life wouldn't agree with it either.

But it sure does mess up playing a lot, when we can't have adorable little virtual cans of Campbell Soup or whatever.

We're really all a lot better off if everybody turns a blind eye to it all. At least we are until SL gets more exposure or comes to the attention of these big companies, etc. Especially here - as opposed to COH - where making rl money is such a played-up draw to the game.

(I think rl money is pretty much the root of all evil in the game.)

But there is no legal leg to stand on regarding these things.

Given that, as far as I'm concerned, I may not like a tattletale, but then, I like people who think others should be willing victims or saps even less.

So if somebody gets turned in for making Volkswagons or whatever, then why shouldn't that person, or his friends, or ANYBODY, make it a point to go around turning in the rest?

I say, more power to him/them.

If it's fair for one or two guys to have to change, then it's fair for everybody to have to change.

coco

To add to Flipper's sentiments, I'm curious if Jarod plans on taking this battle to the streets. While Second Life TM violators can make hundreds of dollars, there are some fairly blatant TM violations on the streets that are likely making tens of thousands of dollars from what they do (I see it at hair/nail salons and restaurants in NYC all the time, Chinatown in particular).

Is Jarod's motivation truly based on the principal of TM holder's rights? or will this crusade be limited to Second Life?

Heck, I'll lend you several!

I'll meet you in Chinatown tonight and we can hand out AR's!

There is no honor amongst thieves.

If people really care about SL and the future of SL, they will voluntarily remove these copyrighted and trademarked materials from the world. The people who violate the law of the United States and steal the hard work of others (it takes years and millions if not billions to build a brand name), threaten SL for everyone. SL cannot expand into the future with all of this blatant theft continuing. What will happen when one day a real corporation decides they want to brand their items in SL like in There.com, only to realize that people are already using their logos illegally? I am all for the "snitches get stitches" attitude but this is a real issue, with real world repercussions.


The argument that people aren’t really stealing because “SL is just a game” and they aren’t profiting in USD doesn’t hold up. The double standard is staggering. When content is stolen, land is stolen, lindens are stolen, from popular or well known people in SL, suddenly everything has USD value. Yet, when it comes to stealing RL content and profiting from it in SL, suddenly we are back to play money and no real crime is occurring. Come on! If you want people to take SL seriously, and treat the virtual items and content seriously, then people need to act seriously and responsibly. Time out for all the bullshit, and apply some simple ethics.

Why are you all making fun of this guy? Why are you questioning or even concerned about his motivations?

This is something that's gonna have to be done sooner or later, in terms of everybody. Might as well be sooner; it will hurt less that way.

coco

LEAVE Chinatown alone!

*clutches fake Todd's Purse*

If their goal is to make everybody else as miserable as they are, then you are right, they should go on an AR spree. Misery loves company.

I had a neighbor who was building a fence. The city gave him a violation because his fence was too close to the road. He argued with the city, and went to other's houses measuring and photographing the same violation. In the end, the city did not allow him to build his fence where he wanted, but they did make several people remove their fences. Everybody lost.

My neighbor is very proud of this feat, we all just think he is an asshole. Because he was the one caught doing something against the rules, he had to drag everyone else down with him.
Bravo.

Okay.

As shown by my forum icon, I wear a Hello Kitty top as a part of my standard outfit. As far as I know, it was a freebie I got from a long de-rezzed freebie area.
I publicly refuse to destroy this item, trademark or no. It's a part of my avi's identity. I also have a number of shirts designed after trademarked anime characters, as well as several avatars that imitate the likeness of various tradmarked characters.

If anyone really feels that it's that important, I urge you to report me for Trademark Abuse. I do not believe I am trampling on the rights of the owners by enjoying these images and ideas and displaying them in a digital format. However, if the Lindens believe otherwise, then I suppose I will have no choice.

Go for it. I dare you.