Archive for April 1, 2008

SL is a trademarked term. Refrain from using it for things like…

{ April 1, 2008 @ 7:21 pm } · { Opinion }
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Ah yes… typical sarcastic blog entry about the clarification post on the Second Life® blog. But, in truth, I’ve never had a problem with any of it. Except for one simple rule they try to make. My only issue is how can you trademark a pair of initials? My beef is with the trademark claim on the initials “SL”. Now, you can trademark them if they are in a particular context, but that requires more words.

So – does “Sign Language” no longer have a right to be truncated to “SL”? What about all the other terms that are truncated this way?

Well, I’m going to go ahead and continue using “SL Review” as the title of this blog. Now according to Linden Lab™ I am breaking the rules. Not so much because I am not using the little “TM” next to it, but rather because I have only one proper noun after those initials and they say I must have two.

The same with my other blog “SL Attitude”.

Well – even though this blog focuses on musings from within and about Second Life, my “SL” is simply a truncation of the full title: “Silly Little Review”.

Oh, and SL Attitude is really “Seriously Laughable Attitude” – but there’s not enough room in the banner to make it look good. So I’ll stick with what I have.

So there.
Take that, Linden Lab.  :)

3. Can I use SL with my product, domain or organization name?Yes, under our special license to use “SL.” You can use “SL” with your own trademark.

More on the Trademark Policy « Official Second Life Blog

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The tax man cometh… soon enough…

{ April 1, 2008 @ 10:31 am } · { In the News }
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So, Uncle Phil (Second Life CEO – currently, anyway) went to go sit in front of some congressional meeting yesterday. Not all that sure what those greety, out-of-touch-with-the-real-world politicians are interested about with virtual worlds such as Second Life, There and so on… other than we all know what.

Those Europeans have a totally sucky situation with that VAT forced down their throat. But hey, they created and signed-on with the E.U. – so suck it up and drive-on.

Ahah! But the same is true for the United States. The greedy, lying sacks-of-sh… er…  politicians sitting up there on Capitol Hill are the same ones we put there. So, if you think this meeting is just  a curiosity thing… you have another think coming.

It’s the first baby steps toward being taxed in Second Life (yes, I’m speaking of those in the United States) because they are so greedy and they see and hear claims like “$5-million exchanged hands today in Second Life” – which if you think about it is total bunk.

That would be $5-million U.S. worth of Linden Dollars (L$) – but, according to Linden Lab, the Linden Dollar is a token and has no value. If it has no value, how can it be used to measure any ‘legal tender amount for any reason?

And, since the Linden Dollar has ‘no value’ according to Linden Lab, how can the U.S. Government swing an excuse to tax us?

Oh… they’ll find a way. Have no doubts about it.

As for the meet… PC Magazine has a short snippet about how Uncle Phil debunks the idea there are terrorists inside SL. Good for you, Phil. I, like you, think it’s a ridiculous notion.

Here’s a quote:

“Though there has certainly been discussion [about terrorism in virtual worlds], we have never seen any evidence that there is any such activity going on in Second Life,” Philip Rosedale, founder and CEO of Linden Labs, told the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on telecom and the Internet.

Terrorists in Second Life? Hogwash, Says CEO – News and Analysis by PC Magazine

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