(and yes, I know that they’re called Linden Lab, and it’s called Second Life, but this is just for protest 
)
Well, Linden did it again with their ridiculous new trademark policy. True, I signed up for that inSL™ program, but, who says we have to give up our free use of the Second Life name? (Nope, no ™ there.) True, businesses will have to do that, but we should us bloggers and talkers use that weird and out-of-context ™ mark? Why should we stop expressing our thoughts freely, without a stupid law requiring us to add a ™ after every stupid name Linden Lab registered? Why?
Let’s say i’m talking about having my own iPod, and, I just blogged about buying it:
Yay! I finally got my iPod™! Now, I just need to fire up iTunes™ and download my entire library to my iPod™… Ugh, it’s so much better than that Zune™ Microsoft™ have been trying to advertise for so long! It works much better, and it runs homebrew
Plus, it has a graphics chip (by the world’s worst graphical cards makers, Intel™) so it can render 3D stuff
The Sims OnlineEA-Land™…
Why should I stick a TM there every few words? Why should I add a small symbol that takes a few more seconds every time I add it, but ends up taking a whole minute in a post (in total) ? Why? I say we don’t use that ™ symbol, and if Linden care so much for their TM symbol, then make an exception for personal blogs! (News companies will still have to use it, they will have a serious legal issue if they don’t)
So… Who’s with me?1
(legal text)2
- I don’t have to use the ©, ® and ™ since i’m outside the United States, in Israel. I can also use the Second Life name written in Hebrew letters like it was a free word around the internet, as it is not a trademark this way. [↩]
- Linden Lab and Second Life are named how they should not be, only to express the problem us bloggers have now run into. Linden Lab and Second Life are registered trademarks of Linden Research, Inc. and are not affiliated with me, Smiley Barry, in any way. [↩]
I am. I will continue to talk and write about “second life” (notice non-capital letters), something that is beyond software of particular company. Something that is happening to a group of Internet users, that is living in metaverse. In that meaning “second life” is a generic term so it is free from forced labels. When I write about software made by company based in San Francisco, I will use capital letters (cause it is the name of the product then) and stick the label. Their product - Their labels. That way, I protect my readers of confusing their rich and interesting lives with a laggy software that crashes all the time.
Wow, they are really going to enforce that? I saw that post on the blog and I didnt quite understand what it was all about.
We shall see how they are going to enforce that.