Comments on: Taser Stuns Linden Lab

By: Cristalle Karami

Cristalle Karami — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:47:18 +0000

A good old cease and desist letter would probably sufficed, like the folks from Dune sent about 2 weeks ago. No need to send a DMCA and look somewhat foolish when it’s not a copyright issue.

By: Sigmund Leominster

Sigmund Leominster — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:07:39 +0000

Well, although the DCMA doesn’t strictly provide a safe haven for trademark infringement, Taser Int. could have filed a DCMA to LL if only to alert them to the issue. If a TM infringement is made explicit, then LL have a duty to try to do something about it. A charge of “contributory trademark infringement” can be brought against a vendor or service provider if the claimant can show that they were (a) aware of the infringement, (b) did not take steps to act upon it, and (c) were in a position to benefit from the infringement.

Now, a charge of “contributory trademark infringement” might make some sense especially since LL now owns Xstreet, and if TASERs(R) are being sold using the TASER trademark, it could be claimed that LL are profiting from known sales.

Of course, LL can act by arguing (a) they had no knowledge and (b) as soon as they found out, they removed references to the TASER mark. A full-blown law suit. The actual suit appears to be based on the 15:1051 Trademark Infringement cause, so if LL can get rid of TASER references, that should be OK.

Of course, along the way, someone will make some money and someone will lose some. C’est la vie, deuxieme ou premiere!

By: Tateru Nino

Tateru Nino — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:47:14 +0000

What can I say? I like reading court filings:)

By: Prad Prathivi

Prad Prathivi — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:37:58 +0000

That’s far too responsible.

By: Tateru Nino

Tateru Nino — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:32:44 +0000

My source is the complaint document itself. I obtained a copy first thing, before writing about it: http://www.massively.com/2009/04/21/taser-international-vs-linden-lab-crack-den-crackdown/

By: Darien Caldwell

Darien Caldwell — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:45:18 +0000

So you are saying a collar that uses the word taser to mean to shock, is more infringing than an item that actually resembles the product in question and uses the name as a brand name? That’s pretty odd logic. To taser someone has become common usage in the english language, especially after incidents as the infamous ‘don’t tase me bro’ video. Shock collar / Taser collar, they are synonymous. But making an exact replica of something out of Taser International’s catalog and selling it as a Taser shock gun, is completely in a different realm. It seems to me to be nothing more than sensationalism to single out Oni out of the dozens of more infringing items just because his item happens to be marginally related to ‘sex’.

By: Ari Blackthorne

Ari Blackthorne — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:24:58 +0000

The idea of FL brands and designs being created in SL has been a long-time debate. very long time. And I agree about not wanting my FL copyrights abused in SL.

I do own and run a FL company. But I don’t use any of that I.P. in-world because SL is supposed to be a very difference environment. And alternate universe, if you will. Additionally, I actually do weekly searchs for my registered trademark and have DMCA takedowns already prepared and ready to go.

Prad, you’ll know my company name as it’s the name ahead of the domain in my email address (just swap out ‘@gmail.com” for “.com”) – and as you can see, I can very easily weed through all the content in SL to finad anything with a name like that.

Well, so can Taser.

The question comes down to how is the word taser used… has it become like “spam” (Which Hormel actually agrees is a public word, as long as it is not all capitals) or “xerox”… remember how back in the day we would say “it’s a xeroxed copy”? Thus the ‘word’ xerox (lower-case) was found not to be infringement when use to describe a photo copy.

No, I’m not a lawyer and I could be wrong on the Xerox thing – it’s just what I remember. So those products that describe “taser” (lower-case) might have a defense. BUT, that collar you show above where the word is part of it’s name…

Ouch.

By: Darien Caldwell

Darien Caldwell — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:36:06 +0000

What is your source? The filing listed here shows no John Doe as a Defendant:

http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuit.asp?id=46029

By: Tateru Nino

Tateru Nino — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:34:18 +0000

There’s John Does in the complaint as well. The document reads “and all related individuals”.

By: Guen

Guen — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:58:48 +0000

Wow considering the amount of stores in SL that copy everything from comic book heroes/villans to well known gun brands… I doubt LL could track down every single item that’s ever been copied from RL.

And yes Heidi it would make for an empty grid indeed.