Your2ndPlace

In Second Life® Bloggers Require Clarification, Gwyneth makes some valid points on stuff that many bloggers are up in arms about. I write many because yesterday I had about 18 tabs in my browser open and learned the folly of using an ALT 0174 keyboard combination with the num-lock off. I ended up losing the 18 tabs as my browser went home. My apologies if you wrote about it and I didn't link to you, but those 18 tabs are just... dust in the wind. :-(

From the start, I will write that for the site Your2ndPlace.com, I have communicated that the site will cooperate and act in good faith with the trademarks of the synthetic world of Second Life. But it isn't as clear as it could be, and it does give rise to questions. My post there simply says Y2P will work with them on issues that they may have on this site. What those issues may be remain unclear, so it would have to be reactive. And that is sort of the point.

Back to Gwyneth's post.

Dear Linden Lab®,

Your recent change of policy regarding the usage of your trademarks — Second Life®, Linden Lab®, and others registered by Linden Research Inc. — will effectively prevent the operation of the very vibrant community of bloggers, forum posters, websites, community portals, and even 3rd party services, that have provided Linden Lab® with links and driving traffic to your blog, and raising brand awareness for free for your product Second Life®.

Probably thousands — if not dozens of thousands — of sites include (now illegitimately) the name “Second Life®” or “SL®” somewhere in their names. From sites like Reuters (which has a Second Life® channel) to whole companies that have a “Second Life® Division” (and promotes your product by the explicit naming of it), a plethora of online communities, products, and services — some free, other commercial, many in the limbo between both extremes — include, in some way, your registered trademarks.

She's right. Basically, Linden Research, Inc. has come about in policy such that the cannons are now, unwittingly, pointed at a community that was the wind in their sales. This change, as Benjamin Duranske notes:

...While it is unfortunate that Linden Lab waited so long to do this, the reality is that they have the right, and in a certain sense, the obligation to police these marks. If they do not enforce their rights now, they risk an abandonment argument later. In fact, one could argue that the four-plus years they’ve at least partially ignored uses of these marks constitutes abandonment, but that’s a chancy argument and an expensive fight, and it’s probably not one that many Second Life-based organizations are going to be willing to take on.

My conclusion? Users who preach respect for intellectual property should take steps to move into compliance with Linden Lab’s request...

Linden Lab is right to do this. And they are wrong to do this. Do the rights outweigh the wrongs? Gwyneth goes on:

...Under those very friendly terms, a plethora of fansites of all sorts popped up, driving traffic to Second Life®’s main website, its blogs, forums, and other related sites — making SL®’s own ranking quite high on Google, Alexa, and other systems — while at the same time, in a period of a little less than four years, allowing the number of registered users to skyrocket from 10,000 to 13 million.

Fansites, blogs, 3rd party sites, Second Life®-related online communities, 3rd party sites that create products and services related to Second Life® are the “off-world” counterpart of the dynamic and enthusiastic community that made Second Life®, as a brand, get world-wide recognition — without the need for Linden Lab® to spend millions in advertising and campaigns on the media. We worked for free on the promotion, brand awareness, and market recognition of your products — while, at the same time, we also worked for free creating the fantastic content of the 3D environment that makes Second Life® a place worth to visit, to enjoy, to chat, to socially connect, to do business, and launch the pillars of the upcoming metaverse — fulfilling Philip ‘Linden®’ Rosedale’s dream of having more users in Second Life® than on the Web.

We’ve been the ones ultimately promoting that vision, spreading it around, and making sure that the world noticed your product and your brand. We were very successful — thanks to your gentle and encouraging former policies...

Her point is that much of the success of Second Life could be attributed to the community, including bloggers out there. She's not wrong by any stretch, but it is hard to quantify how much of an impact bloggers have on the success of anything. Marketing buzz certainly gives spikes in traffic (thus the marketers typically like weblogs), but consistency, too, is key. And let us be frank as well - the blogosphere also seems to damn Second Life as much as praise it. In a way, this could be a way for Linden Lab to mask the more turbulent growth period in 2006 and 2007 - where there was, most certainly, a lot of criticism.

The change in policy is a little reminiscent of the gunfighter that cleans out the town and is then asked to leave afterwards when they do not gracefully ride off into the sunset. Is Linden Lab dismissing the community? I don't think that they intend to, but the message they are sending certainly can be read that way. I really do think that they're bulking up on their trademark ownership and copyright ownership to swell their assets a bit now. With Philip Rosedale stepping down, it is difficult not to miss how this could lead into the IPO or buyout that Rosedale has denied so far. The denial looks a little bit like a 5 year old with chocolate all over the face saying, "I didn't eat any chocolate!". Of course not. All of it is on your face...

Gwyneth continues:

...We consider that an appropriate response should be forthcoming in the next few days, or we will be forced to shut down our own blogs, websites, forums, community portals, and other 3rd party sites to avoid litigation — and thus depriving Linden Lab® from the traffic generated by millions of direct links and millions of viewers that learn first about Second Life® through all those sites.

Personal note: This blog will enter on strike on April 15th, 2008, for a period of 3 days, if no clarification by Linden Lab is published before that date.

So there it is. A blogger blackout on Second Life starting on April 15th? It certainly is something that should get some attention. Will I participate in a blackout? Speaking for myself - I suspect I may. I will write about other virtual worlds, as well as other things - but I cannot and will not speak for the others who write here on this. Solidarity is important, but solidarity is meaningless without free will.

I'll put my shoulder next to Gwyneth in principle. I won't stop writing, but I will not write about their particular synthetic world if clarification isn't given. That in no way is the official stance of myself as publisher - I wrote the publisher stance here - but as a blogger, I'll stick with the strong community message on this one. I'm not against trademarks. I am against the sudden shift in policy that alienates some parts of the community.

I respect the trademarks, but I do not respect how this has been handled by them. As I noted before, Your2ndPlace.com has little to worry about in my mind - but if my neighbor's house is on fire, I'll be out there with buckets. Clarification is needed for a lot of the community who, unfortunately, built foundations on the sand of past understandings.

While the wolves fight over dinner, it is time to get the sheep armed.

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