Trademark Complaint Received from Linden Lab

95 thoughts on “Trademark Complaint Received from Linden Lab”

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• That’s just sad, they dont want a popular blogger promoting their game. *sighs*

• I’m so sorry this has happened to you, Berry.

  It seems a little unfair, but then again I don’t have a degree in translating ‘Legalese’ so I’d have taken their trademark guidelines the same way you did.

  Chin up and keep soldiering on. Hugs

• That is unfortunate and I am sorry you had to remove the video. I for one have learned so much about SL through your videos. Thank you.

• It’s a pity Linden Labs doesn’t use the same dedication and vigilance to things like finding a way to update a 15 year old gaming platform to which we could migrate our inventories. Guess watching Youtube videos is more fun *rolls her eyes*.

• I am…shocked. I don’t even know what to say. Sending you all my support and hoping for a brighter tomorrow for all of you that have been hit by the legal stick.

• Are you certain this isn’t a troll? Tia Linden doesn’t seem to be an active account in SL and a quick Google search pulls up a forum post about that account being hacked last year. Have you confirmed this as authentic with LL?

• This is a shame, as you are providing a FREE service that helps people stay in Second Life.

• This is actually…shockingly dumb for LLs to do. These types of videos are EXTREMELY useful to new players and a great resource for both newbies and the people trying to teach them the game. SL is already extremely hard to learn and has a low retention rate for new players as a result. Why they would turn around and remove one avenue for teaching (and helping keep) new players is beyond me. It really shows how shockingly out of touch LL’s is (and always was really) with their user base ESPECIALLY when it comes to the new user experience. For shame LLs. For shame.

• Welcome to how Youtube as a whole operates. Videos get hit for a few moments of a song, mention of someone’s work, a short clip of a video, a glimpse of a logo on a soda can or shirt, and so forth. I could go on, but we’d be here all day.

  As bad as it is that they did this, it could have been a lot worse. Channels get completely removed. That would have been horrible. On the “bright side”, I suppose, you weren’t using the video as a way to earn a living through the ad revenue.

  I’m sorry this happened though.

• I completely agree with monieratty. You go out of your way to HELP the community to grow and thrive and this is what you get in return? As if you are getting some monetary gains from this? This is Pathetic… and whichever loser sent Tia to do the dirty work… needs a slap on the hand. Linden Lab does some of the DUMBEST things. For SHAME.

• Honestly, could they possibly be more out of touch with their community? This is outrageous. You are the most prolific Second Life resident on social media and have helped thousands of people find and use the platform and this how they choose to thank you? What complete and utter bullshit. I am so insulted on your behalf.

• By any standard I’m familiar with, Berry, you are a journalist in Second Life. A shame that some at The Lab don’t see you as such. I hope the issue can be resolved so that your tutorial can be restored.

• they are stupid to complain since basically you we advertising for them for free..

• This is standard LL idiocy. For years… literally the 14 years since SL was created (and I have been a resident for 13 of those years) LL has copted an arrogant attitude towards its residents, and consequently not had a clue about what our communities are really about… what drives residents motivations… and what drives the economy. I’m not surprised at all.

  Berry, hang in there. This is sadly just LL being typical LL.

• I am shocked as well, why is LL be so narrow minded (<if in fact that was the true source)!
  1) they will be loosing business & money
  2) they are not letting other people help us learn our way around things (when they dont provide that service)
  3) I would think they would bend over backwards to support legit popular bloggers
  4) a personal note and explanation was due to you Berry, surely
  5) Im so angry now

  And on the Youtube side<<<< I had just one of my videos deleted (without recourse) due to some random unfounded complaint and since then I save my videos as PRIVATE (so no-one can complain).

  It must leave a bad taste in your mouth Berry but please dont stop what you are doing. You are to valuable to loose. Hugs

• Something seems wrong. People are always taking captures of SL web pages and menus and … Then posting them for a variety of reasons in pictures and videos.

  I suggest everyone jump over to Twitter and @ebbealtberg to ask what’s up.

  #berrycopyright maybe?

• Re-The update
  Now I am really angry for you Berry.

• I say it since almost 11 years now: LL never fail to disappoint. They are the most inept company to run a one of a kind platform like SL. Weren’t it for the very loyal users/residents/customers and their sense of community, LL would’ve gone bankrupt loooooong ago. With all their harebrained ideas and activities, which are of the most typical millenial stupidity they should’ve been dead and gone for good!

  Guess I’m gonna go searching for some SL logo on the grid, make a selfie of myself in front of it and post that thing on my blog! So, basta!

• How does that work Natates (Im not on Twitter but I shall join to add my name to anything/support out Berry.
  I like #berrycopyright

• Wow!!

  How many years has that video been up for?
  Why now?
  Did someone get out of bed on the wrong side and decided to go through all the videos?
  Wonder how long she has worked for LL, since your video wasn’t an issue in the first place?

  I wonder if LL is going to do their own video?

  I am so sorry this has happened to you

• Wow, that’s harsh. What a foolish person to behave like this.

• Well that wasn’t very nice of them. First of all they could of asked you to stop before filing a complaint fgs. You have helped so many people to learn and enjoy Second Life. They should be appreciative. No tact at all!

• This is why Essential Inventory had to change their name from Second Life Inventory to Essential Inventory, Berry. Wasn’t an easy feat for them to change. Sorry you had to go through this.

• A SMART social media specialist would have immediately recognized an invaluable resource and asked you to help create a new welcome video for new players, officially sponsored by the Lab. Then amplified by your massive fan base & shared on multiple platforms for high visibility and saturation. Instead they do this kind of silly BS. It makes no sense to me. Bad call #TiaLinden wtf were you thinking?

• This is ridiculous, you are promoting SL and helping SL community. How can you make a video about SL and get in trouble because the SL logo is there? That’s ridiculous!
  I am really sorry you have to go through this kind of nonsense!
  We love you Berry.

• Stunned, horrified and troubled.

  Many of us have used the eye-in-hand logo – and many of us have used images from Linden Lab’s web properties and the viewer to offer support in spreading understanding of changes (such as the recent need for e-mail verification) and to keep users informed beyond the reach of the Lab’s own blog reports or to provide tutorials.

  The statement from Tia now throws a major question mark over anyone doing so, regardless of where posted and in what format – and seemingly regardless of the Trademark Policy wording.

  Could there even be a Catch-22 situation here? Attempt to seek clarification through official channels only to find more items slapped with a warning? The mind boggles…

  Probably more to say later. Just sorry you had to get slapped in this way, Berry.

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• Seems they are shooting their selves in the foot. They complain about falling numbers yet they are now getting all lawyer ed up. Dumb move Linden Labs.

• Shaking my head at The Lab. You have done nothing but showcase Second Life and helped countless in world residents make the most of the platform. I’m shocked that Tia either doesn’t understand how significant Ambassadorship is or doesn’t value it. If she has an “in-between” view, I’m not clear what it is. In my RL profession, I deal with branding issues all the time. When “branding” becomes overrun with Compliance Police running amok chastising the brands’ ambassadors, it’s a strong signal about issues with the brand and product itself, more than anything else. Such a shame.

• Im speechless……. how rude and disrespectful to a loyal resident who provides help for new users.

• I can tell you the problem maybe, If your videos are monetized and you feature any official SL logos/etc you sre in theory depriving them of profit for using unlicensed content/content without permission. Never forget its their sandbox and their rules.

  I’ve decided to no longer spend my money in SL because of their fee changes coming next year for cashouts. Seems greedy and heavy handed to me. Best of luck to you in either case.

• They should be glad that someone wants to teach people how to use SL, they sure don’t help new ones. By you teaching them more will stay it isn’t an easy thing to learn without help. They should spend as much time updating things instead of paying someone to sit around and read utube all day.

• Ridiculous. And Rude. Bad form, Linden Lab. Bad form.

• After all we do to enhance this experience they seem to be ungrateful more and more . I guess they will learn the hard way when they finally drive all the good ppl away .

• Well, that’s just sad. I understand their point about a trademark, but your tutorial is hands-down the best out there and it promotes them for free. It’s their right, of course, but still … Sorry this happened, Berry.

• Sounds like good to to up stumps and move on. sad really. We all keep these people in jobs

• I am really disappointed in Linden Labs for putting you through this. You do so much to promote Second Life and to help residents. It’s really a shame, and I’m sorry you have to go through such nonsense.

• Sorry this happened to you. It’s ridiculous, sounds like a over zealous Linden to me. They have the mentality they can do whatever they want to and that’s ok. My personal experience was I didn’t get any warning whatsoever, they lied to me saying I had some kind of “bug” connected to my account so while they investigated my account would be unavailable. While I was reading this email, my husband was logging in and low and behold there is my avatar going thru my servers. When he said something to this person they immediately teleported out in a way only a Linden can do. Then I started seeing a bunch of personal items I had created being transferred to some Linden account. Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time I thought I had been hacked. Called LL in a panic only to be spoken to by this horribly rude woman who answered the phone and wouldn’t allow me to speak to anyone. I found out later that numerous people experienced this same thing just because the name Marilyn or Marilyn Monroe. Many merchants who experienced this sweep that took place had absolutely nothing to do with the late great actress. Just had the name “Marilyn” as a name of whatever they were selling. There was never any DMCA’s issued or warning. At the time some these costumes I had made fell within the guidelines of the time. With all the proper references as inspired by, etc. I used to work for XStreet so I was very familiar with policy guidelines. Many of the items taken weren’t even anything that was for sale. Needless to say, this was never resolved even after numerous complaints and emails. So I do feel your pain for trying to do things the right way only to experience the serious overreach LL tends to do from time to time. I would have to agree with others when they say “bad form” and ridiculous.

• Berry, I’m so sorry this had to happen to you. You fill in so many gaps LL doesn’t address. I wish I could say I’m surprised but I’m not. LL has a habit of shooting itself in the foot when a user is actually helping them by filling the gaps they have left vacant in the user experience.

  I rezed a couple of years before you but I wish I’d had your videos when I started. I was lucky and found a mentor who helped me get over the initial learning hump that comes with SL since LL does so little to help and keep the new user.

  A couple of years later my mentor got disgusted with the inattention and lack of understand LL shows the users and left SL. I’m currently taking a “vacation” from SL for personal reasons and just going in world every few weeks for a short while. But what happened to you may be the straw that breaks the camel back and makes me wonder if that “vacation” shouldn’t be permanent.

• Rediculous. Linden Labs must be trying to kill their own product. You are basically advertising for them for free, you are very talented.
  Second Life is dying out, not really many new players and customers. Your videos help so many people, and I want to thank you so much. I tell a lot of people about your blog/youtube. I am sure you could write about some other thing and be paid better than the small amount you get from ad clicks. Wow this kinda makes me want to quit SL. How dare they!

• “it’s not just the logo that they don’t want in the video. It’s also the
  registration page and the avatar building page, etc… which were an
  integral part of that video. It showed how you register, signup, make an
  avatar, download, login, etc…. Blurring won’t help as the video won’t
  make sense then. It’s best if I just avoid doing that kind of video in
  the future.”

  I think LL should contract you to do such videos and pay you a royalty each time its viewed.

• To take one of the games biggest and most prolific promoters and slap her (and her fans) across the face is such a stupid short-sighted decision.
  What happens now? A chilling effect on any positive promotion of SL. Resentment from SL fans. And inevitably less profit for their business.
  But hey, at least they have their (less) precious intellectual property protected :/

• It sucks but I get it. They have decided they want complete control over how their product is presented to the public and allowing any one person to use their IP in that way opens the door for anyone to do so. Ironic certainly since their entire business model is having users not only promote but create their product, but they have been flailing around with IP on that one for years as well. I suspect the model for Sansar was as much about updating IP and ‘who owns the stuff on our servers’ as it was about updating an extremely dated platform.
  That said, they are certainly shooting themselves in the foot. And it does bring up some VERY interesting questions regarding fair use, assuming the YouTube page was not monetized.

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• Glad I saved the video then.

• The decision is definitely a poor one, and the LL employees are showing bad judgement once again, by just sending out standard phrases, showing no empathy and no sense for business.

  Isn’t it an irony that one of the most anti social companies runs one of the longest time around social communities?

  What really made me laugh on second thought is that they are complaining that the IP violation happened because of their logo and website. Think of that … a logo and website … not some super secret internal code or something … we are talking about some public visible piece that contains nothing extraordinary and can be achieved by any advanced web programmer.
  If that is what LL regards as so important (especially as it wasn’t mimsued, defaced or whatever), then they seem to little assets left to care for it seems.

• OMG how ridiculous oO You make promotion of their site, their game and now they told you that you’re not authorized to use logo or images… What’s the hell? You’re their best ambassador… and they reacted like that with you???
  So the next step will be remove all our flickrs?

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• Since this has been a long-standing policy for LL, I really don’t understand why they are enforcing this now, especially with a high-quality video that supports and encourages the platform. This is short-sighted and ridiculous, and I am wondering if someone else who was representing the platform poorly was called out by LL and said something like “Well, she does it so why can’t I?” *smh*

  With regards to Vanessa’s comment above about removing Flickr pages.. best to make sure you don’t have anything on your Flickr account that violates the trademark/trade dress policy, or that could happen since it seems like Flickr has been known to take down entire accounts over any complaint, even about a specific picture.

• While I sincerly support Strawberry because she is doing a great job for the SL community (and also she’s a kind person), I may understand the IP team point of view. I don’t know the right legal term but there is a sort of reciprocity there : If, beyond the guidelines, I allow people the use of parts of my identity in order to promote myself, others will tacitly authorized themselves to do the same for damaging my personal image…

• Horrified to see such appalling customer relations in action. Strawberry has spent years and countless hours promoting Second Life. For Linden Lab not to recognise her and her efforts and treat her in this icy way is beyond words. Linden Lab should be paying Strawberry NOT harassing her and destroying her efforts and suggesting that she is depreciating their brand and treating her like some kind of troll or IP criminal. Strawberry is such an asset to Linden Lab, they should make a formal public apology to the much loved Second Life resident, Shame on you Linden Lab for not recognising one of your best assets.

  THIS IS A PR DISASTER for Linden Lab. It reinforces the idea that Linden Lab are an arrogant and distant company who care nothing for their ambassadors, residents and creators. Petty minded, rules are rules people. If this can happen it makes me worry for the future of Second Life.

• This kind of thing INFURIATES the hell out of me! What are they smoking over there at the Lab?
  For someone who has been as active and supportive of the Labs to be treated like this is absurd! She wasn’t trying to Impersonate the Lab in any way by using their logo. She wasn’t trying to act as if she was the Lab She was using it as a journalist to show us about something involving the lab. We need to tell the Lab to stop drinking the crankcase oil from their lawyers BMW and get real!

• Same thing happened to me last year with my magazine, Kultivate and I promptly removed everything. Sorry to see this happen to you as you promote SL and Sansar free of charge.

• I’m sorry this happened to you, Strawberry. I actually thought that the video you had to pull was genuinely useful, and I have in the past posted it to Facebook to entice other people to join Second Life.

  Oh well, we move on.

  See you on Saturday at Atlas Hopping in Sansar!

• There are so many things I want to say about this but instead I only want to give my love and support to Berry. We all love you and appreciate the non-stop work you do for US.

• So lots of folks say the Lindens don’t want to ‘kill’ Second Life with Sansar, but this looks like the start of that plan. Honestly, I have so many folks who come to second life, walk through a tutorial and are still lost. Different folks learn in different ways. Again, Lindens don’t care about demographics in the name of anonymity, but 70%+ of the people I meet in SL find what is available to new people insufficient to participate in the community (note – NOT GAME Tia, even the Lindens don’t call it a GAME). Bottom line is if people can’t learn with assistance of videos (and where are the Lindens videos or collaborative videos, eh?). They don’t exist. So more people will never get this community. So conscious or not, this is the first step in terminating Linden Labs. Anyone get a letter about Sansar logos???? I bet not. But if they did, hillarious, they will ensure lack of growth for two products at one time. Backwards business models produce backward thinking. SecondLife was never to be ‘owned’ it was to be created and shared. Now LL has hired people to declare ownership over certain items even when no one is profiting from them but LL. LL thinks they are protecting their investment (their money), but they are squandering it away and all of us with it. This is why certain other virtual worlds may yet come to prosper. I am shocked and dismayed again, but not surprised anymore.

• I just don’t understand the legal aspect of what Linden Labs say they need to protect, it’s not as though you were discrediting or attacking them in any way… Quite the opposite! As one of Second Life’s most trusted advocates you are a huge asset to Linden Labs and continue to inspire and teach users who are in turn assets for SL/LL. Sometimes corporates just can’t see the wood for the trees. Keep on doing what you are doing Strawberry, we are behind you 100%!

• All the more reason to ditch SL. Not only does Linden Labs offer no tutorials for beginners, along with complicated UI, but their graphics are severely outdated, including lack of character customization for avatars toi. There are better social games to interact users, Second Life is nothing more than a complete afterthought.

  If you haven’t left Second Life already do it now. I know I have. Tried it the first time, uninstalled it afterwards for the same reasons. Never looked back ever since.

• Couldn’t resist …

  https://orcaflotta.blog/2017/12/14/berry-was-hit/#

• grrrrrr….. frickin LL – forward thinking as always! lol

• As Another ancient avatar, not quite as old as Berry but nearly, I can relate totally to Berry, its not great. I haven’t been logged on in 2 years, although i do follow my old friends and SL in general. LL has always been short sighted and high handed, without Berry, and her blogs and promotional efforts, there would be a lot less new avatars who just struggled in the beginning and the additional videos , blogs and help were invaluable and helped them decide to stay in world.

  *Sighs*

  Its a pity.. that LL cannot see the wood for the trees, but its an ongoing issue.

• “All of this has happened before…..”

  http://ccslfashionista.blogspot.com/2017/12/deja-vu-2008-era-copyright-sillyness.html

  I noticed right away that LL’s “inSL” branding was mentioned by the LL employee, one Tia Linden, and had a flashback to 2008.

  http://ccslfashionista.blogspot.com/2008/04/blogger-strike-against-lls-trademark.html

  http://gwynethllewelyn.net/2008/03/26/second-life-bloggers-require-clarification/

  http://rhetasworld.wordpress.com/2008/04/15/strike/

  The whole policy was silly and counterproductive to Residents doing their thing and promoting SL BETTER than LL ever did, which is why it was never actually enforced.

  What I guess happened is that LL has some relatively new people in their IP enforcement crew who have no knowledge of the SL history around this, and got all hyped up about enforcing the already existing silly policy. I figure that in a few days word will come down from LL’s senior employees who know that FIC, near-fic and oldbie residents are more important to LL for promoting SL and being the people who actually make LL money, than their IP crew and the IP crew’s knuckles will get rapped and they’ll get told to return to the previous status quo without actually changing the policy.

  In the Mean Girls Vernacular, some of LL’s employees went all Gretchen Weiner and are trying to make “inSL” happen…again. Stop trying to make inSL happen!

  Strawberry, you’re “fetch”. You go Strawberry Singh

• Thanks for the support everyone, I appreciate it!

  To be honest, I’m not that fussed about deleting the video, it was over a year old and getting dated. My only concern was the lack of response and the threat to my YouTube account, hence my blog post. I figured it was important to warn others. Now that the video is deleted and my account is safe, to me the issue is resolved. I just won’t do any of those promotional type videos anymore and be more careful in the future. Just hoping this doesn’t happen again with any of my other videos.

• Nolo has a few things to say regarding fair use of Logos

  Under Informational Uses Are Permissible
  https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/when-you-need-permission-use-trademarks.html

  “Informational (or “editorial”) uses of a trademark do not require permission. These are uses that inform, educate, or express opinions protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution—freedom of speech and of the press.

  For example, permission is not required to use the Chevrolet logo in an article describing Chevrolet trucks, even if the article is critical of the company. You could (obviously) use the word mark “Chevrolet” as well as the famous golden “plus sign” logo mark. This would be true whether you were publishing a news article or an article in an academic journal.

  Similarly, if you were making a documentary film on the history of American trucks, you would not need permission to include the Chevrolet logo. However, the use of the logo must have some relevance to the work. For example, it would not be wise to publish an article critical of overseas auto manufacturing practices and include the Chevrolet logo unless Chevrolet was mentioned in the article.

  Finally, you are also permitted to use trademarks for purposes of parody or commentary. For example, if you were writing a skit about how young people are always on their phones, you could glue the Apple logo onto the actors’ prop phones without fearing a claim of trademark infringement.”

• This is absolute horse poop! Of all the people they could’ve flagged. I am so incredibly sorry about this Berry. They could’ve emailed you and said something instead of flagging you. Linden lab has some nerve! There was a commenter on Isa Cheren’s video about this, that said she saw you as a sort of ambassador for Linden Labs. I think a lot of people feel this way. And here is the thing, you once again very selflessly, have shared this information with all of us. I am sure I am not the only one, but I have removed a video as well that not only showed their logo n the video but I used their slogan as well in my thumbnail. But I am a pee-on in comparison. I say this to show what an amazing influence you are and Linden Lab should consider themselves LUCKY to have such a shining example of a virtual resident as yourself. UGH! Soo peeved!!! LOVE YOU BERRY!!!!!

• Nothing wrong with your video using SL logo but out there are people using their logo in inappropriate content such as for example.. pornographic pict/videos which I frequently saw on different sites in internet including YT and which totally degrade the image of SL as well as any respectable SL user. Now that made me agree with SL decision to trademark their logo. You have to ask permission to use their logo if you intend to use it in your future tutorials.

• And btw..they referred to this change in the last TOS update

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• wow!! I wrote a blog post some years back that was not very flattering to SL wherein I had a pic with a very faded SL logo that I guess they never came across (lol). The post and pic are still up so I guess I will take the pic down!
  P.S.I have a much more favourable (though somewhat cautionary) view of SL now!

• So I have some good news. I have just done a 4th update and re-uploaded my video. Please read the end of the post for full details.

• Yay! Glad to hear that this stupid decision has been reversed. I have updated my blogpost about this fiasco. Thanks for the update, Strawberry!

• Linden Lab has responded with their own blog post about this and a lot of encouraging words. I have to admit, I am speechless! Thank you so much Linden Lab. Read their post here:
  https://community.secondlife.com/blogs/entry/2284-an-apology-to-strawberry-singh-a-call-to-youtubers-%E2%80%9Cun-cease-desist%E2%80%9D/

• I hope Linden lab have the courtesy and manners to perhaps reach out and discuss this matter/answer the other vloggers and video makers who they have targeted over the last 48hrs. Unless they want to add favouritism to the mix too….

• At least they were willing to make a public apology that goes a long way in their favour. I would still like to know however what the policy update would be so I don’t get caught out because I am not quite sure if they would have done quite the same thing if it were a ‘less well known’ blogger. At the risk of sounding terrible but not meaning to , perhaps it was fortunate that it happened to you as you would be the perfect voice to have spoken on behalf of bloggers and brought this to light. I am so sorry for the stress you must have endured but thank you so much for bringing it to our attention too.

• Glad to see that sanity prevailed. It was clear right from the very beginning that your featuring of LL’s trademarks fell squarely within informational/editorial use. I’m glad that the Lab acted posthaste – I have to give them credit here. But Ms Tia Linden really needs to reacquaint herself with the notion of fair use.

• I have asked the other Linden I was in contact with and also Ebbe on Twitter about the other vloggers that received the same complaints and Ebbe has responded by saying the team is on it. So hopefully the other vloggers should hear from them soon, if they haven’t already.
  https://twitter.com/ebbealtberg/status/941445981383532544

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• Unfortunately this is not a unique problem. I went through months of hell with LL threatening to shut down my facebook page which supports the designers of second life. At the time they were threatening to have us removed from facebook we had over 18k in follwers, so losing the page was not an option. We never used the SL logo but it was the use of the name “Second Life” that caused the issue. You are not allowed to use the words SL or Second Life unless its formatted with other words in a specific way. I really struggled with this because at that time “Second Life Inventory” had become well known within the facebook community. Regardless we changed the name to save the page. I am sorry that this happened to you and glad they apologized. I only hope they will offer the same kindness to lesser known sl bloggers, vloggers, and others that continue to do nothing but help draw traffic to the platform.

• tl;dnr: Never assign malicious intent when laziness and inattention are more likely.

  I am not a lawyer, but I have listened to NPR radio for 40 years (if that means anything, but it does give a good insight to how authority works in the real world) and I know that in office settings, there are a lot of policies and practices in place the require the least possible time & effort to get things done. After all, the legal department is usually a cost center. And God help us when it becomes a profit center.

  We are used to thinking of laws as being there to protect people, but now laws are written to hurt us and to protect rich, greedy a** – erm, I guess I better just say “princes of capitalism”.

  Corporate legal doesn’t actually write policies most of the time, it takes time and is expensive. And lots of catered lunches. Which means you can’t step outside to your favorite coffee shop and browse ESPN over the lunch hour. A lot of first world problems in that.

  They copy & paste from standard boilerplate whenever they can, and that boilerplate is written for the benefit of those (small g) godly princely beings seeking to fulfill their full and just responsibility to shareholders, engineers of luxury European cars, and resort owners in tropical climates.

  And to lease owners of Bond-style volcanic islands with underground bases. Just because. (tech princes only, Persian cats available upon request at no extra charge).

  There are almost certainly custom boilerplate they could copy from, for companies that want to or need to be, um, less “princely” so as not to enrage their customer base.

  But that takes research, and business knowledge on the part of corporate legal. And it’s hard enough to just do the day-to-day work and keep your ABA accreditation up. If it’s the company, and not you personally that screws up, you’re safe. Doing full due diligence is a lot of billable hours. Princes don’t like extra billable hours when it comes from legal.

  Princes usually tell their legal department to “do that legal thing” without personal investment or knowledge of the process. Only so many hours in a day, you know, and you’re the guy who truly is married to the job and company.

  Add new hires in the legal department who aren’t up to speed on the special business requirements to the “We gotta update our policies, just do whatever you have to do” grunt from the local prince, and we have a merry little flamefest in the works.

  Now isn’t that wonderful?

• Berry,
  Ask for your ‘Strawberry Media Press Pass’ credentials from LL and get the permissions needed. The Media pass may need to be renewed annually. You promote SL very eloquently. Your a media maven and you most likely have been doing this longer then most of the Lindens, including Ebbe. Even the Lindens need, the help of the residents. Glad it all worked out, even if after some time. Hugs

• If I recall my Trademark Law correctly, it’s all based on use and you have to defend it vigorously lest you use it. You can’t selectively ignore someone ripping off your trademark and then seek to prosecute someone else.

  But like everything, there is fair use (which your video actually did do, by being a descriptive, educational and informative piece – although that would be negated by contract in TOS as you agreed to not use the images and marks).

  There is also a simple solution to protect the mark: grant permission to use the mark. This is what happened by your fourth update, although they didn’t explain that that is what they were doing. Clearly it got to someone with a brain by this time, once they got past the knee-jerk cease-and-desist reflex.

  They should change the mark to a stylized facepalm.

• lest you lose it*

• That said, Strawberry, as I think about it further: if you decide that you want to make another tutorial of either SL or Sansar, contact the IP folks (Tia or whomever that other person is) first and get explicit permission to use the mark in that instance. Then you should feel free to do so without fear of another knee-jerk reflex or nastygram.

• I wish I could up-vote some of these supportive comments on this blog system but mostly I am glad LL rescinded their take down order. In today’s YouTube world, community / developer support published content on Second Life makes a huge difference. Not to mention getting published in old-school hard-print magazines ; p Thank you for your work and your persistence communicating with LL until the right person/parties were reached. Congrats! : )

• I’m very happy to read the apology LL issued to you, Berry. I’m glad they saw that this situation was not as straight-forward as it seemed. It was very big of them and showed they are listening and watching. Your tutorials are the best out there!

• Well the apology came and the Lindens saw sense. Thats a good outcome Berry and Im glad the mishap hasnt prevented you enjoying SL and Blogging again.

• Why are you people still sticking with SL and LL? Move on!

  YOU people give LL the money and power to continue behaving like this; not to mention the marvelous (tech) support you (don’t) get from them.

• A thank you post for all of you and everything you guys did for me yesterday! <3 https://strawberrysingh.com/2017/12/15/thank-happy-holidays

• I have personally been in this position with another company as their top web marketer/blogger in the past and it’s amazing how quickly they can turn against you when someone decides to enforce a policy and not think of the consequences or the benefits of your passion. I am glad they have taken a close look at this and it appears like all is good now. Kudos to all involved for fixing this before it spun oto far out of control.

• Agreed with Anon. SL has become toxic community-wise and graphics are completely outdated, which runs from Windows 2000/XP. LL never bothered in upgrading graphics to full HD/4k quality. Not to mention its shoddy optimization as well as choppy framerate.

  Furthermore, UI is anything but user-friendly, and avatar customization is nonexistent. And “friends” are merely stalkers as well. Yes, LL apologized, but its not enough when it comes to not providing the simple necessities for new players. SL is still outdated, graphics-wise even.

  What LL needs to do is give SL a massive makeover or number will slowly but surely dwindle as there are better things out there on PC; SL is seriously lagging behind.

  All of this is entirely my opinion, but even then, SL is plagued by toxic community, players who follow you everywhere you go for the wrongest reasons, outdated graphics, nonexistent avatar customization without proper methods, including a complicated UI. Until then, SL just simply feels a hollow shell of its former glory (in my honest, but truest opinion).

• Your blog ticks all the boxes for “journalism” to me and always has. I’m glad Linden Labs went to great lengths to apologize to you for an uncalled-for takedown request, but it’s not as surprising to me as I wish it were.

  From Ebbe on down, the Lindens don’t seem to be strongly connected to the community that pays their salaries. I’ll let anyone who wants to know my thoughts on Sansar read them here, but Sansar and the amount of Second Life revenue spent on it is just the symptom, not the disease. Ebbe seems to think (from an interview he gave Wired UK’s Rowland Manthorpe in 2016) that “Most people are just consumers of experiences as opposed to creators,” he says. “It’s the same in VR as it is in any other medium, especially when you come to creating quality content.” So much for those who invest so much in world creation by showing up and being a 600,000-strong community.

  So, Strawberry, they weren’t ready for you in particular, and the SL creative community in general, because the Lindens don’t spend enough time in Second Life to understand their core business and its customers. If there was even one Linden whose job it was to read the SL blogosphere, she could have advised Tia Linden what she was proposing to do before she sicced YouTube on you. The two Linden IT workers’ delays in getting back with you, unfortunately, are also not surprising.

  Of course, Linden Labs has a right to regulate the use of their service marks and trademarks, but with that goes the obligation to use due diligence in bringing enforcement actions against people who are doing their jobs for then, and to read their own guidelines and remove traps for the unwary.

  I’m glad they walked their actions back so graciously. Now all they have to do is protect their servers a little better from n-core, and spend money on new and more servers, and we’d be good.

• I know this is an old post but it really got up my nose that I just had to put my little thought about this.

  If this had happened to any one else that was not a paying resident and earning LL money on the market place, I don’t think “The Lab” would have caved in and apologised.

  It irks me to think of how many smaller “youtubers” that have had C&D notices, I don’t think LL would think twice about them. I will have to upload some SL videos to my channel and see what happens.

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