Socially|Mundane

According to IP Watchdog: yes. Business in Second Life, and practically any virtual world is now legitimized.

Trademark law is really weird. I know the intended spirit of trademark law, I think we all do. The idea is to protect intellectual property rights with regard to commercial or 'business' identities. Things like logos, images, statements, tag line, business names.

It's no secret as readers of this and my other blog know: I am furious at the very idea that Linden Research, a.k.a. Linden Lab would proclaim "SL" to be a copyrighted and registered trademark, then require two nouns, adjectives, verbs or whatever the hell else to be used with it.

In short: Linden Lab, if you want to call "SL" a trademark, go for it. I'll even recognize it. But if you attached any kind of rules with regard to using it, (and I am not referring to a graphical representation, but rather the two alphabet letters side-by-side,) we'll have words.
And in hindsight, they may be able to actually trademark the letters S and L as "SL", but I am not so sure that can include in their trademark the way it can or cannot be used.

But then again, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has actually been known to allow some really questionable registrations. Some of you may remember the hugely controversial "one-click method to make a purchase on the world wide web" that was 'patented' by Amazon.com.

And how about the story where an attorney, in an effort to show what ridiculousness can pass through the USPTO, actually patented the method of riding a swing by a child, for his daughter.

That's right, if you or any child or monkeys, for that matter, ride a swing on any swing-set, if you use the standard, humanly intuitive method of propelling yourself by weight-shifting and rocking your body and legs: you are offending a legal patent.

However, some may look at the idea of granting a legal trademark to a woman for the name and 'look' with regard to her Second Life virtual avatar as being just as frivolous and controversial and the 'swing method' patent.

However, those of us who actually run some kind of for-profit or nonprofit 'business' in Second Life will look at this as actually legitimizing our efforts in a legal sense.

Second Life Avatar Receives Trademark: "The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) groundbreaking decision to accept the Aimee Weber avatar for federal trademark registration is important for two reasons: first, this decision affirmatively answers the question of whether someone who develops a trademark used only to identify virtual services generates enforceable trademark rights in the real world. Second, it indicates that the USPTO identifies use of a trademark in Second Life as use in commerce that is regulated by Congress."

Caution, though. Because this means if any part of the United States legal system looks legitimately at anything in any virtual world, they will eventually, (if not already,) look for ways to 'encroach' into that world or any virtual world.

I am speaking of regulations, real world laws, taxes.

Yes, I am deadly serious and I have spoken on these things often before here, here and here. I have told you to mark my words. (Okay, so they are marked here, just remember where to find them when the hammer falls on our collective heads.) There are a few more posts regarding taxing virtual world profits, but these give you a pretty good idea how paranoid I am regarding this idea.

So in short: it's mixed blessing. You know, like that "Sweet & Sour" dish so many enjoy. The sweet: what we do in Second Life and any other 'virtual world' or 'virtual space' is legally legitimized. But the sour part is that there will be more to come, and I'm not so sure it will be very easy to swallow.
courtesy of IP Watchdog