Loyal vintfalken.com - and other SL blogosphere readers - probably recall that Richard Minsky a while ago threatened to sue whomever was using the ‘SLart’ trademark on the web, on print and in-world (inSL™, that is). Apparently - and according to Virtually Blind’s Benjamin Duranske and a lot of paperworks that threat has become reality and Minsky is suing Linden Lab, Mitch Kapor, Philip Rosedale, an avatar named ‘Victor Vezina’ and multiple ‘John Doe’s’ - other Does are individuals who are currently unknown to Plaintiff and who are “residents” of SL’ for:

• Direct and contributory trademark infringement Linden Lab;
• direct and contributory trademark dilution by Linden Lab;
• trademark infringement by the John Doe defendant known as ‘Victor Vezina’ and others;
• trademark dilution by the John Doe defendant known as ‘Victor Vezina’ and others;
• tortious interference by Linden Lab;
• fraud by Mitch Kapor;
• fraud by Philip Rosedale;
• and fraud by Linden Lab.

Earlier on, guest writer at ‘Virtually Blind’ and trademark attorney Thayer Preece already concluded that - although the trademark should probably not have been appointed to Richard Minsky in the first place - SL residents are now stuck with that, and ‘are faced with a choice of either losing the use of the word, or opening themselves up to potential lawsuits and account suspensions‘. Benjamin Duranske further notes: ‘Please note that as with any lawsuit, these claims are merely that — claims. They have not been tested, and indeed, none of the defendants have yet formally responded to the Complaint. This site will cover their response when it occurs.’

Although it’s probably more for protecting their own ‘SL + word’ trademark, Linden Lab is siding with the residents on this ‘SLarty’ trademark case:.

An interesting fact is that - according to Richard Minsky’s paperwork - LL asked - as we hoped would happen - Minsky to stop hassling other residents and abandon his trademark as it does not comply with Linden’s ‘SL’ trademark: ‘Ms. Pirri also told Ms. Franklin that Linden wanted me to abandon the SLART mark before the USPTO, to stop approaching other residents regarding their unauthorized use of the mark, and to comply with the terms of use of the SL license.’ And in an reply from Ms Pirri (LL Lawyer): ‘And you did confirm that he’ll abandon the SLArt registration with the USPTO? And that he’ll stop his demands that other Residents not use SLart? Please confirm that. It’s important that he understands that he doesn’t have the right to demand that other Residents not make nominative fair use of SLArt‘.

For a more thought off look on the matter - besides OMFG! Good luck taking on LL’s lawyers! - I refer you to Virtually Blind, but I do wonder:

1. Is there any chance/rule/whatever that a judge can say ‘Ah, but an error was made giving you the trademark in the first place, so you don’t have any reason to complain, as you do not hold the SLart trademark any more! *declare Minsky’s SLart trademark to be ‘fail’* *stick out tongue*’?
2. Isn’t it rather crazy to already sue for future violations by people you don’t know? (and holding LL responsible for those, as LL always say the residents are responsible for what they publish, not LL).
3. If you were ‘an artist, a composer, a musician, a scholar, a curator of exhibitions, an educator, an event organiser, a scholar, and a publisher and internationally recognized as a leader in the field of Book Art’, would you not have anything better to do than writing extremely long boring letters with lots of random facts and considering going to court over this?
4. Can he be making that much money from his SLart magazine - without overcharging - that it’s worth taking LL & Mitch Kapor and Philip Rosedale to trial over this? Or is he hoping to achieve the same results that Stroker Serpentine - SexGen beds, remember? - and Marc Bragg - this one on illegal land acquisition and the ‘legal properties’ of SL land and this one we never heard of again achieved: instant SLfame to thus raise the sales of is ‘SLart books’?

Curious about more in-depth opinions than mine! (And definitely going to keep an eye on Virtually Blind.)

Tags: court cases, SLart, SLaw, trademark

• Update on Richard Minsky and 'his' SLART trademark
• SLart trademark unfounded & Minsky joins the conversation
• SLart me up!