TASER Sues Second Life
TASER International, who admittedly has had a bit of a PR problem ever since, well, at the very least since campus cops started electrocuting frat boys on national television, have gone after an unlikely target: Second Life's Linden Labs.
Under the threat of numerous lawsuits of its own from people who have been tased - or the family of people who have died from being tased - TASER wants to protect what's left of its good image. Problem being, TASER is concerned that virtual TASER replicas are being sold in SL, and that this damages is brand "via association with virtual sex and virtual drug use occurring within Second Life."
Like so:
All of the defendants that sell virtual property like Plaintiff's real ones, under the mark TASER for use in Second Life programs and grids, also sell adult-only explicit images and scenes... thus attaching such content to the TASER mark... and also sell unlawful drug materials... thus attaching such content to the TASER mark...
Some are saying that TASER has a solid case here, and it does indeed sound like TASER could prove some degree of brand image tarnishing from association with virtual shenanigans.
What's unfortunate (or at least ironic) is that this particular legal process probably won't concern itself overmuch with pointing out all of the damage to TASER's brand name that occurs from actual life. I'm pretty sure there's at least one University of Florida alum that could tarnish TASER's name without going virtual.
Taser International vs Linden Lab: Crack Den crackdown [Massively via GamePolitics]
tiny dancer
Posted to Miscellany on 21 April 2009
Other stuff like this: linden labs, second life, taser
