One of the parties named in the Richard Minsky's trademark lawsuit is Victor Vezina, whom we haven't heard much about, and whose identity has been a bit mysterious. As it turns out, Victor Vezina is Victor Keegan, a technology writer for the Guardian.

Keegan started up an art gallery in in Second Life called 'SLart' in early 2007, prior to the establishment of Minsky's trademark -- however, legally it matters less who is first and more who gets the blessing of the US Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO). Juris Amat, Minsky's legal representative wrote to Linden Lab on Minsky's behalf instructing them to notify Vezina to cease and desist from use of the SLART trademark in Second Life.

Well, Linden Lab has now sort of complied. Sideways.

Continue reading Minsky vs Linden Lab: The Vezina incident

Minsky vs Linden Lab: The Vezina incident originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Well, not 'banning', per se -- the term isn't exactly a meaningful one in a Second Life context -- Linden Lab is asking for the court to approve its termination of Minsky's account as a part of a general package of relief.

As you may recall, Linden Lab and Minsky have been duking it out over trademarks: Minsky with his registered SLART trademark, and Linden Lab with its unregistered SL trademark. Now, Linden Lab doesn't normally bother with getting court-approval for terminating an account, yet they have asked for it in this instance.

Likely they're worried that if they followed their normal procedure, certain parts of the Second Life Terms of Service would fall back under court scrutiny again -- and it did not fare at all well the last time that happened.

Continue reading Minsky vs Linden Lab: Linden Lab responds, asks court to okay banning

Minsky vs Linden Lab: Linden Lab responds, asks court to okay banning originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Another step has been taken along the road for the dispute between Richard Minsky (registered owner of the SLART trademark), and Linden Lab (applicant for the SL trademark). The United States Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) has dealt something of a blow to Linden Lab's background effort to convincing the USPTO that Minsky committed fraud in registering the SLART trademark and that the SLART trademark should be cancelled.

In short, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) has suspended cancellation proceedings for now, so the Lab won't make any further progress on that front for the time being. Minsky asked the TTAB for the suspension of proceedings, and the Lab argued against it -- but the Lab's argument apparently didn't hold up on basic reasoning.

We realize that the suspension of a cancellation proceeding generates a little confusion. Just bear with us, okay? One part is the cancellation process by which the USPTO determines if the SLART trademark should be cancelled. Whatever happens, there's no guarantee that it will be cancelled, even if the process resumes. The process itself has been suspended however, based on the TTAB agreeing with Minsky's reasoning that the cancellation process should not proceed at this time. Suspension. Cancellation Process. Got it? Right, on with the show ...

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Continue reading Minsky vs Linden Lab: USPTO won't cancel SLART trademark yet

Minsky vs Linden Lab: USPTO won't cancel SLART trademark yet originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The dispute between Richard Minsky (registered owner of the SLART trademark), and Linden Lab (applicant for the SL trademark) has been heating up. Minsky previously filed a civil suit in a federal court, naming Linden Lab, Philip Rosedale, Mitch Kapor and one or more other Second Life users (as John Does) for (variously) trademark infringement, trademark dilution, tortious interference, and fraud.

Until such time as the judge decides whether a preliminary injunction should be granted, a temporary restraining order has been put in place -- most of the restraint being applied to Linden Lab. Meanwhile, Linden Lab has filed a petition of cancellation seeking to have the US Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) cancel Minsky's ownership of the SLART trademark.

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Continue reading Minsky vs Linden Lab: Restraining orders and petitions

Minsky vs Linden Lab: Restraining orders and petitions originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

On a bit of a tangent to the battle between SLART's Richard Minsky and Linden Lab over the SLART trademark (which we will be getting back to, as there have been interesting developments there), we're going to take a few minutes to look at a rather interesting development surrounding the 'SL' trademark.

As we wrote previously, the 'SL' trademark is not a registered trademark in the USA, and the registration process was started almost three months after Minsky commenced the process for his SLART trademark. Linden Lab's 'SL' trademark has now reached an interesting stage.

It has been published for opposition. Let's look at what that means ...

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Continue reading The 'SL' trademark: All those opposed?

The 'SL' trademark: All those opposed? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

You may remember Richard Minsky, founder of The Center for Book Arts in New York City and owner of SLART Magazine. We previously wrote about his assertion of his rights and obligations with respect to his SLART trademark, which covers (among other things) Minsky's SLART magazine. The SL portion obviously represents Second Life, and the ART well... that's art.

Minsky originally filed his SLART trademark on 22 March, 2007. It was published for opposition on 18 September, 2007, and finally granted formal registration by the US Patent and Trademarks office on 18 March, 2008 (registration number 3399258). SLART, therefore, is owned by Minsky insofar as the US Government is concerned at the present time, whether that grant was conferred rightly or wrongly, unless it is somehow overturned or abandoned.

Now he has filed a civil suit in a federal court, naming Linden Lab, Philip Rosedale, Mitch Kapor and one or more other Second Life users (as John Does) for (variously) trademark infringement, trademark dilution, tortious interference (that is interference that causes injury), and fraud.

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Continue reading Minsky vs Linden Lab: Minsky's mark

Minsky vs Linden Lab: Minsky's mark originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When Linden Lab chooses to shake things up, it doesn't do it by half-measures. Easter Monday saw an announcement by Linden Lab that they were introducing a new Second Life logo program, and changing the terms under which various words and images are presented.

Unfortunately, we technically can't show you the new logo, since by all rights we have to go through the application process first. Actually, after reading all the terms and conditions a bunch of times, we are not sure that we're even allowed to mention its name. It's inSL, anyway. We'll let the company lawyers sort through the paperwork.

Continue reading Linden Lab asserts control of names and images

Linden Lab asserts control of names and images originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Richard Minsky, founder of The Center for Book Arts in New York City and owner of SLART Magazine is asserting ownership of his trademark in the broader wilds of Second Life, and potentially the surrounding media-sphere. Minsky started SLART magazine in December 2006 "as a critical review and journal of the arts in Second Life".

The trademark itself was applied for in March 2007, approved in December 2007, and now Minsky seeks to assert the rights and obligations associated with the SLART trademark.

Continue reading SLART name in trademark dispute

SLART name in trademark dispute originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 19 Jan 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.