A Bowl of Stupid

Last weekend, a gent by the name of Darren Barefoot launched a website entitled Get a First Life. Much of the content, like another of my favorite websites, is sublime comic genius.

In it, Barefoot declares:

America’s teens, your First Life dream world awaits. Hang out at the mall! Embarrass yourself in gym class! Get acne! Experiment with mind-altering recreational drugs! The First Life world is your oyster.

Got First Life Questions? We’ve Got Answers!

– Are five senses enough?

– What’s this body thing, and what do I do with the dangly bits?

– Why can’t I build a dirigible with my mind?

Personally, I think that is the best use of the term “dangly bits” to have ever appeared online. And dirigibles?? Brilliantly random.

“Get a First Life” essentially ridicules the many persons (like myself of late, ironically) who waste away their lives in the virtual world of the internet, rather than the real world existing still outside their dank cave-like apartments. In so doing, it relies heavily upon, and parodies, Second Life, an extremely popular “3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents[, and] inhabited by a total of 2,867,113 people from around the globe.”

Linden Labs, the creators of Second Life, could have easily served Barefoot with the ever-popular “cease-and-desist letter” that we all know and love. Indeed, apparently expecting such a draconian response, Barefoot (I refuse to beleive that’s his real name) even set up a link specifically to handle any incoming C&D letters. However, Ginsu Yoon, the general counsel for Linden Labs responded with a letter so clever, in and of itself, that it would horrify the overreaching copyright and trademark holders whose missives litter the archives of ChillingEffects.org.

Instead of sending a cease-and-desist letter, Yoon sent a “proceed-and-permit” letter — another work of sublime genius.

First, Yoon addresses the assumption that Linden Labs would act like many of its contemporaries by sending Barefoot an ill-advised cease-and-desist letter, writing:

Linden Lab objects to any implication that it would employ lawyers incapable of distinguishing such obvious parody. Indeed, any competent attorney is well aware that the outcome of sending a cease-and-desist letter regarding a parody is only to draw more attention to such parody, and to invite public scorn and ridicule of the humor-impaired legal counsel. Linden Lab is well-known for having strict hiring standards, including a requirement for having a sense of humor, from which our lawyers receive no exception.

In conclusion, your invitation to submit a cease-and-desist letter is hereby rejected.

I love it! Although he could have written to Barefoot simply acknowledging the various IP issues at stake, Yoon uses standard legal jargon to counter-parody Barefoot’s humor.

This letter is exactly how companies should respond when faced with obviously allowed uses of their intellectual property rights. Linden Labs doesn’t waste time with any non-issues; instead, it expressly acknowledges that the “First Life” site is a parody site and, therefore, most likely a “fair use” of its copyrighted materials under applicable terms of the Copyright Act and/or the Lanham Act.

What is also refreshing is how Yoon also expressly acknowledges something that many lawyers advocating their client’s position do not — that “determining whether or not a particular use constitutes fair use … is often highly complex and frustratingly indeterminate[.]” Indeed, the only winners in most of these situations are the outside counsel billing hundreds of dollars an hour while pushing their clients to pursue questionable claims.

Finally, Yoon also grants an express limited use license on behalf of Linden Labs allowing Barefoot to use the Second Life trademarked “modified eye-in-hand logo” — in my opinion, an absolute masterstroke. The goodwill accomplished by allowing such limited use far outweighs any potential damage. From a corporate point of view, you’ve just obtained free advertising. And now you can regulate it.

God, how I wish I could have ever, EVER had a client with sufficient business acumen and good sense to understand that more good would be accomplished by allowing, and even sanctioning, such actions than would ever be accomplished by attempting to strong arm the alleged perpetrator into submission.

(Nod to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and High Priestess Kang)

UPDATE: After thinking about this for a few minutes, and after re-reading the last paragraph in this post, I actually submitted a resume to Linden Labs to work with Yoon. I doubt I’ll hear back from them, but damn it would be nice to work with sensible people again.

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