Don't Sue Me, Bro

Just when you thought it was safe to read the web, Second Life is in the news again. This time they are being sued by Taser International (who make, you know, tasers) because SL users are creating tasers in game and using them in bizarre sadomasochistic rituals. Dear god in heaven, I am not making any of this up.

The kicker here is that Linden Lab, Second Life’s publisher, recently acquired the largest third-party item catalogue, XStreetSL, which thus means that you can purchase Taser-equipped chastity belts…

with textured particles sparks, electric shock sound, electrocution animation), for unruly/naughty subs/slaves…

directly from a Linden Lab affiliated company. Which, though XStreetSL is still a catalogue of user-generated content and not Linden-generated, still apparently convinced a laywer that Taser could sue damn near everyone. So that’ll show you. (Maybe it’s the “XStreetSL is now officially part of Second Life” line added to the logo after the Linden Lab purchase.) In particular, Taser seems to have popped a monocle at Taser-trademark copyright infringement and damage to the good name of Taser International in a SL roleplay area called “the Crack Den”, which is mainly for people who want to live a virtual life in GTA: San Andreas.

Wait… something looks familiar… let me go back to the Taser official web site:

Yeah, I can totally see where their corporate image is being besmirched here.

Just in case you haven’t read enough analysis about this totally justified and not frivolous at all lawsuit, here’s a couple more articles from the Intertubes.

• Wagner James Au at New World Notes
• Tateru Nino at Massively
• Benjamin Duranske at Virtual World News
• More legal analysis at Gameslaw.net
• A tractor at EPA.gov

I’d write more myself but I’m currently convulsing uncontrollably and wetting myself.