Not the standard C&D order?

An AP article from Yahoo News ("Blogger gets 'un-cease-and-desist' note") got my attention:

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer
Wed Jan 24, 4:25 PM ET

NEW YORK - A lawyer for the virtual world "Second Life" has responded to a parody with something that's quite different from the usual corporate cease-and-desist letter.

Vancouver-based blogger Darren Barefoot had put up a one-page site, GetAFirstLife.com, that imitates the look of SecondLife.com but promotes a real-life existence where you can work, reproduce and perish — all for free.

The site purports to answer frequently asked questions such as "Why can't I build a dirigible with my mind?" That's a dig at "Second Life," where users with sufficient skill in three-dimensional modeling can build almost anything. The site includes a logo that's a modified version of Second Life's logo.

With a link, Barefoot invited cease-and-desist letters, the type lawyers often send threatening lawsuits if a site doesn't pull down objectionable material.

Sunday's note from Ginsu Yoon, a lawyer for Second Life, started out with the legalese of a standard nastygram — Internet slang for a cease-and-desist letter — but went on to say that "your invitation to submit a cease-and-desist letter is hereby rejected."

Second Life representative Alex Yenni confirmed the note, delivered as a comment on Barefoot's blog, was authentic.

"Linden Lab objects to any implication that it would employ lawyers incapable of distinguishing such obvious parody," Yoon wrote. "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."

The note even gives Barefoot a "nonexclusive, nontransferable, nonsublicenseable, revocable, limited license" to use the modified logo on T-shirts he sells.

Barefoot, whose day job is promoting software companies, wrote on his blog that the letter was an "enormous credit" to the company. He writes that he doesn't hate "Second Life," but has been amused by the amount of hype and attention the world has attracted.

So I dug up the site, and sure enough, I found a highly amusing letter from a lawyer:

This notice is provided on behalf of Linden Research, Inc. (“Linden Lab”), the owner of trademark, copyright and other intellectual property rights in and to the “Second Life” product and service offering, including the “eye-in-hand” logo for Second Life and the website maintained at http://secondlife.com/.

It has come to our attention that the website located at http://www.getafirstlife.com/ purports to appropriate certain trade dress and marks associated with Second Life and owned by Linden Lab. That website currently includes a link in the bottom right-hand corner for “Comments or cease and desist letters.”

As you must be aware, the Copyright Act (Title 17, U.S. Code) contains provisions regarding the doctrine of “fair use” of copyrighted materials (Section 107 of the Act). Although lesser known and lesser recognized by trademark owners, the Lanham Act (Title 15, Chapter 22, U.S. Code) protecting trademarks is also limited by a judicial doctrine of fair use of trademarks. Determining whether or not a particular use constitutes fair use typically involves a multi-factor analysis that is often highly complex and frustratingly indeterminate; however a use constituting parody can be a somewhat simpler analysis, even where such parody involves a fairly extensive use of the original work.

We do not believe that reasonable people would argue as to whether the website located at http://www.getafirstlife.com/ constitutes parody – it clearly is. Linden Lab is well known among its customers and in the general business community as a company with enlightened and well-informed views regarding intellectual property rights, including the fair use doctrine, open source licensing, and other principles that support creativity and self-expression. We know parody when we see it.

Moreover, 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.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is possible that your use of the modified eye-in-hand logo for Second Life, even as parody, requires license from Linden Lab, especially with respect to your sale of goods with the parody mark at http://www.cafepress.com/getafirstlife/. Linden Lab hereby grants you a nonexclusive, nontransferable, nonsublicenseable, revocable, limited license to use the modified eye-in-hand logo (as displayed on http://www.getafirstlife.com/ as of January 21, 2007) to identify only your goods and/or services that are sold at http://www.cafepress.com/getafirstlife/. This license may be modified, addended, or revoked at any time by Linden Lab in its sole discretion.

Best regards,

Linden Lab

I have to approve.

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