I realize Linden Lab is far from perfect, and people have legitimate gripes. It is to be expected when you deal with something that grows as fast as Second Life, and that requires true pioneering–they’re doing stuff no one has done before.
It’s easy amid that to miss how impressive Linden Lab is in terms of enlightened employee and corporate relations.
Most Internet companies attempt to protect their trademarks and intellectual property with “cease-and-desist” orders and threats, which may establish some legal territory but lose them tremendous PR points in the process. As KnowProSE.com notes, LL has achieved the level of genius with a different approach (along with breaking ground in eBay commerce, and proving in a very interest way that SL is not a game).
Read “SecondLife Gets A FirstLife In More Ways Than One: Licensing Parody and eBaying Items” yourself, but I can’t resist telling you one of my favorite lines from the legal notice LL sent to a parody site:
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.
Seriously. Read the story–it’s short, and well worth the time.
