Don't Sue Me, Bro... Taser Drops Suit Against Second Life

July 25, 2009

TASER International has - at least for now - dropped a trademark infringement suit against Linden Lab, which operates Second Life.

As GamePolitics reported in April, the maker of the controversial stun guns, filed suit after it discovered virtual TASER replica items being sold in Second Life as gear for SL avatars (see pic at left).TASER also alleged that its brand would be damaged via association with virtual sex and virtual drug use occuring within Second Life.

Virtual World News reports:

Taser filed a Notice of Voluntary Case Dismissal... and adds that because Linden never filed an answer to the original complaint, the dismissal is "without prejudice" -- meaning Taser could choose to refile at a later date.

Posted in Court Cases Games & the Law Second Life Trademark User-generated Content Virtual Economies

Comments

Re: Don't Sue Me, Bro... Taser Drops Suit Against Second ...

Submitted by fuji on Sun, 07/26/2009 - 15:24.

Couldn't it be argued that taser is such an ubiquitous term for any stun gun like device that they kinda lost the trademark? We do say things like "he got tased." Maybe it's just me who uses the term as a catch all.

Re: Don't Sue Me, Bro... Taser Drops Suit Against Second ...

Submitted by JDKJ on Sun, 07/26/2009 - 17:18.

Absolutely. And there's a pretty damn good argument to be made that "TASER" has become genericized. But until that argument is indeed made and a court agrees with it and rules that TASER has lost it trademark rights, then TASER hasn't lost it trademark rights.

Re: Don't Sue Me, Bro... Taser Drops Suit Against Second ...

Submitted by killatia on Sat, 07/25/2009 - 11:50.

"and adds that because Linden never filed an answer to the original complaint"

Does Linden have to file an answer for the case to go on?

http://www.magicinkgaming.com/

Re: Don't Sue Me, Bro... Taser Drops Suit Against Second ...

Submitted by JDKJ on Sat, 07/25/2009 - 14:14.

If the defendant doesn't file an answer, the plaintiff can go on to claim a win by default.

And, as I recall, Linden stopped the use of the "TASER" mark on Second Life immediately after the suit was filed.

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