It should come as no surprise that I have a keen interest in both reputation systems and in how people protect their own identities; just read my previous post. So, in order to achieve some transparency regarding the apparent hijacking of some real life identities for use in a virtual space, I’ve posted this on the Second Life forum:

As documented in this recent thread (Link) a question has arisen regarding whether or not people can sign up accounts that not only use the real life names of famous celebrities, but in conjunction:

– create avatars intended to mimic their real life appearance
– use as part of their in-world activities original content in order to associate with the real person or persons
– appropriate trademarks to enhance the real life association
– mislead residents about whether or not they are in fact the real persons (e.g. comments like “if they are alts” – ref )

This is the section which I would like clarified:
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“You may not select as your Account ID or Avatar Name the name of another person, a name which violates any trademark right, copyright, or other proprietary right, a name which may mislead other Participants to believe you to be an employee of Linden, or a name which Linden deems in its discretion to be vulgar or otherwise offensive. Linden reserves the right to delete or change any Account ID or Avatar Name for any reason or no reason.”
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Given the above and the apparent Intent, the following trademarks may be of interest:

#76350897 – “Pre-recorded video and sound recordings featuring music and musical performances”
#74394447 – “entertainment services; namely, live performances by a vocal and instrumental group”

Thank you for providing further guidance in this.

The response should be interesting.