Subscribe to
Posts
Comments

Virtually Blind Commentary

In what has to encourage the right-shoulder side of the “Linden: good or evil?” debate, Linden executive Ginsu Yoon (his title is now “Vice President, International” but he’s also serving as General Counsel while they search for a full time GC) posted a comment for the guy who did “Get a First Life.”

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.

That’s the right call. Right or not, though, it isn’t every day you see an executive posting an approving comment on a page parodying his company, and cracking wise while doing it. But apparently a sense of humor is a job requirement at Linden Lab:

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.

That’s right. Lawyers with a sense of humor. Whatever criticisms might be leveled against the platform (there are many, but I generally chalk them up to growing pains) Linden Lab, the company, continues to impress.

Email This Post Email This Post
Print This Post (Printer Friendly Formatting) Print This Post (Printer Friendly Formatting)


Related Posts on Virtually Blind

    Get a First Life: "Virtually Blind Commentary My wife (who somehow gets along just fine..." (0 comments)

Leave a Reply

Notes on Comments: Your first comment must be manually approved, but after it is you'll be able to post freely with the same name and email. You can use some HTML (<a> <b> <i> <blockquote> etc.) but know that VB's spam blocker holds posts with five or more <a> links. VB supports gravatars. Got a gravatar? Use the associated email and it'll show with your comment. Need one? Set it up for free here.