The Maudlin Press

Fast post on two new controversies flying around the interwebs.

First, is the declared war on Scientology. A group called anonymous has decided to stand up to this cult and go at them with everything they have. Their official declaration came in the form of a YouTube video. Watching this is strangely thrilling, and still gives me the Heebiegheebies.

The second is a branding and trademark issue within the Second Life community itself. A book artist named Richard Minsky has trademarked the word “SLArt” for his own uses and had begun contacting anyone who has used the term in any way.

The controversy is that SLArt is a rather common term in Second Life, primarily used by the art community (Obviously). By trademarking this term, he has effectively denied its common use to the rest of the universe. Normally, this would be met with some grumbling and a little shouting, then die out as these things do. However, in this case, Minsky has offered to “license” the term to anyone using it for a small fee. This action leads to the impression that he is not defending his trademark for the sake of preserving its reputation for his work, but rather that he trademarked the term for the purpose of making a profit, as well as being a jerk in general. This has lead to some notable anxiety in the community. Anyone familiar with Second Life would know immediately how this type of action would be received.

As Mr Minsky has in the past paid over $1000.00 for one book just to prove a point (I’ll let you find the story, he’s not getting the press from me..), I don’t think he needs the money.

http://www.massively.com/2008/01/19/slart-name-in-trademark-dispute/

http://www.vintfalken.com/slasshole-trademarks-slart-soon-slex-and-slove-forbidden-too/

As further evidence of the lack of interweb savvy of Mr Minsky, he has been caught editing his own entries on the very wiki he had served with a infringement email. He forced the owner of the wiki to move it to a new name, then created his own page with glowing information on his projects. The community has responded nicely and manages to keep his entry updated with the latest information on the controversy.