Sex Gen Seeking Relief Through Court System

Stroker Serpentine (SL name) creator of the Sex Gen beds, rugs, and plenty of other Second Life sex toys [STROKERZ SEX TOYZ] has headed to court in an effort to protect his intellectual property. His partner’s shop is BB’s Outlet, and as far as I know those are the only two areas where Stroker’s merchandise is for sale. Although there seems to be plenty of knock-offs.

As I traveled around this morning to check out what type of animated beds are now available in Second life. I was able to find several that in one way or another was infringing on the Sex Gen Brand.

On Tuesday he (in the name of his company — Eros) filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court claiming the avatar known as Volkov Catteneo has violated the trademark on one of his devices called a Sex Gen. Stroker is claiming Volkov had copied the Sex Gen scripts and selling it for profit.

Stroker has filed a suit and is asking the judge to order subpoenas for Linden Lab and PayPal to force them to turn over records showing Volkov’s real life identity.

I am all for protecting your intellectual property rights, but I was wondering if Stroker is reaching outside the box– I have tried to conduct a small bit of business with Stroker and found him to be an unreasonable grouchy individual who seemed rather full of himself. Full of himself or not, if someone is “stealing” from him — he should be able to protect his property. I met with Stroker for a few minutes this morning and found him in a helpful and concerned mood…. I am leaving the Strike thru area, because early last year in a very short conversation that was the way I felt about him… Maybe it was just a bad day for him that day.

In a statement to “The Tampa Tribune” Stroker stated:

Volkov Catteneo is not the only avatar who has done him wrong. “A lot of people copy me, copy my work, copy my ideas.

Because it’s an anonymous platform where you’re an avatar cartoon character, as opposed to a real-life person, people think they can operate with impunity.

This brings us to the point of asking, is what Stroker is seeking relief for actually an infringement on his intellectual property or simply someone that is “bottling another cola?”

Upon speaking with Stroker this morning I mentioned to him that I just looked around and found there are a lot of “sex gen” knock off in Second Life now a days… Why is he picking this particular person?

Blatant disregard–basically said “Try and stop me”. It wasn’t an easy decision, I hate lawsuits. You spend enormous hours pouring over Poser/Photoshop just to have someone copy it and profit [from it]. This has been a long time coming…the majority of Merchants here are fed up with being ripped off.

Stroker is hoping to make an example with this lawsuit. “We’re doing the best we can to protect our product, our income, our intellectual property,” he stated to the Tampa Tribune’s Elaine Silvestrini. “We’re hoping that this is going to send a message to quote unquote hackers and anti-establishment types that just because it’s a virtual platform, we’re not going to sit idly by and let you rip us off.”

I would like to call to Stroker’s attention that imitation is the greatest form of flattery. If this Guy/Girl has actually copied your animations and scripts, I hope you are able to hang his/her ass out to dry.

This, to the best of my knowledge, is the first attempt at a real world lawsuit attempting to protect virtual intellectual property, and it probably won’t be cheap. I asked Stroker about the expense:

Those that know me…know my motivation is not primarily profit….I probably give away more than I sell, and many [merchants] that I know are single Mom’s and stay at home parents who can truly benefit from the ability to create an income here [Second Life]. I have 3 very close friends who depend on SL…its the perfect scenario…they can stay at home with their elderly parents and/or disabled children and STILL earn a living… that [lack of concern for others work] is what pisses me off most…no consideration for the livelihood of others.

Stroker and his attorney, Frank Taney or Thunderclap Merlin in Second Life, are working on a tutorial-esqe blog that will give step by step instructions on how to protect your IP and do it cheaply. (Should go live in the next couple weeks… I will post about it when it does)

“Did you know that you must have a copyright registered to file in federal court? asks Stroker… “it only costs $45 to file and soon it will be $35 for an online registration. Registered copyrights entitle you to triple damages and recoup of attorney’s fees.”
“All the precedents to acquire personal info are out there–set by RIAA and others,”
Stroker Serpentine tells me. “You really are not as anonymous as you make think.”

How do you think it will go? What is your opinion?