Legend City Online Attorney Threatens Me With Libel Lawsuit

January 2, 2008
Catherine Fitzpatrick
AKA Prokofy Neva
dyerbrookme@juno.com

Cahill, von Hellens & Glazer, P.L.C.
Attorneys at Law

155 Park One
2141 E. Highland Avenue
Phoenix, Arizona 85016-4762
Telephone: (602)-956-7000 ext. 105

Matthew L. Bycer
Direct Fax: (602)-956-4298
e-mail: mbycer@cvglaw.com

Re: Second Thoughts blog posting: December 28, 2008
o http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts
o http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2008/12/sl-legend-simone-locked-out-of-legend-city-online.html

Dear Prokofy Neva

Our firm has been retained by Legend City Online (TM) for copyright, DMCA compliance, intellectual property and trade libel matters. It has come to  our attention that your blog, entitled: "Second Thoughts", recently contatined posted items of a defamatory and libelous nature. In these statements, particularly those published on December 28, 2008, you misrepresent the business relationship of Legend City Online (TM), and its managing officer, AKA LaLa Xevious with Stephen Sanner of Simone! Designs, Inc., AKA Simone Stern, AKA Simone.

To the contrary of your misstatements Leged City Online (TM) has committed no acts of theft, content theft, or otherwise usurped the rights or privileges of its users in any manner inconsistent with its standard Terms of Use. Furthermore, Legend City Online (TM) has conducted itself in good faith and in a manner wholly consistent with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

As such, your blog contains false libel which has caused damage to our client. The statements and accusations contained on your blog, "Second Thoughts", have no support in fact. Your failure to correct, retract, and/or otherwise mitigate the damage you have caused, continues to harm our client.

Therefore, we demand a retraction from your blog of all libelous material related to Legend City Online (TM), its management and staff. Furthermore, we kindly request that you provide an update that will clarify the inculpability of our client to your subscribing readers.

Legend City Online (TM) continues to provide a safe home for the online community and prides itself on its continued growth, improvements, and quality service to all residents of its grid.

Please take the proper actions to alleviate the damage being caused to our client as soon as possible. Please direct all communications to our offices identified above.

Matthew L. Bycer

Cc: LaLa Xevious

 My immediately reply:

Dear Matthew Bycer,

I will not be changing anything on my blog or removing any content, because my reporting on the dispute between regarding Simone Stern with the Legend City Online grid owner known as LaLa Xevious does not contain any false or libelous statements and is accurate to my knowledge. LaLa Xevious is a public figure running a public grid, and has taken controversial actions that are the proper and legitimate subject of the press and she has indeed engaged in a content lock-out.

Furthermore, there are no statements authored by me regarding any allegation of content theft. My blog reports that Simone Stern was locked out of the grid after making an arrangement to get free simulators in exchange for free provision of content, and was unable to get to her content. That is the case.

You may be mistaking my blog for the official Linden Lab forums, where Briana Dawsom has made a headline linking to my blog which claims not only lock-out, but content theft.

I've already contacted Briana and pointed out that she has incorrectly headlined her post and link to my blog, but she appeared unwilling to change it. It was her perception. You'll have to contact her and/or Linden lab regarding that forums, I have nothing to do with that forums and don't post on it.

Others posting on my blog regarding this incident have expressed their opinions, in good faith, and about the actions of LaLa Xevious and the issue of her locking out someone with whom she once had an agreement. Those persons expressing their opinions on my blog are also engaging in legitimate criticism that is not of a libelous nature and is about a public figure engaged in a controversial actions.

That content is now in LaLa Xevious' possession, still selling into an account that only LaLa Xevious has access to.

As far as I know, you have been issued a DMCA takedown notice by Simone Stern, and the original host owner has notified Simone Stern that LaLa Xevious will be asked to remove the content.

If Simone Stern's content is now completely removed from the grid Legend City Online, and her account deleted, I'm happy to write a post about that fact, but I will not be changing any past posts.

The next letter will be from counsel if you persist in harassing me, a blogger reporting on a dispute in good faith in this matter, about a public figure.

Prokofy Neva

Catherine Fitzpatrick

Comments

[Gareth Nelson]

LCO are now shooting themselves in the foot it seems ;)

Has Simone now in fact filed a DMCA takedown notice with bodhost? If bodhost forward it to Lala (why doesn't she have a real name in the attorney's letter yet you do?) and she fails to act, LCO could easily go offline

[Prokofy Neva]

To my knowledge, Simone filed that letter to bodhost, yes, and was assured the matter would be dealt with. I have no idea what's going on with this now.

I have no idea why LaLa's real name isn't mentioned in the letter. Probably because it's an inept and poorly written letter that is merely designed to intimidate, not really engage in legal proceedings.

They could go read Times V. Sullivan, but most to the point, is the truth defense.

[Ordinal Malaprop]

How To Ruin One's Reputation Irredemably: Step Two, Release The Lawyers.

[Carl Metropolitan]

"Stephen Sanner of Simone! Designs, Inc., AKA Simone Stern, AKA Simone."?

How weird. Simone's real life name (and photo) is a matter of public record, and that's not it. It's not even the right gender.

Interestingly enough, according to their website, the firm that appear to be representing LaLa Xevious, doesn't handle libel or defamation cases. Their practice areas are limited to "Our firm handles legal matters in the following practice areas: Patent, Trademark, Copyright, Trade Secret, Unfair Competition Law and Intellectual Property. Trials and Appeals."

http://www.lawyers.com/cfglaw/firmprofile.jsp

[Prokofy Neva]

No, Stephen is her partner who is also in the business.

[Elanthius Flagstaff]

What a miserable little affair this is turning into. LCO's behaviour from beginning to end has been shockingly unprofessional.

Of course, for SL residents unprofessional behaviour is par for the course. I like to take part in the occasional internet fight myself. The difference of course is that Lala is not representing herself as an SL resident but as the "managing officer" of a corporation that competes with LL. Who can possibly trust them now with any serious amount of investment? Hell, I barely trust LL I can't possibly make a similar sort investment in LCO now. Ever.

One thing I find extremely odd is that Lala's lawyer actually refers to her as Lala and not by her real name. What the hell kind of lawyer doesn't refer to it's clients by their actual names?

[Prokofy Neva]

Her name is not mentioned.

The letter was sent as a PDF file via email. So it is a scan of a letter that I didn't get in the mail (and may never get in the mail).

I have no idea what it all means. It's not properly served. Perhaps LaLa Xevious is an avatar that is trademarked and is the business name?

[Fleep Tuque]

The Aimee Weber trademark was just approved a month ago and was considered a landmark, sure we would have heard about it if another avatar was trademarked?

I'm thoroughly shocked by the letter and must agree with the previous commenters. Whatever the facts of the dispute, it is LaLa Xevious' own incredibly unprofessional behavior in dealing with the allegations that are the source of my negative impression - not anything you (Prokofy) might have posted.

[AlterEgoTrip Svenska]

I find it odd that you POST information which should remain confidencial, if your friend wishes you to post it and gives explicit detail to post it, fine, but then you post your own information and then complain about being grifted and trolled and even stalked? Hate to blame the "victim" here but, I don't see anyone innocent of NOT protecting their own information... perhaps you should take down some of that and or leave it blank or black it out as the FBI does with undisclosed documents.

I don't think your protecting your family when you post your name and such..not to mention enabling pedofiles to stalk the minors related to you.

[Old Lady Barbie]

First let me say that I have no interest here on either side. I had barely heard of Simone (so called Legend of SL) and I knew about the same of LaLa(Fashionista Diva).

I am an old, retired, fat, designer who enjoys creating things from time to time on SL but see that there are plenty of unprofessionalism in the Linden Lab Camp as well.

I was curious just as a user so I entered the camp of LCO and I have to say I was impressed with 'their' version of an already quickly progressing software. I saw a lot of 'goings on' and plans being made. I saw that there

were already some major hitters (regardless to your individual opinion of who they are) SL-Wise already on their grid setting up their businesses. Even the viewer developer was nestled in her sim and set up selling Christmas Trees all before Simone came there.

I saw that people showed up and were being pretty rude about demanding content or making comments about the 'lack thereof'. I stood by while these people (LGO Staff) smiled and tried to be welcoming despite the fact and show people that they had a vision with style there and presence.

I then asked to be a mentor, having never done so in SL, I was curious what the real intention of this LaLa person was. Having been royally screwed over in the price hikes of Linden Lab, I told her that I had some really detailed questions and she, without hesitation, stated that I could just give her a call on skype at my convenience and she would be more than happy to answer any questions I had.

So I did this and was pulled into, what I consider to be a somewhat virtual operations office. LaLa and Melanie and their other developers, all in skype conferencing speaking about "fighting fires"; which I believes involve issues on their grid from the jist of it all. LaLa apologized and took some time to shush everyone and gave me

her full attention. I found myself asking questions about her business and I even asked about her finances (which really wasnt my business). She answered all of my questions without fail and to my satisfaction. I dont think I
would be so bold to have asked M or Phil how much money they make and can they afford to start and sustain what was known back then as a little shit environment that lagged to hell and crashed every 5 min. No - I didnt do that with them and before our convo ended I apologized for such an invasive question.

What I took with me from that conversation is that these people working very hard to build a different community.

Even Lala herself told me that it was never her intent to "compete" with Linden Lab. She laughed and said "How would I do that when they are a multi-million dollar company and we are in alpha on extremely unstable software?"

Melanie (another developer) stated that they all had a "common vision" for a more unified community. Yes, all of this sounds good but what really got me was that she stated that she wanted mentors that really had some knowledge of the software and that she was more interested in helping people understand the issues with opensim versus shoving some soft words that may or may not appease the cries of a frustrated user.

She asked what I knew (virtually nada) and she began to slowly go over everything from grandfathered tier to developments they have considered in the future.

Lala was a bit "proud" of offering a safe place for all of her "fashionista friends" and stated in no uncertain terms that she is pretty passionate about being a pro active party for IP protection. Hell, what more can I ask for? I even bought my sim because I was so impressed with how this lady's vision was (which I still own in LCO)

My point is not to be attacked for singing praises of my experience personally with Lala herself or the LGO community in general. I dont agree with the showing of a chat log but I see why it was done.

I saw the topic of this blog go from THEY STOLE SIMONE CONTENT to what it is now with a simple and plain SIMONE IS LOCKED OUT. YOu (prokofy) did slander this woman and her company for whatever reason. You state and published
that you were reporting an issue without even consulting the other party. I dont know what I would have done if I had been her. Hell, I might've published the chat too! Its like you and the 'followers thereof' are not real
reporters (But you play one on T.V.) and you are trying to take advantage of the 1st Amendment by slandering anyone you feel you want to at that given time.

I think from what I read with that chat that YES Simone was paying AND making arrangements to do so because she KNEW she owed money. I dont see where anyone made her contact their live chat. I dont see Lala leading her into any agreement - as a matter of fact it is just the opposite. SHE (Simone) said she was just letting her know so she didnt have to keep guessing when she was going to pay? I dont know what is so hard to understand about that.

Seems like a simple enough conversation to understand between what looked like 2 friends doing business (something else that can be trouble).

I applaud this small company for defending themselves against the likes of people that are on some mission to destroy. The question begs to be asked, where is the line? The moral line of where you or any other blogger can, at will, jump over and commit such a horrific crime that may cause you to be sued? You set out to ruin someone simply because you have some infactuation with whom "you" obviously consider to be a "public figure" or "SL Legend" (your words not mine) - Where is this fair and impartial? You claim to be some sort of journalist/reporter but are they not suppose to tell what the facts are - not hearsay from a shady friend who stiffed another friend?

The bottom line in trying to be fair is that I believe Simone owed the money to the company and they tried to collect (friend or no friend). From what I believe afterward seems like this Simone person thought herself and her name was so big that maaaaybe she shouldnt "have to pay"? Maybe she thought her friend gave her some land for a month - heck why not another LOL! But what strikes me odd is that I read here somewhere that she was trying to make tier? Did anyone ask how? LGO doesnt have an exchange to cash out do they? Not that I have seen but I know that they (LGO Staff) state they are working on a release of it sometime this month. Some of these so-called facts seem convenient coming from the Simone side.

After just this initial uproar about whether or not she should pay, you go on the record and state that this company (FORGET ABOUT WHAT SL DOES OR ANY OTHER ONLINE SERVICE PROVIDER), above multi million dollar companies,
should remove content from in world because she hasnt paid her bill and doesnt have access to come in? I admit I have rode the delinquent train with SL because of real life bills or whatever and yes I had my account "Temporarily Suspended". Shit happens. I remember when Anshe Chung's account was temp suspended over payment issues in SL but I will be damn if they deleted my content!!! I would have had a fecking heart attack!!! Are you kidding me? Delete my work? The stuff on my sim when I planned to pay?!? Why would they do this? What is wrong
with you people - that notion is utter nonesense and it is apalling that you created a witch hunt from it Prokofy!

You should be ashamed. If I demanded my content to be deleted all due to me oweing a bill then I probably wouldnt have my account anymore in sl to this day. with all due respect, you are wrong here friend. Simone needs to either pay her bill and stop using you as a publicist.

I am glad for places like this to voice an "opinion" these just werent around in my day. But in my day we didnt set out to purposely tear down our Mom & Pops while facing the huge corporations. Give these people a chance and stay out of the cat fights.

BTW she (Lala) may have been unprofessional by showing logs (proof for her side) but she certainly was professional enough to admit her fault (hopefully NEVER do that again!!!), grow from that mistake and grow her business. I have seen more people there since your story came out than I did over the whole holiday season.

I am applauding these and all the other grids efforts! Continued success!

Kind Regards Prokofy!

From an old gal!

[Vryl Valkyrie]

First of all, Prok has every right as a blogger to present the truth as she knows it and also her personal opinions about a company doing business as.

Secondly, the attorney obviously is not aware of all of the facts or she/he would realize that Legend City Online is not abiding by the statues set forth in the DMCA.

According to the DMCA, it is not required to show ID nor copyright registration. In order for an ISP/Content Provider to be qualified for safe harbor, they simply need to abide by the terms of the DMCA. Anything else beyond that is for the courts to decide and that is where copyright registration comes in.

In the USA, all copyright infringement cases must be registered. For cases outside of the USA, there is a special court which omits the registration prerequisite.

Here is a helpful site to visit:
http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/faq.cgi

Finally it is hard to take the letter seriously when the real life name of LaLa is not revealed.

[Prokofy Neva]

Old Lady, I'm no doubt older and fatter than you are.

My long response has twice been eaten and I'll return with it later.

Let me just make several points quickly:

1. No libel or slander occurred because I reported the facts accuratedly as I found them and believed them to be true, and that's my right, especially regarding a public figure.

2. If LCO has *more* business due to this blog, then there goes her case, as she can't prove a loss of livlihood to this anonymous avatar, who isn't trademarked to my knowledge. But her case is non-existence any way on grounds of truth defense, and on grounds of legitimate criticism of a public figure.

3. LaLa's *own chatlogs* are damning to her. They prove that she knowingly comped someone and knowingly received free content, for which she also paid out upload compensation. She had an extra-TOS deal, and it was manually invoked that it now start the meter running. Others have come forward to say they were comped and now have cheap tier and upload compensation. So there are undocumented comps and deals made, outside the TOS.

4. When the Lindens gave away sims like this a few times, they were careful to document it as a contest, even with only a few winners, and letters of winning status and terms were sent out. People paid tier, but they knew it was coming, and it was in writing. This isn't like LL. It's not a routine account that bills or locks and deletes only 30 days. It's a business partnership gone sour.

5. What's operative here is only one thing: will the DMCA takedown be honoured? If content is continuing to sell into an account accessed only by LCO owners, shouldn't it be? Is the TOS unconscionable? These questions need examining. And it may be that LCO will bluff on this to avoid the appearance of a need for DMCA and will wait out the 30 days til the cancelled account as if it *were* just the latest newbie who didn't pay tier. Of course, for credibility's sake, it would be better to make a very public wipe out of the content and a very public assurance of protection of IP and DMCA under the TOS, and hope for the best.

6. Mom & Pop stores don't get a pass just for being pioneers against big bad companies. I refuse to fall into lockstep with the pioneer mafias' omerta. They need more press, not less, and more public scrutiny, as we've seen the problem with these open grids elsewhere: all the bankers, casino owners, ageplayers, commies and libertarian extremists, scammers, copyleftist etc etc have flushed out of SL and gone over to these "free spaces". So one really has to be aware.

7. I encourage anyone who feels intimidated about this discussion not to be, to express your views and concerns, and to send me anything to email at dyerbrookME@juno.com and it will be passed on to counsel.

[Prokofy Neva]

Vryl, you made the allegation in the comments earlier that in a Skype conversation, LaLa implied she is DMCA proof, that she either isn't an ISP or she doesn't view this as a DMCA matter or she refuses to honour DMCAs -- a variety of allegations of this nature have been made by you and others. If you stand by them, email them to me and they will be forwarded to counsel: dyerbrookME@juno.com

In any event, this is an extra-TOS deal. It does not appear to be about the copying of content but about the freezing of access to content that sells into an account and that needs resolution.

[Vryl Valkyrie]

Yes correct Prok, she did say on Skype voice that she is not or does not consider herself by the DMCA terms "ISP" and does not have to abide by the same policies as written in the DMCA in order to qualify for protection. She said she is a content provider. She said she is a retired attorney and knows the law very well. She said that she will run her grid the way she wants.

She is correct that she can run her grid any way that she wants. ISP's also are not obligated to abide by the DMCA. However, if they do not abide by the terms of the DMCA, they risk being held legally liable in a court of law.

The whole purpose of the DMCA originally was to protect the ISP, not necessarily the copyright owner.

[Ann Otoole]

Interesting situation with the company shell game going on.

Isn't "La La" really Melanie Thielker of Xumeo, Ltd.?

Indeed why would a legitimate legal document not have real life people listed on it? All of the legal documents I have seen go past my eyes in respect to legal goings on between Second Life residents (DMCAs, etc) never list only the avatar names like that. Real legal documents list the real client and target names, the A.K.A. information listed associated with it, and the company information. This "law firm" sounds about as professional as another one in Manchester UK that is replete with screeching immature people purporting to be solicitors using curse words, etc in communications. Maybe that is normal in the UK but it sounded like fake lawyers to me rofl.

Why would anyone take them (LCO)seriously with legal matters when they violate the Second Life trademark on their website. (a related story would be why Linden Lab never defends their own trademarks since this is not the only website that does it)

Are you sure this isn't some sort of weird perverted viral advertising? Given the blatant shill dissertation by the "Old Lady Barbie" (a name I will never see in Second Life as an account name so why is it allowed to post on prok's blog?) I have to wonder.

This debacle LCO has created is why the open grid protocol effort is so stupid. The idea that anyone can set up a shell company and get access to the asset system of Second Life is beyond stupid. Linden Lab needs to pull away from that idea because there has to be a cure for criminal minds before an open grid protocol is possible. That will never happen.

[Just Trying To Be Fair]

First I never stated that Prokofy did not have a right to blog, I stated that the question of MORALS is something to look into even with respect the 1st Amendment.

Second, the attorney "obviously"? Is this your professional opinion? LOL - Now because you say so, an entire Law Firm that appears to specialize in the handling of DMCA and IP cant be "aware of all the facts?" Are you kidding me?

And since when would a lawyer of that caliber put their name and letterhead on such a statement if there werent some a. investigation and b. Truth to the matter in determinants of the law?

Last time I checked, lawyers didnt do that (sign their name and lawfirm to a lie)

You say here that LGO is not abiding by the statues set forth but I looked up teh DMCA statues myself and the steps seem to be pretty much an exact. If LGO has an attorney retained would it not make sense that they cleared that with them first before posting it?

I recall asking Lala herself and she stated one of her concerns with IP theft is having people use the DMCA as some sort of griefing tool in which they falsely accuse others of theft(me thinks about how they do this in SL at this very moment). I see a date on this notice and it supercedes this blog posting that says untruths like LALA HER SELF SAYS SHE DOESNT HAVE TO FOLLOW DMCA. This is even more evidence of Prok's inability to just report facts. Anyone with half a brain can see their forum post dated over a month and a half ago with DMCA stamped all over it Vryl.

Finally, why in Gods green earth would anyone with half a brain want to NOW reveal their real life to someone (like you or Prok). Are you fecking kidding me? I work at home as I am sure many of these people do and I would NEVER want my real world name put out there for some creepy forum people to spy on my home!!! Thats insane. I see that you are a "SL Legend" fan as well so perhaps that is why you left out the tiny fact SIMONE'S NAME IS NOT SIMONE IN REAL LIFE EITHER AND IT IS NOT ON THE ABOVE DOCUMENT.

I am told by Simone's own friends in SL that she is a 40 something year old woman with a 20 something year old live in 'boyfriend' and she makes no secret of this to her public but do we need to see their real world names here? NOT!!!

Take these folks names off or maybe Stephen Sanner should send a letter to your hosting company for releasing personal information. If you want to show your own name and reveal your social that is your business but when was it right for someone like Vryl to sit back in a shadow and cast stones until they reveal their real life name.

Whats your rl name Vryl? And what state do you live in so someone can go to one of these cheesy sites and find out about your teenage children? Maybe what time they go to school?

Are you people kidding me with these rants demanding someone's personal info? I am banning Vryl from my fecking store because she may try to get my IP and figure out what state I live in so she can blog about how I dont know shit because it rains 300 days of the year and I am suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorders....LOL

Yea thats right Vryl, razzle the old lady!

[Ann Otoole]

Only a naive fool doesn't know lawyers sign on to lies all the time. Because the law firm gets paid whether the case succeeds or not. How ignorant that any adult in the modern world does not know that.

Oh, and BTW, if it doesn't list real names it isn't a real legal document. You can't "sue" fictitious aliases. Well you can. But there is nothing to be gained and the judge might have your dumb ass arrested for contempt just because you wasted the court's time with a frivolous suit. Prok's real identity is well known. So-called "La La" has zero to lose by using the real name behind it. Unless whoever "La La" really is has something to hide.

One thing is certain: "La La"'s real life identity is going to come out in the wash now. I'm already wondering if "La La" is frank corsi or the sl bank scammer from Australia (supposedly anyway). The whole Legend City Online jumping from Xumeo Ltd. to some "company" in Arizona is quite interesting. Does Arizona have shell company protection now like Delaware and Nevada?

[Just Trying To Be Fair (The Old Lady Barbie)]

(Anne) -
"Indeed why would a legitimate legal document not have real life people listed on it? All of the legal documents I have seen go past my eyes in respect to legal goings on between Second Life residents (DMCAs, etc) never list only the avatar names"

Is this an actual FILED complaint/petition? Looks like a letter that states "We kindly ask you to do the right thing, retract your comments or else you are putting yourself at risk for libel".

Seems like a lot of trouble to go through not to mention money.

And since when did this require the need for a real name for you people?

(Prok)
a variety of allegations of this nature have been made by you and others. If you stand by them, email them to me and they will be forwarded to counsel: dyerbrookME@juno.com

(Vryl)
Yes correct Prok, she did say on Skype voice ------------HOLD ON!

And you are emailing what allegations? LOL you people are pretty slick with these witch hunts.

I will leave you people with your sickles and burning torches. I have been sitting by reading this back and forth. It is amazing what you learn about people that you speak to every day. You find out that they arent the people (even in virtual life) that you thought they were. Im underwhelmed at the comments made by some of you and I for one am glad I did keep my name out of here because it has allowed me to see some of you for what you really are.

Time to put it to rest .. good night.

[Vryl Valkyrie]

There is a big difference between a customer of a 3D interactive program and an actual company filing a legal cease and desist request. This is what we are referring to.

I have no doubt that is a legitimate law firm that is representing her. However, just because it is a legitimate law firm does not necessarily mean that they have all of the facts. Nor does it mean that they are good lawyers, etc and so on.

Normally when filing such documents, the real life name is given, not a psuedo name from an online program.

If you read the DMCA, you will notice that it is not required nor even mentioned to present proof of copyright registration or photo id. This was one of the main issues (amoungst a few other things) that concerned me about Legend City Online, their lack of compliance with the DMCA (not their personal modification and interpretation of it).

For the record, I am not seeking LaLa's real life info, so no idea where you get this from. However, if I were filing a case against her, I would be.

[Prokofy Neva]

It's interesting that as far as I know, LaLa's counsel has only selectively made a threat against *me*, which in fact incorrectly makes a claim that I alleged "content theft". I didn't. I wrote about a content lock-out.

As I noted in my reply to the lawyer, other blogs that have forthrightly claimed content theft haven't gotten any legal notice -- at least not yet or at least we do not see any of their statements pulled or changed.

For example Lordfly's exaggerated post on sluniverse.com, and everyone speaking in that thread:

http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/other-grids-virtual-worlds/22740-prok-lco-opensim-grid-allegedly.html

For example Briana Dawson's inaccurate renaming of my headline here:

http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=299850

Or Prad's blog on the same date as mine here:

http://iheartsl.com/2008/12/28/legend-city-online-the-end/

And there have been other statements on blogs and forums, including sluniverse.com where Chip Midnight has also joined the wolf pack to claim falsely that I've alleged theft.

I find this all interesting, not to re-route the finger-pointing, but to point out that when I broke the omerta on this grid, and everybody poured out to comment on it, they said many things, some of them no doubt exaggerated, but some heartfelt and genuinely concerned -- and they then routed back to make reference to me, saying things I didn't say, but which *they themselves wished to say*.

I've seen that before. And I find an awful lot of cowardice around SL --people are so intimidated and so afraid of the hate and the junk-yard dog packs that they cower. I often get people IMing me telling me to post stories. I've had at least 3 people write to me telling me to pile on and post THEIR bad experience about LCO. To which I can only say: go on your own blog.

Another interesting thing is LaLa's own statement "to the community". IN it, without providing any names or links, she alleges that people have accused her of stealing content. Where have they done that? Like many a would-be tyrant before her, in trying to suppress criticism, and discredit critics, she winds up fanning the allegations she imagines even harder, bringing them more, not less attention:

http://www.gamerssoul.com/forums/index.php?s=8a5b5e645d27321a1cf8b16910e04203&showtopic=193

Blogs aren't "redistributed justice" (perhaps she means, erm, "distributed justice"; they are just vehicles for public discussion of worlds with no free press inside them, no rule of law, no legislative democratic, no independent judiciary. That's all!

In this post, LaLa affirms that she does in fact take DMCA seriously, despite what others have said.

Yet in her own post, she makes it seem like there are quite a lot more hoops to obtain compliance than LL itself sets, mainly in terms of registering.

http://www.gamerssoul.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8

Another thing I don't understand about this, and would love an expert to explain, is the references being made to how DMCA works.

We all know how LL phrases it:
http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php

They've had years to hone it out. On the one hand, they claim they have paid-up perpetual exclusive rights etc. to your content.

On the other hand, they forthrightly acknowledge your IP. Read the paragraphs.

When I read stuff like that, it seems like head-exploding contradictions that involve two beings occupying the same space/time coordinate and making each others' atoms fry.

Or perhaps it's like Chinatown. "I *do* have IP!" [slap] "I don't have IP rights!" [slap]. "I both do and don't have IP rights" [sob].

When I read LaLa's DMCA explanation, it seems more...spare than LL's, but perhaps someone can analyze it for me.

In any event, no one should get any "libel" warnings, because they are all discussing their concerns in good faith under First Amendment protections without malicious intent.

[Eien Seetan]

Not one to blog comment...but...........(drops im speak now, or not..)....

I find it strange that there is no "Esquire" following this guy's name, and no notice as to who typed it........
(maybe lost in translation..at the office I work for you always get a "lawyer's initials/secretaries initials" before the cc...)

my point......sounds fake..did you get it via mail on bond, or as an email?

[Prokofy Neva]

I received it an email with a PDF attached, with the letter on letterhead scanned into a PDF.

No, there isn't anything with that lawyer's initials/secretaries' initial thing, I know what you mean, I used to recall seeing those too, do they still use it today in offices?

[Eien Seetan]

Ok, I work in NJ,and I'm just a secretary, but i've yet to work for a lawyer who wasn't "John Smith, Esq."

I've also yet to work at an office that didn't have a "JS/es" (John Smith/Eien Seetan) before the cc.. (lawyer who dictated..they soo don't type, secretary who typed it up..yay)

Thus it sounds fake to me.

[Just Trying To Be Fair (The Old Lady Barbie)]

"Blogs aren't "redistributed justice" (perhaps she means, erm, "distributed justice"; they are just vehicles for public discussion of worlds with no free press inside them, no rule of law, no legislative democratic, no independent judiciary. That's all!"

Maybe blogs arent "redistributed" but you surely seem to be Prok. The legal meaning of those terms in short involve someone dishing out praise or persecution according to what "you" think. I think her statement was completely in context here and you seem to be taking stabs at grammar now for what reason? Seems childish.

"she winds up fanning the allegations she imagines even harder, bringing them more, not less attention"

Let me get this straight because NO ONE is addressing that you have changed the title of that post about LCO 20 times by now to save your arse because I did see your title at one point include the word STOLEN and "alleged" did NOT precede it; so you can stuff that one back in the sock drawer.

Then she falls for your lure to bait and switch by trying to protect herself and did the wrong thing (we all agree) but somehow her apologizing for that is wrong and somehow her setting the record straight causes more attention? So she cant a. defend herself, b. apologize for anything, c. set the record straight and d. not sue your arse because you defamed her name with a lie from an obviously shady wannabe SL diva?

Eien seems to be reaching as well and obviously doesnt enjoy the real-world bundled packages that offer free long distance. Because if she did she would get off the dime and make the call to this VALID law firm just as I am sure a few of us have.

Yes, valid. Yes, real lawyers and from the history I found on them, they are pretty substantial and have a great win record. I think it is strange that you and so many of these people on these blogs that just dont agree with a lawsuit coming of this obvious lie to protect your name agree with the freedom to tear it to shit.

Again, I am underwhelmed by the humanity in the room :/

"In any event, no one should get any "libel" warnings, because they are all discussing their concerns in good faith under First Amendment protections without malicious intent"

Ok going back to bed jeeeez you people are still reaching.

[Prokofy Neva]

I didn't change any titles whatsoever. No text has been changed.

And those who *are* making this allegation *also* have protected speech in discussing a matter of concern in good faith.

You, however, are evading IP bans based on my rule that you must use a RL or SL name here to post, so your posts will be removed.