Herman Miller Fights Trademark Infringement in Second Life with “Get Real” Campaign

October 8th, 2007 by Benjamin Duranske

Virtual World News alerted me to this story: Herman Miller (who makes the best, albeit most expensive, chairs in the world) is fighting knock-offs in Second Life by giving away the real thing. Well, the virtual real thing. But not a knockoff. You get the idea.

From the VWN article:

Furniture designer and manufacturer Herman Miller announced that it would be entering Second Life with help from Rivers Run Red. In the real world, Herman Miller has taken aim at knockoff products with its “Get Real” campaign, and it will be bringing the same principle to the virtual world.

It will be offering a collection of 15 pieces for L$300-L$850, or approximately U.S. $1.40 to $3.50, but users that have bought knockoffs in the past will get the new pieces for free. … Those taking advantage of this limited-time, honor-based offer need only delete their old inventory and then “Get Real.”

And from Herman Miller’s in-world advertisement:

Herman Miller is pleased to give you the opportunity to own authentic virtual versions of some of our products. Each is designed to represent as closely as possible its real-world counterpart

This means three things to me. First, big companies are now — finally — starting to pay attention to trademark abuse in Second Life. Second, some of them, like Herman Miller, are going about it the right way, embracing the virtual world and trying to deal with the problem creatively. And third, my Second Life avatar ‘Benjamin Noble’ has a nicer chair than I do right now. A L$500 sixty-three prim chair, but a nicer chair nonetheless. And yeah, I paid for it.