So, Second Life, a weird sort of massively multiplayer game, has been getting an awful lot of press and hype lately, which led some pranksters to create GetAFirstLife.com, a somewhat obvious but still funny satire site.

The fun part is what comes next. In the comments of the parody site, they jokingly invite the almost-inevitable-today “Cease and Desist” letter from Second Life’s publisher, Linden Lab. That’s kind of funny.

Funnier, though, is that Linden Lab replied in order to reject the invitation. In part:

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.

Moreover, 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.

In conclusion, your invitation to submit a cease-and-desist letter is hereby rejected.

Nice move. They get it. Now, to educate the rest of corporate America.