Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but it’s important to protect your creations in the Second Life world. We respect Residents’ copyrights in works they create, and we’d like to tell you about tools you can use to protect your copyrighted content and how we’re working to improve them. As a reminder, you don’t have to register with the U.S. Copyright Office for copyright protection, but registration is useful in supporting your copyright claim. For more on this, visit the Copyright Office website.
Object Inspector Feature
If you’re concerned about infringing copies of your inworld objects, check out the data we’ve made available about when objects were first created or rezzed inworld. This feature is available for objects only (not textures), and should help Residents determine which object came first in Second Life and empower them to better resolve copying claims among themselves. If you right-click on an inworld object and then click More > More > Inspect, you can see the creation date and creator of each prim in a linkset. For more information on this feature, check out Torley’s new video tutorial called “How old is an object?”:
If you find this feature useful or have suggestions, please let us know!
The DMCA Process
Our DMCA policy is also a valuable tool for combating illegal copying. The DMCA provides a specific process for removing content that’s much faster and less expensive than a copyright lawsuit. Otherwise, courts resolve copyright claims – usually only after reviewing evidence about a work’s creation, ownership, permissions given, and defenses like fair use.
It’s important to note that the DMCA process is a legal process. The U.S. Congress created it for online service providers like Linden Lab because it’s hard for them to know whether a work is infringing without a court’s determination. So it’s critical to follow the steps in the DMCA policy.
To make sure DMCA claims are processed quickly, we’ve committed more resources to the process. As part of a more robust process, we’ll be sending an additional status notification. After receiving from you a clear notice that meets the DMCA’s requirements, we’ll send you an email so that you know your claim is in progress. We also notify Residents whose items are the subject of the claim so they have an opportunity to remove the items from both inworld and inventory locations and, if appropriate, submit a DMCA counter-notice. When Residents don’t immediately remove the identified items from these locations, we act to remove them. We then notify you of your claim’s resolution.
To help with information required under the DMCA, we’re also developing a new form for submitting DMCA claims. The goal of the form is to help Residents provide all the necessary DMCA information upfront and reduce the number of claims that require supplementation (which slows down the process because we need to ask the Resident who filed the claim for more information).
It’s extremely important to submit a DMCA claim if you’re unable to resolve your issue by contacting the other Resident. Your DMCA claim not only lets us know about your dispute, it gives us more complete information about “repeat infringers,” or Residents who’ve been notified of infringing activity or had content removed more than twice. Repeat infringers are issued warnings and may be suspended or ultimately banned from Second Life.
CopyBot Infringement – A Terms of Service Violation
Finally, to reiterate our policy on CopyBot: Any use of it to make infringing copies violates the Terms of Service and may result in suspension or banning of Second Life accounts. If you believe that a Resident has used CopyBot (or a similar application) to make infringing copies of your content, please file an abuse report and provide as much information as you can to support your claim. Although technology can’t prevent the copying of data drawn on your screen, we don’t tolerate Residents who seek to profit from infringing use of CopyBot.
We’re sometimes asked why Residents are allowed to have or sell copying devices. The answer is that there are legitimate uses of a copying mechanism. It’s the infringement that we don’t allow and won’t tolerate.
We’ll keep you posted as we continue to work on improving our tools and policies that help copyright owners manage their content in Second Life.
Official Second Life Blog 
WHat can one do if an items has been spread full perms? how can one DMCA every resident that resells your items in a business in a box? Please answer this questions, it’s been bugging many content creators. Often just one copy of an item is stolen, but hundreds of business in a box newbies are reselling it. Do yo have to DMCA them all? Why can’t the infinging texture or objects be blocked?
For the ‘Object Inspector Feature’ isn’t it possible that a creator could cheat the time system by always use a cube they rezzed 2 years ago to start their new creations? Always rezzing a copy of this same one for each prim used in new works would show that they made it 2 years ago and in theory trump any claims that another object similar in world had been created prior?
Can LL determine when and if something like this occurs?
Or, what if a griefer was to start with a full permission object made by a well respected content creator, perhaps a freebie offered, and modify that object and use copies of it to create an entirely new thing? Then a mischievous object could be passed off as created by someone respected. Again in this case can LL determine when the item was in actuality developed by a griefer and not incriminate the innocent creator for the object’s actions?
Yes, why can’t they be blocked? The stolen Naughty Design skins are all over Secondlife, because the creator Lost has given up DMCAing every reseller after hundreds of DMCAs. The DMCAs don’t work, look at all the stolen skins everywhere.
Thank you LL
It’s comforting to see that you care about people’s hard work in SL. I’m excited to hear what future improvements are in store to keep SL a place of creativity.
Can one see the upload date of a texture? Can one see what the UUID is? Can someone DMCA the UUID of an illegal texture?
Is it really gonna be possible to prevent anonymous unregistered kids from copying our stuff and dropping it into a sandbox with full permissions?. “FREE STUFF EVERYBODY! YAY!!”
Well let’s see what happens. But be warned folks – the copybot has progressed and it’s out there.
Well, thanks for at least clarifying your support to copyright protection. This is a “social” enforcement of the rules that I sincerely hope you are able to continue to support — more aggressively, if possible 🙂
I second @2 Alicia. How can we avoid people to somehow get full-perm items (or notecards) that were once given away as freebies but are now being changed and reused to store illegitimately obtained content — knowing that the creator will get blamed?
Someone sold a cimilar object inworld.. i abuse reported it. nothing happened.
It’s nice to see you post something about content theft, but the current system of just removing content on a certain location just does not make much sense. A provider should block ALL acces to copyrighted material and not just on one location. It’s like a website removing the link to the material but still allows acces to it if one just enters the URL of the picture itself, or allowing other websites to link to the material on their webserver.
With the current way of just removing content on one location, thieves just move around their shops to another location, and you can not expect content creators to fly around the grid all day, to see if the some thieves have put up another shop in some other mall.
2 years ago linden lab announced on the blog it would impliment other ways to do something about the theft, and till today nothing of the promised ideas has been implemented or has come close. Just rephrasing the same old story about filling dmca’s (and wait for months) is not going to solve the problem more and more residents are facing. I had expected more from the ‘upcoming blog post’about copyrights.
I’m very dissapointed
Need to enforce the policy along with SLX, OnRez and other SL marketing ground to prevent letting people sell other people’s work by going through screening process before it can be placed on the market.
So uh… how do you determine what is copyright infringing and what is not? If someone brings something new into the SL universe and you duplicate it for competitive means (manually, not copybotted), you are infringing their idea? How far does it go exactly? Since someone brought Snowmobile models and scripts into SL, do they have the right to claim infringement upon anyone else who builds and sells a Snowmobile?
There is hardly any original content in SL anymore, so it’s probably not likely to be concerned, but still…
The words of this post are about as comforting as an unexpected notice from the IRS.
Nice feign there Lindens, but not enough.
YOU need to do your part on DMCA’s and follow the law as well by removing all instances of a stolen item, THIS INCLUDES THE DATABASE, not just in world copies which are easily stored on the alternate account of any individual who makes their money off of stolen content.
YOU need to boot the confirmed thieves instead of just slapping them on the wrist because you don’t want to lose their tier money.
YOU need to act more quickly when proper DMCA’s are filed, and work to prevent the individuals responsible from simply signing up another account and starting over again.
This is NOT about how the content creators haven’t been doing what they need to. Yes, the DMCA process is difficult to understand, but why bother spending the time to go through the process when Linden Lab will not enforce it as it is required to be enforced?
Content theft in Second Life is not out of control because the content creators aren’t being careful. It is out of control because Linden Lab allowed it to get out of control simply because the individuals stealing and reselling content were also paying tier.
Linden Lab is complicit in the theft of content by their inaction, and evidence would lead one to believe that the reason is because they were more interested in the tier payed by thieves than they were enforcing rules that might actually take a little effort to enforce.
This blog does not help content creators who are in trouble because of this. Two years ago you made a lot of promises, but Hulk is right, this blog just rephrases old stuff, and nothing is done. You know the DMCAs don’t work, you know how much stress this causes content creators, but MEH you post just the same old crap. You don’t care about content creators at all, this is just a stupid cover up “look we care people” and then do nothing at all about the real problem.
i totally agree on #1. It is not possible to fill DMCA’s for hundreds of stores that sell stolen content. Most stolen content contain ripped textures uploaded by the thief. These textures can be easily removed from the database (uuid). Can a linden explain to me why this is not done? It is so easy (in most cases – if textures are the ones that are stolen) to stop widespread all over the grid, making items loose all its value (look at naughty designs dante skin – 50% of all residents wear this STOLEN skin – without knowing it).
@14 quoting Hulk
“i totally agree on #1. It is not possible to fill DMCA’s for hundreds of stores that sell stolen content. Most stolen content contain ripped textures uploaded by the thief. These textures can be easily removed from the database (uuid). Can a linden explain to me why this is not done? It is so easy (in most cases – if textures are the ones that are stolen) to stop widespread all over the grid, making items loose all its value (look at naughty designs dante skin – 50% of all residents wear this STOLEN skin – without knowing it).”
Agreed 100%. Can a linden explain to us why this is not done? Where is the responsible Linden?
14 or so replies so far and a number of them have very good points (my reply above excluded, others can judge that).
I wonder if any Lindens will have the guts to reply and challenge #1, #13, #14 and some others?
LauraP,
You say:
“If you believe that a Resident has used CopyBot (or a similar application) to make infringing copies of your content, please file an abuse report and provide as much information as you can to support your claim.”
However, there seems to be a filter in the Abuse Report feature which _specifically_ scans for words such as ‘CopyBot’ and auto-rejects the Abuse Report.
The person attempting to submit the Abuse Report is met with the following popup (screenshot available upon request):
“Dear Resident,
Reports about copyright infringement can only be submitted as described in
http://secondlife.com/corporate/dmca.php.
Reports concerning copyright infringement will automatically be discarded if they are submitted through the
‘Abuse Report’ feature. If your report does not relate to copyright infringement, you may close this window
and finish submitting your report.
Thank you,
Linden Lab”
So, we keep hearing ‘Abuse Report Infringing Use of CopyBot’, yet it is quite obvious that policy-as-expressed-in-code is specifically set up to disallow the very reporting you’re asking of us. To say that this is both mystifying and frustrating is an understatement.
Can you clarify this situation?
Thanks! 🙂
I second queries regarding whether LL is prepared and able to blacklist or remove UUIDs of infringing textures when a DMCA is sent, until such time as a counter-claim is filed.
Presently reports are that LL will simply remove in-world vendors, leaving the person filed against can simply set up shop elsewhere, requiring yet another round of DMCAs. It would be much more effective, in a number of ways, if LL took the time to determine the offending UUIDs in the case of allegedly infringing textures, and blacklisting them.
For those advocating removing all instances of an item from the databases, wouldnt that also remove them from the inventories of customers who bought them from the original creators?
I think I recall reading something in the TOS about not being allowed to use Copybot or similar technologies at all, and ANY use of it that LL detected would result in deletion of your account..
Can I take this opportunity to point out that a handy tool that once had good uses in copyright protection was taken out willingly by the Lindens? See Jira issue VWR-5030.
Of course it is not possible to ‘prevent’things from being stolen. But hey, most of the stolen content link back to one single texture on linden lab’s database. A stolen skin does not ‘contain’a texture and thereby is in my idea not the actual infringing content. The skin simply contains the *link* to the texture on the database. This is where the actual infringing content is located. So theoreticly one should be able to file a DMCA to the texture UUID-location on the asset server instead of the location *inworld*, which theoreticly in my idea only contains a databaselink to the stolen material.
So. do you feel like theres enough demand for you finally addressing this topic? Then why don’t you give us something that works instead of repeating what’s already out there and is proven to NOT solve the problems. And #2 is absolutely right. You can easily fake the creation date by copying and changing old prims to resemble something else. In other words, your advice on how to determine who made something first may lead to false counter-accusations and shows your lack of knowledge of your own system.
thanks for reiteration copyright stuff. so many peeps are just misinformed. i am a copyright nut irl (once paide like $1200 for a font). it helps to get refreshed and read peeps interpretations. thank you 🙂
@ 19 asking “For those advocating removing all instances of an item from the databases, wouldnt that also remove them from the inventories of customers who bought them from the original creators?”
No it won’t remove the legally copies because they have another UUID. Textures which are stolen from clothes and skins need to be reuploaded by the thief, so the stolen ones get a different UUID than the original ones. It will only disable the stolen ones, but NOT the originals.
Totally agree with some of the points being made here – and being side-stepped by the official statement at the top – Linden need to remove ALL the offending copies from SL, not just the vendors at a specific location. Aren’t Linden required to do this by the very DMCA law your quoting here?
There are some Jira suggestions about this issue we should all consider voting for: http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-676 and https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-1732
19 Dahlia Trimble Says:
April 11th, 2008 at 1:00 PM
For those advocating removing all instances of an item from the databases, wouldnt that also remove them from the inventories of customers who bought them from the original creators?
– No, in most cases it does not. This is easy to tell. A thief that uses a program outside second to ‘steal’ a texture, has to re-upload this picture to second life again. This uploaded pictures is *another* texture (although looking identical) than the one that is used in the legit creations of the original creators. Skins for example, do not not really contain the texture itself, but simply link back to one texture on the database (so the real original uploaded texture by the original creator – or the stolen texture by the thief). So removing the thieve’s texture would not hurt any legal copy.
@19: Not sure about prims that have been copied, but many clothing/skin items will have a totally different UUID because of the way the content is stolen. The only people who would lose in that case are the people who purchased the stolen item. This sort of issue would encourage individuals to make sure they buy from a reputable business.
@21: that is a point that a lot of people don’t seem to get. Most, if not all, content creators know for a fact that content theft will never go away completely. But there is something to be said for making it a lot more difficult/expensive to do so. Comparing Second Life® to a real life retail store, what is going on here is effectively letting people just walk into the retail store and walk out, while the store clerks simply say “stop. don’t” from behind the counter.
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A real life lawsuit about an object in a video game that’s similar to yours? That’s absurd.
@19
A copied item will no longer have the original creator’s name or the orginal creation date.
Just one note: The comment about “profiting” — Even if someone copies to “make something free” or “liberate” it — that IS STILL infringement and is not “okay”.
I just wanted to make that point because a lot of people believe that “if i’m not charging for it, it’s OK” — that’s a myth, and courts almost never take into account “whether you made a profit” in infringement cases.
Besides, this would be a ToS issue since it’s likely done for the purpose of damage.
edit to my @31 — I’m not talking about fair use or personal use there. That’s a different story.
By “not for profit” duplicating I absolutely mean “infringing with widespread distribution for the intent to harm”, not fair use like “i really want to change up my skin color” or “i wanna make this gun look cooler”.
Just wanted to say that before people jump on me about fair use.
Granted items that are copies in their *entireity* and all components are stolen and reuploaded would be able to be deleted in many cases without harming customers of legitimate products, but many textures are quite common, and even legitimate ones are shared by multiple purchasers of the textures. Also, stolen objects can contain references to the original textures rather than uploaded copies. Deleting all references to any products that contain legitimate textures in any part may harm other legitimate products that share the same texture. Not all items for sale contain unique textures that are uploaded strictly for them.
Promises made in 2006 on the second life blog about content theft for resisdents younger than 2 years:
http://blog.secondlife.com/2006/02/14/opengl-copying-and-stealing/
http://blog.secondlife.com/2006/11/13/copyrights-and-content-creation-in-second-life/
@29 Chainsword Stealing programs like ‘windows’, ‘photoshop’ and lawsuiting that is equally absurd. Do you really think thats absurd?
This is about people who steal software which costs people real life money/incomes.
For example creating a good skin takes weeks. Without our content creators people would still walk in skins with the quality of newbie skins. Would anyone spend so much time on it without getting payed? No, most couldn’t.
A lot of people need to pay their bills and can’t afford to spend weeks/months on creating something really good if it takes so much time. Most of the highest quality content comes from people who were able to work day on day, week on week on creating and learning, and sadly, many of them wouldn’t be able to if they had to do it for free. Do you think it’s absurd if these people, who often make a living or partial living on their shops, ask for their rights?
27 Neural Says:
April 11th, 2008 at 1:08 PM
@19: Not sure about prims that have been copied, but many clothing/skin items will have a totally different UUID because of the way the content is stolen. The only people who would lose in that case are the people who purchased the stolen item. This sort of issue would encourage individuals to make sure they buy from a reputable business.
This would also add a significant barrier to new business; To have a reputation you must already be in business.
The $L in these cases should be taken from the thief’s account and sent back to the people who got ripped-off, most of whom probably didn’t know they were buying stolen goods.
@1 @2 @3 @4 @5 @9 @14 @15 @16 18 @20 @23 @25 @26 @29 @30 @33 @34
How’s the weather where you are?
I am in agreeance with post #11.
There is little NEW and ORIGINAL to bring into SL.
Using a copybot to steal and then resell someone elses items is wrong YES
Rebuilding something 100% sepcificly to look like the original item to profit from it is wrong YES.
However, what of improvments and making something ones own?
Such as the mentioned snow mobile? Or shoes? or hair?
Should the first person to build something have full claim and rights to that idea or item?
What if they did not invent the item RL? Should they be the only ones allowed to build it?
Also what of textures? If two people both use a serch engine and find the same texture and put it on two different products is that also grounds for copy infringement?
There are so many things not covered in these types of problems and so much gray area. And too many people running around pointing fingers and mud slinging.
#29 – That really depends on the amount of work put into the creation of that object. I am 98% done with a HUD that has 177 objects, more than 200 scripts and well over 150 textures. If this system were stolen YOU BETTER BELIEVE I’d be suing. You expect me to lose six months of work and sit back and take it?
Do I understand LL’s procedure correctly, that someone can sell infringing content and have it removed at least twice before they get so much as a warning, although it’s a violation of TOS?
Most textures that are stolen are clothing and skin textures. These can not be found in google. If 2 people use the same pic they found in google, they are both using someone else’s material that they have no right to.
@151
Too late, sucker!
OMG!
“…LEGITIMATE USES OF COPYING MECHANISMS.”
Good work Linden Lab 🙂
That I understand, clothing and skins are usualy hand made or edited templates that are freetrade/game.
I’ve also been wondering what to do about people using copyrighted images and photoshopping them for things like store logos and such. I’ve been around and spotted qute a few pieces butchered for the uploadrers own use and i know for a FACT the person that holds the RL copyright to that image does NOT like having them used in such a way.
Dahlia Trimble: you have no copyright on textures which are commonly used or from google. If you got your texture from a texture shop or freebie textures box or from google, you cannot ask it to be removed because you don’t own the copyright on it.
The most common theft however happen on skins/clothes/self created textures which are unique, only on these the original creator has the copyright, and only for these he can ask to be removed. In many cases these textures are even registered in real life copyright agencies, so there’s no doubt about who owns them.
Hi Laura,
You should also point out that filing frivolous DMCA claims is perjury. Some SL business owners have tried to use frivolous DMCA’s to cut out competition and attempt to draw sympathy to their “cause,” so it should be made clear that such practices contain legal risk.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070316-victims-fight-back-against-dmca-abuse.html
Thank you.
I was the very first person to log in to the very first second life beta grid. I also am the first person to to create a box. I accidentally allowed others to buy that box for 0L and many people did. That box has been propagated all over second life. It is my view that everyone who has ever copied that box and used it in a commercial product owes me money. I want it now! If I don’t start getting a flood of Lindens within the next 5 minutes, I’m going to delete the uuid of that original box from the database and all subsequent versions of it will disappear.
If you respond to this comment and you copy my original text in the response, you will automatically agree to pay me 1L.
If the UUID for a texture is removed (as suggested in many comments here, wouldn’t that damage legitimate object/body parts that use the same UUID?
The idea behind copyrights is that only the original creator is the one that can use if, if he or she did not give permission to another party or if a person uses it for fair use (this means using it for personal use-not selling/giving it away).
Just because it is simple to copy stuff here, does not make it legal or good in any way. People ripping pictures from google to use them in their own commercial products in secondlife is not legal either. So actions taken from LL’s perspective should not be aimed on those kind of creations either.
LL should , just as any other webhost, not judge whowho’s the original creator, but simply block ALL instances to copyright infringing material if a DMCA is filed (without counter DMCA). Not removing or blocking all instances of copyright infringing material makes them co-resposible for the copyright infringement if they are aware of the infringement (so after receiving the dmca). This is how the rules are according to http://www.copyright.gov
yeah right like linden give a damn BS BS BS
I have reported a woman who took every texture (including ones my husband created by hand in paintshop for ME) from my club and designed her club to look just like mine then told people I copied her and lindens did……NOTHING
This woman pointed out that she owns a sim and as such linden will NEVER punish her, she can do what she wants … seems she was right … own a sim and Linden will help you, everyone else gets ignored.
Simply asking for removal of item by the thief is not good enough.You need to ban that account right away make sure any moneys are removed from that account and if you notice that money has consistantly transfered to another account then same for that account.
@ Bob Dole, if these people have a registered trademark on hese logos, you can abuse report the residents who abuse them, and have the logos removed. The knowlegde base explains how this works. Violated trademarks are removed without a DMCA or even noticing the residents who sells or maluses them.
@ Nidol Slazar
Snowmibiles and scripts fall under ‘patents’ not under ‘copyrights’. The ‘idea’ of making a snowmobile or script’ cannot be copyrighted it can be patented only. Patenting is something entirely different than copyrighting.
My question in #40 refers to this:
” Your DMCA claim not only lets us know about your dispute, it gives us more complete information about “repeat infringers,” or Residents who’ve been notified of infringing activity or had content removed more than twice. Repeat infringers are issued warnings and may be suspended or ultimately banned from Second Life.”
and this:
“Finally, to reiterate our policy on CopyBot: Any use of it to make infringing copies violates the Terms of Service and may result in suspension or banning of Second Life accounts.”
Is it only copying with CopyBot or similar technology and selling that is against TOS? And is that the reason why “repeat infringers” can infringe at least twice before even being issued a warning?
I’ve lately seen a sense of desperation with some avies, they say they “need” such and such item, quite a bit. I’ve also seen an increase in begging, and spam assisted by new “customer service” systems that add people to out-world databases without their consent. It concerns me this rather feverish consumerism, and I wonder if perhaps newer avies were given a better starting kit (such as one might get if you joined through the L WORD portal for example), as well as less stringent buying L limits, if this could somehow lessen this frenzy. The thieves capitalize on this frenzy and pressure. It’s silly that people are so compelled to get a good skin no matter what the ethics, but it’s just how some people are. I don’t know the answer just thinking aloud.
um, one good reason why lindenlab won’t act in many cases is that the reporting system may be open to abuse and inworld drama, where there a very real evidential issues – proof of the alleged infringer’s guilt.
i do not point this out in any disregard for many creators’ sentiments about their creations, but i am also well aware that if a serious proposition arises (by serious i mean no more than that the infringed resident regards is and, more importantly, does something about it), the injured party can and will take steps (even outworld steps) to have their grievances addressed; someone recently subpoena’d lindenlab in a US federal court, to disclose inworld data protected by the ToS, which ToS often frustrate inworld remedies.
i can’t be called a rabble-rouser for pointing these things out, but factors such as these certainly indicate at least the yardstick by which to measure much of secondlife and what goes on in it 🙂
I see so many things being sold in SL as originally created items where i’ve seen those textures they’ve used coming from free texture sites… which are accessible by anyone or even from paying texture sites where anyone can buy the same textures and use it in world. There are only so many ways you can shape, bend or twist a prim! So I expect people to do similar work, it’s bound to happen.
On the copybot note… i’ve seen someone use a copybot – on me – i saw them create a copy of my avetar from head-to-toe… frightful thought… and all i could think of was… why is SL permitting this copybot?
please read *are* for *a* in the first paragraph above . thx 😉
Very true, but what my point here is really, there are hundreds of places to buy belts and shoes and leg warmers and balloons etc etc etc in game. They may have the same shape, but they were built by different people, have different textures and are all dressed up differently.
My problem is SL designer X bashing SL designer Y because the shape of XX item is similar to YY item.
HOWEVER, XX item was designed off a REAL item in the REAL world.
When it comes down to it, there are only so many ways to build a box.
I make jewlery in SL, take a standard captive bead ear ring, there are only so many ways to can make a torus and a sphere. So if company XZY comes scraming at me with their pantys n a bunch going ZOMGAWDDDDD JO00 COPYED MEEEEEEEEEEEE and trys to slap me with an abuse report which way is that going to go since both items were designed from a real item?
@Uccello Poultry and all other residents who worry about UUIDS hurting the legal copies: read the previous posts they answer your question.
Thank you Jenta! I was not aware of this fact.
I would like to know if there is way to talk to the linden(s) resposible for copyright infringement? I’m sure others would like this too.
Yes, as things are now, lawyers could have a field day/year/lifetime in SL, it’s not just theft within the world, also illegal use of artwork from external sources. I have seen art shops that sell frames (read: simple flat prims) with real life artists’ work slapped onto it.
@60 are you saying that all illegitimate copies of any products share no UUIDs with any legitimate products? I didn’t know that. 😦
So typical American babbling about “protecting” their innovations and have monopoly of ideas. First, Copyright exclude ideas, someone can make an identical thing without even know there was something like this before, and that is NOT illegal anywhere in the world, and should not be that in the second life either.
This should be a game where people work together and have fun, and create things together, but instead, everyone work for themself to make profit, and secondlife is going to be the hell after first life. Who could ever image a secondlife where you can’t give your friend an object you own, and by default you can’t even give them things you make yourself, since the default protections is hostile for any form of sharing.
If the human race was like this from the beginning, we should still fight about who has the right to the axe, and we should not be more then monkeys by now.
Nobody can make something that look usable with only new ideas and look, there is always someone that made parts of it first, or the object will look so weird that nobody understand what it is.
Bob Dole, and residents with similar ideas:
Coprights were are talking about here are *exact copies of textures* not similar looking prims and all the things that real life coprights dont work for either. You cannot copyright a simple prim shape or the idea of a shoe legwarmer etc in real life, and so you cannot here.
But if someone uses the excat same texture you legally have a copyright of (especially registered ones which are registered with real life copyright agencies), you should be able to have it removed.
what about texture artist?
59 :
There is a difference between something that may look like it, and something that is completely identical. Alot of music sounds alike, but is in fact different enough to not make it copyright infringement. it is not up to LL to decide what is and what is not copyright infringement. They have no legal right to determine this.
However, if dmca’s are filed they should take down all instances of if no counter dmca is filed. This is exactly what is not happening, and I would really like to know *why* this is not happening.
Could the resposible linden answer this?
#48
Ops! You accidentaly allowed ppl to get that for free?
Accidentaly …
People are not guilty. are they?
Heh… http://www.copyright.gov/ isn’t that for US resis only? Lindens(©®TM))… i’m in Europe, can i register there or i should move to the US to keep making stuff in SL(©®TM)???
Sry bout the characters, but i’m still not sure on what should i use, better safe… 😀
Mig
Is it posible to copy a prim that is nocopy? Is it posible to trans a prim that is notrans? Realy? Did LL go totaly Open Source ? … Thats good news!
I want to reiterate what people have said above. To my knowledge, LL does not currently remove items from asset servers. Not when directly requested in a DMCA notifications. Not even when UUIDs are included.
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First let me say thank you for addressing what is becoming a very serious issue in Second Life. Intellectual property violations are undoubtedly becoming more prevalent, and so reiterating the existing policies are certainly helpful as this topic is more and more on the minds of content creators.
Moving forward however, I think creators would like to see a change in policies that would help them better defend their IP rights. Some here have asked why infringing content is only removed from in-world and not from the servers upon being discovered. As many have stated, the way the DMCA policy seems to be currently enforced leaves something to be desired in terms of completely resolving DMCA takedowns.
Additionally, the perceived anonymity of unverified accounts allow IP rights violators easy cover by simply creating a new, free, unverified account. While we all understand the desire of LL to make SL as accessible to as many people as possible to experiment with, and indeed welcome new residents into SL, this policy in many ways contributes to the problem of IP rights violations. This is by no means an indictment of all unverified accounts. Certainly there are countless honest individuals using unverified accounts in SL, but the policy allows those with nefarious intentions to wreak havok with IP rights.
The jira proposal here: http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-1732 is a starting point to examine this issue, and as it currently stands would allow new users to experiment with SL and experience nearly all the world has to offer, but removes access to some features (texture uploads, etc.) for unverified accounts. To gain access to those features all a resident has to do is provide some basic information to become verified (note that the account would still be a free account). A revise in policy such as this would make it more difficult for IP rights violators to slip easily from one account to the next.
Another proposal in the jira: http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-468 adds a resize only permission to objects, making the prim copiers that prey on full-mod permissions useless.
Finally this jira item: http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-1869 asks for LL to periodically publish statistics on DMCA filings just as they do now with many other economic and population statistics. This measure would give LL the opportunity to show content creators and other interested residents a clearer picture of how the DMCA process works and how effective the process is in dealing with IP rights violations.
The important thing here is that there are many suggestions in the jira on how to combat IP rights violations, and perhaps even more important is the fact that the requests highlighted above are policy changes that are relatively simple to implement. These are all just starting points in the discussion that needs to happen between LL, content creators and third-party providers (see http://www.SLPTO.com as an example) to provide content creators with stronger tools that allow them to defend their IP rights more effectively, while still balancing the rights of the larger populace of SL consumers (residents).
Content creators are the keys to economic engine that drives SL. We want to have a civil discourse with LL about what can be done to better protect IP rights and discourage IP rights violations.
LL, please open a dialog with content creators to talk about this issue and come to the table with an open mind and an eye toward providing real solutions. Clearly we will never be rid of IP infringement in SL, but because the problem can’t be solved completely doesn’t mean steps shouldn’t be taken to make it more difficult to accomplish.
The tools you’ve already given content creators are a great start. Now let’s see what else can be done.
I’ll note that as far as I’ve heard, LL can temporarily blacklist textures and perhaps objects, rather than just permanently remove them from the database. And if they can’t in fact do this, they really ought to work in that functionality, because it seems the only sane approach to complying with the DMCA and the various responsibilities entailed in claiming the safe harbor privilege.
@64 Dahlia Trimble
“@60 are you saying that all illegitimate copies of any products share no UUIDs with any legitimate products? I didn’t know that. ”
In items like clothing and skins its not possible to copy the textures with the same UUID. So all illegal copies have a different UUID. 90% of the thefts are this kind of theft, reuploads. Linden Labs can tell the difference, and can remove all stolen copies textures without harming the original ones, but they don’t.
(quoting)
LL should , just as any other webhost, not judge whowho’s the original creator, but simply block ALL instances to copyright infringing material if a DMCA is filed (without counter DMCA). Not removing or blocking all instances of copyright infringing material makes them co-resposible for the copyright infringement if they are aware of the infringement (so after receiving the dmca). This is how the rules are according to http://www.copyright.gov
(end quote)
Accoring to copyright.gov, this is illegal, especially since linden labs earns money on the stolen copies.
In the few cases where a similar UUID would be used, no content creator would want to have their own objects destroyed, creators are not crazy. It already is techically possible to make an object for sale, that which the original creator can delete from someone after they bought it, but is this ever done? No.
http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-4970 would give a simple fix for similar UUID theft, which would not harm any products customers bought, its a great idea to stop ‘similar uuid theft’
To add to my previous comment: under my understanding of the DMCA, Linden Lab *should* remove all infringing content from the server, not just individual objects. They have been avoiding doing so, so far, even when directly requested in a DMCA notification. I do not know what the reason is.
A while back I filed this issue about the situation:
http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-1446
So far there has been no response to this issue.
They can blacklist objects for certain, since I’ve seen it happen before with PN weaponry. When you try to rez the object, it just says it cannot be found in the database.
You REALLY should consider creating an SL Copywrong Board, which looks at people’s complaints and decides which is the unfair copy in SL.
On a person’s first offense, the item is removed from the world’s inventory. On a second offense, the person is suspended for a few days, as in any other AR. On the third offense, the person is banned and all his holdings are auctioned off.
Considering all the time and cost of future DCMA actions, when the lawyers on both sides drag you into court, creating an inworld system to handle such matters simply and fairly without having to involve the courts is in your own best interest. And it is in the interest of all your clients as well.
Anybody can register on copyright.gov. However, if LL does not remove stolen content for some reason (confirmed by Beam Ray), while they are capable of doing it (confirmed by Nidol Slazar).
I have had several textures and builds and items copied and ripped-off! I have also given tons of items away as freebies to newer players to use FOR PROFIT! I understand some peoples complaints about piracy and items being copied. But I also belive alot of what is out there folks is just copies of old stuff that has been re-textured and redesigned. However this does force Inonvation and creation of newer and better designs,skins,textures and the like! Besides there are 2 players in this blog who are complaining about copy-right infrindgement lol and I know the items you mean BECAUSE I TAUGHT YOU TO BUILD THEM! So those of us who taught you guys how to do things and you whine when some one uses the knowledge we shared with you for free shame on you!
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yes, all the Jira entries for limiting prim duplicators and all that stuff… how about we start in Real Life and ban all CD/DVD burners, iPods and potable player and just about anything that can copy anything else?
Shesh. Let’s punish the masses at large to placate a few because of an even smaller minority. It’s like the Voice-haters: Remove the voice capability from SL (and punish EVERYONE) instead of just turning it off when you don’t want it.
It’s the exact same argument from MPAA vs. SONY when the VCR was released. Sony won because though there are infringing uses, there are more legitimate uses.
If your stuff is even worth stealing, it will get stolen. So 1) don’t be full of yourself, it’s a 95% chance your stuff isn’t worth notice from the thieves. 2) If it is good enough to be noticeable and stolen, it WILL get stolen. So find another way to lock it down and then file DMCA.
You can lock anything down tighter than a drum. So the trade-off is: piss-off your customers because you are so paranoid and full of yourself that you think your stuff is good enough to be stolen, or take that risk and keep your customers happy.
There are ways to make something modifiable without mod rights on it. Do a little research.
This posted is among the best I’ve seen in a long time and call me a fanboi if you’re in an insulting mood, but I stand with Laurap Linden and the Linden Lab policy on this one.
@83
The best blog post here, agree with you 100%. If its worth stealing they will some how figure it out! but 95% of the stuff here inst worth the time! And correct Learn,Learn,Learn. The rest of us had to.
Copied content (textures and prims) can be removed without affecting the original creators items. The objects have a different uuid.
People who have paid for pirated items have no more right to keep it than people who buy pirated dvd movies. If you are caught with them you loose them.
Secondlife will die a slow death if the content creators stop making new stuff. Linden Labs must come down hard on stolen content each and every time.
Darling. (content creator)
Ari; its easy to protect a prim copyer to enable it to *only* be able to copy prims with full perms. No need to make huge drama about banning all, a few simple measures could be done to protect the *illegal* copies. (like add to the copy script: only allow the copy of full perm items)
As far as the 95% goes, the 5% people who are beeing stolen from, have a right to complain. People like Lost Therean and X2 have been ripped off, their items spread ass full perm freebies, 50% of the newbies walking around in their stolen skins without even knowing it. Even you understand it’s not posible to DMCA every reseller, everyone knows that. Now you may not care about these people, but I think its kind of childish of you to say “oh its not me beeing ripped of” so who cares about the people that DO get ripped off.
The people who do get ripped off are the creators we all love, the ones who made secondlife today like what it is now and who produce the best looking items. Without them there would be no quality items (even you state: quality items get ripped) and people would still be looking like crappie newbies.
I think you are beeing horribly selfish here.
Well said Razor, spot on.
Thanks, everyone, for your comments.
@1 — Your question is a very good one. The DMCA process can certainly be unsatisfying for this situation. We’re considering tools to better address this, and I think that Gwyneth Llewelyn’s point (@7) is an excellent one. This is about “social enforcement” of rules where Residents should be responsible for respecting each other’s content and have the right incentives to do so. Although it involves some effort, the DMCA process does create the right incentives. After being warned, a Resident who’s repeatedly subject to DMCA claims may be suspended or banned. So those who don’t intend to infringe will start paying attention to copyrights, and those who do intend to infringe will end up having all known accounts banned. And, kudos to the content creators who ran the intellectual property awareness campaign. Efforts like these will also help with social enforcement.
@17 — Thanks for pointing this out. We will change this auto-response text. Claims that another Resident is using CopyBot to make infringing copies _should_ be submitted as abuse reports. Claims requesting removal of certain infringing content should be submitted through the DMCA process. I hope this explanation helps.
Laurap, could you please give an answer to this one:
To add to my previous comment: under my understanding of the DMCA, Linden Lab *should* remove all infringing content from the server, not just individual objects. They have been avoiding doing so, so far, even when directly requested in a DMCA notification.
We like to know (it’s been asked here several times): why don’t you delete the UUIDs of stolen content? Why?
A lot of issues here …but no answers.
Blacklisting UUID’s will not really help as the thieves can upload 1,000’s of copies of say a skin. There is just no way a content creator can fight against that.
If big money companies like Microsoft, Adobe (/me wonders how much content in SL was created using a stolen version of photoshop???), shoot the entire movie/music industry, can not stop digital copying how can a content creator in SL, or even LL’s themselves stop it?
I think the best thing we content creators can do, is to do our best to educate the consumers.
Another idea is for someone to set up a “Certified Original Content” program.(C)tm(R) (&@%#)…. not a clue how that would work… somebody smarter than me would have to figure that out. 😉
I will ask Chez what Intellectual property is, what law is that?.
Listen to Richard Stallman, he will learn you some news, there are patent and copyright and trademark and so on, they apply to different things.
Even if someone make an object so identical so it can be taken for the “original” , it’s not for sure a copy. If I make a white box 0.5×0.5×0.5 someone can for sore say I made a copy, but it is no copy , since I made it myself before I saw someone else make it,
and there is no law that prevent me from doing it.
The current system do not give freedom to all, is will not give freedom to them that will give freedom. The one that spend time to make a product that includes scripts and sell it so the buyer can see the code will for sure get it stolen by someone that use the code and sell it without perms, and the author will never be able to claim it was stolen.
The feature to be able to “protect” code inside objects is hostile to opensource, and will be an advantage for them who don’t agree with it, so the free software and opensource software advocates will be the big losers here and the closed source and IP fanatics will get the money, all knowledge, and share nothing back.
If it was impossible to hide the code, or set no copy, no transfer, no mod , the innovations should explode, since peoples should be able to have fun, and combine knowledge from each other, and when one developer quit, the contributions will live on and add value for all, instead of just end with that person.
Get a job where you can make money, and enjoy this as a community where there are other values, at was after all announced as a fantasy world.
Look how it is now, it’s starting to be as in real life where all systems are incompatible with other vendors products, and as the customer I’m out of power, have no control over the things I buy, and is at best a consumer to products that may work , but with one vendor that have monopoly on upgrade and support.
Whetever we say that are here for fun, the only thing that is important is the minimal downtime for mega shop owners, and that we can login so they have customers.
Yes, why? Why don’t we get an answer to this question? We all know that “social enforcement” doesn’t works, just look around how many newbies wear a stolen skin.
Why don’t you agree that your current policies are failing? Why don’t you give us a honest and straight answer to the question: why don’t you remove UUIDS of stolen content.
Shaira Babii a white box 0.5×0.5×0.5 would have no comercial value your point is moot.
Wow, I never understood what the inspect tool was! That’s amazing! 😉
/quote
Blacklisting UUID’s will not really help as the thieves can upload 1,000’s of copies of say a skin. There is just no way a content creator can fight against that.
/end quote
Blacklisting DOES help, since it will stop the massive spread of stolen content. Just look at the stolen X2 and Naughty skins, 50% of the newbies has a stolen skin FOR FREE. You can get stolen Nyoko bodyoil FOR FREE. And stolen RAC hair FOR FREE. Why would you buy a legal item if you can get a stolen one for FREE?
That hurts the original contents more than a thief which has a small shop somewhere on a lonely sim. Noone can compete with FREE copies of thier own content. Original items lose value when people can get them for FREE anywhere. In the end creators will stop creating and go get back to their normal jobs but where does that leave secondlife? No more new good content. GREAT. Lets all become clones and wear the same stolen freebie items forever.
“We also notify Residents whose items are the subject of the claim so they have an opportunity to remove the items from both inworld and inventory locations and, if appropriate, submit a DMCA counter-notice. When Residents don’t immediately remove the identified items from these locations, we act to remove them. We then notify you of your claim’s resolution.”
you kind of forgot the part where you have a look wether the claim is justified…
@lauraplinden
Why don’t you remove stolen content from the asset server?
Yes, concerned, you have right , but it was just a simple example, but I have paid for objects that is not so far from that (tip jars), and most of them is not in the class of art , but copies of objects from the real world.
The tools we have in SL make it possible to by accident create new objects that look as existing objects, so maybe you all talk about art or very complex design, anyway,
copyright is very different for music, art, publications, objects.
Patent is something very different to copyright
and protected design is also a different thing, just as a protected trademark.
But if I see someone with a nice piersing I can do the same, or make my hair the same,
or change my skin the same, or change my shape the same, no laws exist for that.
lauraplinden.
You said in your comment that @7 made a good point. How? All she said is that it is that your post was a social reinforcement. She then commented that there needs to be more aggressive action taken on copyright. Then asked a question (which was ignored).
Seems to me there was some VERY selective reading there on your part.
@92, Social responses actually can work, there just hasn’t been too much of a concentrated and coordinated effort in SL so far, nor any infrastructure to support it.
I think that social measures should be given a chance where technology isn’t capable; really both of them working in tandem can help mitigate (not eliminate, but definitely mitigate) these issues and the damage caused by them.
I don’t think very many content creators are even looking to limit fair use. We’re talking about real cut-and-dry nefarious and harmful actions here; not the freedom to customize yourself.
The solutions won’t be found in a day, and they won’t be a panacea, but I do think we can get to a point where SL’s society at large doesn’t condone, support, or permit widespread infringement as a tool for harm, or gains on the backs of others. The issue isn’t about fair use. Fair use will be supported. It’s *unfair use* that is the issue here.
This really is new territory. Comparing it to cases ‘in the wild’ isnt really fully appropriate. We can make all of the allegories we want, few of them will actually fit Second Life.
Technical measures (such as Inspect, and possibly in the future, others, which can substantiate authorship) working in concert with social measures can lead to a survivable, sustainable, viable environment without undue limits on the freedoms to customize and enhance.
I think it’s good that Linden Lab has finally said something about this. There’s still a lot of work to do; but I think it can be done.
@98,
There are people who do create pure and original art in SecondLife; people who don’t simply import from the real world.
They may not be the majority, but the fact that they’re small in number shouldn’t invalidate their voices.
@2, 22 Actually, when you Inspect an object, you can see the creator and creation date of each prim in the object individually, so simply attaching and older prim as the Parent will not hide the original information. You’d have to replace each prim.
@51 Owning a sim, or having tier does not exempt anyone. Everyone is held to the exact same standard when it comes to ToS/CS and DMCA claims, regardless of whether they are paying customers or not. Claims to the contrary are simply false.
@lauraplinden: How are we suppose to deal with people reselling stolen items directly from inventory or simply handing out full perm freebies. There is no “location” we can DMCA.
Once a full perm item is spread, this is where the real damage is done. LL SHOULD be blocking/deleting the item from asset server. Why isnt this done?
Several people have asked so far and you simply ignored it.
@90 how can a content creator in SL, or even LL’s themselves stop it?
(If big money companies like Microsoft, Adobe (/me wonders how much content in SL was created using a stolen version of photoshop???), shoot the entire movie/music industry, can not stop digital copying how can a content creator in SL, or even LL’s themselves stop it?)
the difference between companies like windows and adobe and linden labs:
The stolen copies of Adobe and Windows are on hundreds of servers, webhosts and they are in dozens of countries: there is not one person who can remove them all at once, but still they try and sue everyone who spreads it. If they could remove it all at once, they would.
Linden Labs owns its asset server itself and can remove all copies at once, because it owns all of Secondlife and has accesss to all that it hosts. They CAN remove all stolen content at once. We are puzzled about why they don’t.
@104 – Right or wrong, and i’m just *guessing* here, absolutely just guessing, but possibly that they dont want to set a precedent that they feel they can’t support going forward; or the possibility of a technical morass when blacklists grow too large.
There are probably ways around this, too, that could be looked into. But it very well may not be a ‘moral’ issue, but more of a ‘manageability’ one.
Not to say that maybe there shouldn’t be a way that it can be done, i just am guessing that right now, at this particular moment in time, it’s a question of feasibility.
However, I think LL taking a vocal stand on this is pretty important and let’s continue to walk down that road: can’t always get 100% of what you want or need 100% of the time;
but it sure is a hell of a lot better than nothing.
please delete my previous post, it was a copy paste mistake
Webhosts can remove stolen content from their hosting server, even if the blacklists grow large so why can’t Linden Labs. Technically it is the same, remove a violating item (texture) from the server that hosts it.
FNKY owners posts:
@lauraplinden: How are we suppose to deal with people reselling stolen items directly from inventory or simply handing out full perm freebies. There is no “location” we can DMCA.
Once a full perm item is spread, this is where the real damage is done. LL SHOULD be blocking/deleting the item from asset server. Why isnt this done?
Several people have asked so far and you simply ignored it.
— end quote —
Laurap, why did you ignore it?
@102 :
“Blue Says:
April 11th, 2008 at 3:13 PM
@2, 22 Actually, when you Inspect an object, you can see the creator and creation date of each prim in the object individually, so simply attaching and older prim as the Parent will not hide the original information. You’d have to replace each prim.”
Right, but I think you’ve missed the point – copybot, and similar devices, create an exact duplicate of an object uising your prims. It would not be much of a stretch to have it create a complete duplicate using a prim that you created some time ago, and placed inside the scripted copybot type object, thereby creating an object made entirely of prims you created 2 years ago, and thereby making it appear that you created the content first.
The point is, if someone really wants to copy someone else’s product with immunity, they could do it this way, and the DMCA process would bacfire horribly on the original content creator.
@lauraplinden
Yes ..please define WHY stolen content is not removed or blocked from the asset server? Also, there are no ways we can inform 1000’s of newbies that come to SL each day that there are ‘stolen items’. Yes, ther are compains in some stores we have to support ‘real creators’, but there is no way most resisidents can distinguish real or stolen material. There is no lable saying ‘real’or ‘stolen’unfortunately.
Compared to second life, it is way easier in real life to distinguish stolen items from real items. You cant go to a well known mall in real life and find fake gucci shops that sell fake gucci or clothing or prada shoes. We should all be aware this is second life and that some things simply different in second life, and may not workhere.
However, we should also not limit ourself with the limitations we have in real life. Would Sony music dmca a webserver that hosted 90% of their stolen justin timberlake songs on the internet? OF COURSE they would. Would this webserver disable all acces to these files? HELL YES they would. Unfortunately for Sony all illegal Mp3’s are stored in different locations on internet, making it very hard to trace down every one of them.
Compare this to second life, where the lindens have acces to all stored data and where most stolen items link back to a one or two textures on their asset server? This problem should be easily fixed. Of course there will still be theft, but the damage it does will be limited. Every illegal stolen item, problably one of the best items in their kind, is not only affecting 5% of the best creators.. No,ALL CREATORS now have to comete with FREE items of top quality. This does not simply affect 5%..it effects all creators and the whole SL economy
@107
Differences in architecture, I think. Webpages aren’t really “rezzing and re-rezzing” all over ISPs server; they’re mainly static.
I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be a way to do this… But, I mean, SecondLife *SHOULD* have five-nines of uptime. They’re working on it…
I’m also not saying that some novel solution may not be found shortly down the road. Just that we’re not there yet.
I’d love for what you’re saying to be possible, feasible, and well managed. It’s all stuff that the community has to look at, hash out and figure out.
It’s gonna take some work. But I think there are folks, both in the community and in the Lab who are willing to do it. That’s the important thing right now: the dialogue has been opened in earnest.
So really, let’s continue that and see what can be done. Solutions like this are better done -right- than hastily, since if they’re implemented wrong, the kickback can completely invalidate them and cause the community to have to start from step zero again. It’s a process.
Ed: that only acounts for prim objects, but not for textures. Most stolen items are texture based. The textures have a different UUID. Removing those will stop exact copies.
Content creators aren’t stupid, if they know someone has spread an *exact copy* they can mention it in the DMCA, and if its a texture with a diffrent UUID they can mention it as well (and linden labs also isnt stupid they can compare things too). But the big question is: why aren’t stolen contents blocked or removed from the asset server? Why does linden labs keeps hosting stolen content to everyone?
@108
That’s not how copybot works, nor how Inspect works.
Only the original prim would show that create date, not the ‘proceeding’ prims.
So you’d have an object with one “old” prim and a bunch of new ones, as compared to a bunch of “old” prims.
I have one
What about content that creators CLAIM is their copyright, for instance i know that a lot of textures shops use Filter Forge, Or Genetica or some other tool to make their textures, some are even direct copies of standard filters.
I found this out by noticing a lot of standard textures, ones i could easilt create using these programs, they were in-world with very strong copyright notices stewn about the shop, given that they are in fact using filters that essientially are free to users of these programs what would happen if I created identical textures ?
MaL
@100
“I think it’s good that Linden Lab has finally said something about this. There’s still a lot of work to do; but I think it can be done.”
– FINALLY? Read back and see the links i posted about a post they did 2 years ago (!) about theft. There has not been one littlte improvent AT ALL about this. It’s a total shame we get repeated these same rules over and over again like we’re the ones that do not seem to get them.
@113 MaL:
In that case, it’d probably go with the claim, counterclaim, dispute process.
It’d be outside of LL, but what you’re talking about is essentially a procedural texture…
In such a case, the best outcome would be if both claimants met and found out that they both used the same off-the-shelf procedural function to create a texture.
I don’t see a *whole* lot of passion to the point of DMCA takedown in the case of two people using the same procedural or default filters.
Remember that you have to reveal your RL information when filing a DMCA, and the same when filing a counterclaim.
This in itself tends to trim the frivolity off of it to some extent.
MaL, if a filter gives *exactly* the same result to everyone then the copyright is owned by the one who created the filter, not by the shop.
If it’s somewhat similar, but not exact, copyrights would not apply.
If you in court would claim things you dont own are yours you could get a fine or end up in jail, so it won’t be used ligtly
@ 95
“Blacklisting DOES help, since it will stop the massive spread of stolen content. Just look at the stolen X2 and Naughty skins, 50% of the newbies has a stolen skin FOR FREE.”
Do you think the creators of X2 has the time to track done thousands of UUID’s and submit a DMCA claim for each and every copy some thief uploaded? (each with a unique UUID), sure blacklist one UUID, the thief has another 999 versions to put out there.
“You can get stolen Nyoko bodyoil FOR FREE. And stolen RAC hair FOR FREE. Why would you buy a legal item if you can get a stolen one for FREE?
Well you don’t use stolen items… I don’t use stolen items even if they are free…. EDUCATE THE CONSUMER and they will not do it.
@104
“Linden Labs owns its asset server itself and can remove all copies at once, because it owns all of Secondlife and has accesss to all that it hosts. They CAN remove all stolen content at once. We are puzzled about why they don’t.”
But they have no way of knowing if a particular UUID is a stolen texture…. unless the creator tells them. Lets say Mr. Bad Guy uploaded a stolen texture 100 times to 100 diffrent accounts. Do you have the time to track them all down?
As i said I think the best way to help this issue it to educate the consumers.
It would also be worthwhile holding on to original textures saved in PSD/Riff formats etc to retain any layering as these also contain info on creation dates and will show how textures were created.
I think blocking stolen material UUID’s will help dmca’s request to be handled quicker too. Now one creator has to file dmca’s for every single (same) copy of his work, just sold on another location, often even by the same person. If UUIDs are removed, all (same) stolen content would only need one single DMCA. This would not cost time, this would save time.
Reading all the posts here, it looks like 90% here dont know the exact laws on this issue, or are in doubt. (me included)
I am also wondering about this scenario:
A American person makes something really cool.
Lets say, some Swedish person copys it.
How would you ever drag the swedish person to court?
I doubt that will ever happen, from copying something in SL…?
@101
Yes, I know it is good designers here, I’m a customer to them too, but I hate to read about IP rights , a messed up word that nobody understand.
It’s just about moral and ethic.
If someone distribute a copy of my xxxxL$ shape and skin , so I see myself everywhere,
I should agree with you all instantly, but in most cases, rules like this, and the features that will come with it will be used by creators of common things and attack creative peoples when they do something they think is new.
Instead of the trying to implement RL laws in SL, maybe Lindens just could act as moderators, and stop adfarmers, land cutters that harass citizens, and they who harass designers by abusing their products, just a “be o good guy or leave” rule.
Why make it so complicated so it’s impossible to make anything that everyone agree to.
@104
Very correct, this world can be controlled, it should be very fast to remove things that really is an act of one evil person, just as the Black rotating blocks with a yellow smiley we saw in nearly every region before, but there is always a grey zone, and that is the big problem.
@120,
I’m not sure how it would -end-, but since currently SecondLife operates out of the US, US laws would apply.
You may not be able to drag them to court. But you likely would be able to get the DMCA takedown to stand in the US, and therefore, in SL.
The above is a guess, as I Am Not A Lawyer… but i’m sure someone could talk to one to find out.
@ 95
quote: “But they have no way of knowing if a particular UUID is a stolen texture…. unless the creator tells them. Lets say Mr. Bad Guy uploaded a stolen texture 100 times to 100 diffrent accounts. Do you have the time to track them all down?”
ok..compare: Now maybe 1 person person stole the X2 skin. If the texture UUID would be blocked, it would need 1 dmca. Then all stolen X2 items are removed all around the grid.
The way it is now: Thousandssss of people have to be dmca’d that are selling them. After that they put it up on another location and start selling them again. Then you need to dmca ALL of them again because of caurse, linden lab does nothing if you just sell illegal items, only if you keep selling them over and over again.
Is it just me , or does the last thing sound a *bit* impossible?
Come on..let’s be realistic.
@ MR Little
the freebie version of the X2 that has spread is most likely has just one UUID, because its the same version everywhere. So he would have to file 1 DMCA just once to get thousands of illegal copies removed.
The massively spread stolen freebies are a threat to shops, not a small shop somewhere that noone knows of, and that is deleted before it even has a chance to grow big.
If a thief has to reupload a texture 999 times, and has to rebuild his shop 499 times with a new alt because after every two DMCAs he would be kicked/banned, he would not be much of a threat because his shop would never get big that way.
If it doesnt pays off much, people have less reason to steal. Its the same in the real world.
Educating people does not help. Does it help in the real world? Did theft stop, robbery, downloading illegal MP3s stop because people know that it’s illegal and are educated? No, people don’t care, they still do it. So why would it work here?
@121,
Because the problem itself is complex, and while simple solutions may be the most desireable to some, they likely will cause more problems than they alleviate. It’ll require a nuanced response.
I don’t think that “most” content creators are out to attack anyone. I’ve been in the content creator community for four years now, and I haven’t seen very much strongarming or attacking at all — for the most part, people just want to remain viable.
I will have to join in to the chorus of why not remove the uuid. A big percentage of stolen content is stolen once uploaded once then spread across the grid as freebies and/or businesses in a box. DMCA’s are for taking things off a server which you are not doing you are simply taking the links down and leaving the stolen content.
Absolute prevention isn’t possible and we all have seen that dcm is ineffective BUT that doesn’t mean you get to ignore when someone steals something. This is like walking into a store and shoving your pockets full of cd’s and walking out. Then when you get stoped at the door all the store owners do (LL) is make you put down what is in your hands and don’t make you get rid of the cds almost falling out of your pockets (inventory) and telling you “if you do this two or three more times we might bare you from this store… if you are wearing the same jacket”. (aka an alt). You may not be able to stop the stealing but you sure can do more to punish the offenders.
And I must say becoming a creator in sl is the fastest way to stop you from stealing music and software. You learn the other side of the story and see that it isn’t just money it is seeing other people taking claim for your work. Since coming to sl I have seen the RIAA’s side and still say they are wrong in there strategy and are in general evil gits BUT people should not steal anything even if it is in 0’s and 1’s and we have a right to try and protect what is ours.
Why should it matter if I use pencil and paper to make art or a tablet and photoshop. If someone steals my work they are still taking it WITHOUT permission. If I want to give it away i’ll give it away. I’ve given things away. I’ve contributed to open source projects and free content projects. But that is done because I wanted to not because someone stole it and put it in a freebie. Giving money to one of those Santa’s ringing bells for charity is one thing. Having Santa hit you over the head with that bell and steal your money to put it into charity is another thing.
If I dont bang you with my bell, you don’t give enough. I *need* that money.
**bang bang**
“Santa” TM, You have besmirched my good name. I am going to sue you and The Weekly World News TM for 50 zillion lindens TM. You will be able to read about it on CNN TM or Fox TM. I hope to publish a book about it. Maybe someone like Viking TM or Penguin TM will be interested.
No way, I will counterfile you and publish a book about THAT. And you will pay me tons of money for compensation. I will DMCA you and send a virus to your asset server and DESTROY IT ALL.
Two thoughts on this:
1. Items such as CopyBot (to the best of my knowledge)have “legitimate use” ONLY if they are being used to copy one’s own copyable, modifyable inventory. So it *is* possible for LL to regulate such things simply by checking the item being copied has full owner perms. If not, LL should stop such dead in its tracks rather than leaving land owners to use resource-consuming and expensive bot protection devices.
2. I appreciate the info above, especially on how the DCMA process works. But one of the biggest problems that have existed to protecting one’s work has interestingly come from Second Life itself changing permissions on object.
This problem has recently begun showing up in items that are Mod/Copy in inventory that suddenly turn NOMOD/NOCOPY when rezzed to ground. In the past, permissions have turned from nomod/nocopy to mod/copy, just the opposite (and far worse).
SL should never, ever change a permission status, for any reason without direct command from the owner (or scripted by the creator). Yet this problem has existed for quite some time. It is very irritating for me to rez a mod/copy/notrans item to do some work on it, only to have it go nomod/nocopy the moment it hits the ground.
If we want our work protected, we need to have Linden Lab’s cooperation in fixing permission-changing problems.
The debate will rage on. They is NO satisfactory anser that will satisfy everyone. Admit it. In all of it, that is the only truth.
If you want UUID’s blacklisted – make a list of the UUIDs to blacklist. Lindens don’t have time to spend a half day hunting down the UUID of the stolen version of your product. You want them to kill it, then give them all the UUIDs to kill. And, as it has been said before – there are likely multiple UUID copies that you can’t possibly be aware of them all. SL is a BIG place.
As for “50% of newbies” this or that – please stop exaggerating. Stop raising your voice when you should really just reinforce your argument. You have no idea how many newbies are running around with stolen anything. And the fact is, they don’t even know it themselves.
THAT IS THE PROBLEM. Most people would not buy something from a vendor if they KNEW it was stolen. MOST people.
If your product is stolen – Congratulations, Your’s was actually worth the effort and risk. Everyone else, you could only hope your stuff was that good.
For the ones whose stuff was stolen (X2 skin creator, etc.) – I’m sorry for your loss. But the fact remains, if your stuff is good and someone wants to steal it – they will. So – GIVE IT AWAY. The newbies that wear it will buy more (how many people only have ONE skin in their inventory after a couple months? And, if they never do – it’s no loss, they are cheapskates anyway and will always look to find freebie stuff.)
The point is this – you can waste energy arguing about it, or you can redirect that energy to NEW things and find better ways to protect it against theft, and if not protect it against theft, then to have it show itself as an ilegal (or not official) copy version.
I have had products turn up out there being sold that are either copies or knock-offs (by someone I know – who had full perm copies as we had worked together before.) So I ‘retired’ those items and let them go for freebies. I create newer and better products. Business goes on.
I am only saying these are my answers for me. You must find your own. But to stress and argue over it is a waste of your own energy that you can put to better use.
If anything in SL causes me stress (even grid failures for crying out loud) – then I need to reevaluate my priorities and remember – even if it’s not a game, it’s not first life or the end of the world, either.
I strongly suggest you do the same.
I really support removal of UUIDs showing etc, also DMCAs should lead to a removal of the item in the DATABASE.. thats why UUIDs are for, right? And not only from a single wall in a store in a 16sqm resell shop. Imagine all those X2 and Naughty skins as said above, if removed the ripped ones in the DATABASE…. imagine all those thief supporters that bought them…wearning a “image missing” skin? That would be awesome.
This is a very good move, and substantial advances help for copyright holders. Particularly the mods to the DMCA notice filing.
People need to be clear on what copyright is. It covers proper works that have artistic merit, and that are not “useful” items. In either words, you can’t copyright a prim because there is no artistic merit in that, just moving a bunch of sliders and typing in numbers which anybody can do, and secondly the prim itself is a useful item, much like a knife and fork are. But multiple prims, and with copyright textures on, will as a whole, be a work in their own right, much like a sculpture is.
The copyright holder has the sole right to use, and authorise to use, the work, copies of, derivatives of and to publicly display. That means you cannot modify without permission either or copy publicly displayed works. This is despite what many people mistakenly believe that 25% or whatever change to a work makes it no longer copyright – WRONG. The copyright holder has sole right to authorise derivative works. If such authorisation is granted, the copyright holder retains copyright on the used portions, and the new creator that on the new portions. If the work has been obtained illegally, then they lose all copyright on the portions they have created.
Public display is very important. Many people are under the illusion that is something is on public display it is fair game and not infringement. WRONG. Again, the copyright holder has sole right to publicly display a work. Things are only in the public domain when the copyright has expired. So the current craze for copying a profile pic and displaying it on a prim are an infringement. The profile pic is a copyright work, and only the copyright holder has the right to publicly display it (and is granted use to LL to copy and display as part of the distribution process). Therefore taking that image, making a copy of it and publicly displaying it on a prim is an infringement. Such tools should be banned.
Also many people think commercial use has to be made of it. WRONG. Any copying, outside those for Fair Use, is wrong and an infringement, whether you sell it or not. That’s the same as if you make a copy of a CD for your own use. That is still an infringement whether you sell it or not. Fair Use does not include for personal use.
Copyright is international, covered by the Berne Convention, and all signatory countries, which is virtually every one, including China and Russia, because adhering to the Berne Convention is a prerequisite for membership of both the WTO and the EU. As such, the basic minimum rights for copyright holders are laid down and identical in each country. Copyright protection is on creation, and no registration is required, even in the US. In the US, and only applying to US citizens, not foreign citizens whether living in the US or not, must registration be done in most cases in order to pursue a claim in court. If you are a foreign national, you do not need to register with the USPTO to still have protection.
Since LL and most web sellers like SLX, OnRez, apez etc are in the US and under US law, then the DMCA is the appropriate tool under US law for any citizen of any nation with the Berne Convention protections to use. Note that Copyright Law is civil, not criminal. But DMCA and counter DMCA notices are filed on pain of perjury, which is a criminal offence, a felony crime which includes jail time as a consequence. In other words if you lie on or falsify your DMCA notice or counter claim, not only will you lose the copyright, but be prosecuted for perjury too, and end up with more severe penalties, up to and including a jail sentence, and a criminal record.
Many others think no courts would bother with stuff in virtual worlds. WRONG. They have been, and judgement found for the copyright holder. See the following two cases:
http://virtuallyblind.com/2008/03/14/leatherwood-settlement/
http://virtuallyblind.com/2007/12/03/kenzo-simon-settlement/
So the whole system does work, and has been upheld by courts in RL.
Think again copyright infringers, your time is up.
It won’t work. In the first place, my asset server is powered by pixie dust and green cheese. A virus cant hurt me. Second of all, I have already files counter counter counter DCMA counter filings against you. I am so far ahead of the curve you will never catch up. You better rez a money counter and get that zillion lindens TM ready.
BTW, in reply to a comment or two about “It’s a complex problem…” etc etc… no it isn’t.
STEALING IS WRONG. STEALING IS ILLEGAL.
That’s pretty simple. People by law have a right to copy their own work. If the manufacturer forbids copying (CDs, DVDs, automobiles) then it is illegal to do so. Anyone using a device like COPY BOT does so with the understanding that if they use it on anything but their own, full-perm items, it’s illegal. IT IS THEFT.
Now, since I only know Copy Bot by reputation, from what I understand there is absolutely no legitimate use of CopyBot. So why LL hasn’t totally banned its use and put in safeguards to detect and prevent its use at system level is not really understandable.
Other items which copy one’s own inventory to their hard drive I consider to be quite legitimate and protected under copyright law.
But “complex problem”. No. Theft is theft, whether it is done by internet or by stuffing things in your pocket at the local store. And when someone is caught stealing on Second Life… it should have the same RL legal repercussions– which means Linden Lab turning the incident over to the local authorities. Of course, that would require LL verifying membership in the first place… LOL
It’s not the problem that’s complex. It’s the way SL is managed and organized.
@88 – Thanks, LauraP… I have created http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MISC-1109 to track the issue and your response… this way the devs will see it, and it won’t slip between the cracks.
On another note (not too different)… why is it that that filter and text was put there in the first place? I’d be very interested in the rationale for specifically disallowing reporting of a specific ToS violation.
Thanks 🙂
Ari, you are like a santa who hits people with his bell, trying to force them to give to charity.
If linden labs would allow us to see UUIDS from stolen skins we would send them to them in a DMCA. Fact is we cannot see them. People have sent in DMCAs with the stolen products and said to linden labs: this skin contains an illegal UUID – remove it. It would take 3 minutes for linden labs to see the 3 UUIDs. Nothing happend.
The 50% is not exaggerated: go to a newbie room and look for the well knowns brand skins on newbies that have no other items, no prim hairs, nothing, but do have an expensive skin.
Ask them: can i have a copy. 99% will send you one, full perms showing it is stolen. Naughty designs, X2, FNKY, Envision, Minnu Model skins, Redgrave and many other shops have not given away any skin full perms.
You will find mostly on newbies:
Dante with beard, tanned (under multiple names)
X2, male (multiple names)
X2, female, two versions (multiple names, mostly known as PERFECT)
Alina (NATURALLY, HOT or other names)
FNKY – (six pack or other names)
EVNVISION – (buff or other names)
Go to a newbie place and ask.. you will see for yourself.
thats all fine and dandy but the solution must be technical and will require a significant rewrite of code and a significant investment by LL in policing capability.
neither of which will happen. the current trend of things points to content creation going the way of the dinosaur unless your a big corporation.
Clearly DMCA is a valuable legal tool for RL copyright breach. However, what is lacking is the ability to implement inworld “ownership” and “registration” of design. I am a content creator and in the past 4 months have repeatedly been stolen from. The designs I have stolen were all my own designs. Not rips off of some architect or furniture store in RL.
Two issues I see. There are still a HOST of avatars in Second Life who get very close to the bone on copyright breach. Anybody seen those famous computer stores….are they sanctioned by the company who are not Microsoft? No. But nobody seems to complain about this “inspiration”.
There are many standards. If your content is truly unique then the DMCA process does work if you have the money and patience. But again only works on that one instance, so is fruitless against multiple stores and alt accounts. So should not be a viable tool within Second Life (unless we can sort the database removal issue). Perhaps we leave the DMCA for those RL corporations who have their copyright breached. People who buy stolen content, yes they will lose inventory – but again this points to have design registration and validated approved merchants who can only sell or distribute (another argument on impact of non-transfer).
Key is (1) Education – how can people in world find honest merchants and (2) How do merchants get educated to ensure they follow guidelines / do not breach copyrights etc
In world. Why can’t we simply all join together sim owners, content designers and creators and become one group. We can work together to create our OWN validation tool and council and work with Linden Labs to take this platform forward. Hey I know groups tend to crash – but I am personally sick of the 10 plus groups I try to stay membership of all dealing with content theft and each with their own champions.
A very hard task I suspect.
Linden Labs if you are reading this….the best piece of advice get a content creator council created…let them work with the residents to put a proposal to you on how we want the platform amended to deal with this destructive (and hey I will reference Napster to give you some clues and how the DMCA process would not have saved them from being shut down) issue.
An in world meeting then with the council will allow open dialogue and then transmission with action plan. Many people are ignorant of international and local laws, and most are not lawyers.
I’ll leave you to argue who should be on such a council….
Thanks, Charlotte Bartlett
@135 — I *fully agree with you*. Really. Truly. I’m just saying that -making it work in SL- is going to take time and effort and a lot of thought.
I’m not talking about “should and shouldn’t”, i’m talking about how we’re going to get there from here.
Again, the grid SHOULD be fully stable — it isn’t yet — and it’s going to take a lot of complex work to get it that way.
Really, I agree with you.
Also: @126 and @133 – VERY good posts, EXCELLENT points.
@138
thats all fine and dandy but the solution must be technical and will require a significant rewrite of code and a significant investment by LL in policing capability.
Replacing an UUID of a texture for a “this texture was removed due to content theft would require simple manual intervention. Not “significant rewirite of code”
oh and what about something like a really big texture store in sl being found out to have been selling stolen works all along and claiming them as their original work? all those stolen textures are now all over sl in all sorts of builds that were sold by creators who thought they were buying from a legit source. all that hot content out there… what to do? very thorny situation from a legal perspective. this source even won big deal awards, etc. is this operation still going? you betcha. ll does not appear to take action against the elite of sl.
Ann otoole, the one they stole the textures from can sue them if they like. They can end up in jail.
“For the ones whose stuff was stolen (X2 skin creator, etc.) – I’m sorry for your loss. But the fact remains, if your stuff is good and someone wants to steal it – they will. So – GIVE IT AWAY”
this totally makes no sense IMHO. So rich people should give away their money too, because chances are they will be stolen anyway? Sorry, but that does not sound like the kind of world i would want to live in
Why don’t we get an answer to the question about removing the UUIDs of stolen content?
Ann
I agree with you, there are texture shops out there selling content that was provided to them to freely distibute in their creations, but expressly forbids selling the textures themselves.
As I have mentioned in a earlier post i was shocked after buying these programs just how many recognisable filters there are in some of these shops, they are breaking their program licesnse agreement, this has not gone unoticed vy the creaters of these filters, and in the support forums for thelikes of filter forge there are links to SL pages, some are even talking of legal action.
This will be very intresting I’m sure, though would they take LL, or the texture re-seller to court… who knows ?
MaL
@145 no answer because it is probably a lot more complicated that removing a UUID since the UUID is a key and sits in billions of records and would violate data architecture integrity. and i suspect theres some … coding over time… that may make this impossible. its the design, or lack thereof, that makes a seemingly simple solution impossible.
Ann Otoole> Not true
To those who say just send a notification with the UUIDs for Linden Lab to block: sending a DMCA notifications with UUIDS to blacklist, replace or remove currently does not work. Linden Lab seems to ignore these requests. In addition, typically the UUIDs of infringing items cannot be accessed. But in those cases that they can be, no action has apparently been taken.
Sending a DMCA notification with the location of an item (in a vendor, or in inventory) to indirectly identify the UUIDs to remove so far also hasn’t worked. Linden Lab has been, evidently, ignoring these requests, choosing to continue to remove the vendors instead, even when explicitly asked not to do this.
Linden Lab has been asked why they don’t remove textures. They haven’t answered yet. One-on-one communications with Linden Lab has, in my experience, unfortunately not proved that effective so far – you can send clear letters with clear questions and receive, at best, one-liners as a response. We realize Linden Lab is busy, though.
Naturally social control is important. This is happening: many customers do inform content creators of suspected infringement, and content creators communicate with each other as well. That’s not to say matters cannot be improved, but there is already quite a lot known. If the DMCA notifications would be handled in such a way to block, remove, or replace textures, they would indeed be a lot more effective. It wouldn’t block copyright infringement entirely, obviously, but for those in business of copyright infringement it would become much harder.
One social aspect that could be improved is Linden Lab communication with content creators – perhaps content creators could delegate a group that Linden Lab promises to listen to on a regular basis? To my knowledge such a forum does not currently exist, but I may be mistaken. Linden Lab does not need to promise to implement the recommendations of the forum, but just a regular two-way channel of communication on this topic, would, I think, be of help to content creators who are worried about copyright violations.
@147 ANN OTOOLE
You don’t remove the UUID code itself, you replace the texture the UUID refers to with another texture.
Just like replacing the texture on a webserver host with one in the same folder with the same name.
A friend of mine did this with textures of his on the internet of his which were backlinked to. when he found out people were backlinking to it, he replaced a texture he hosted on his webserver with a very silly one. All of a sudden their webpages didn’t show a lovely background anymore but silly pictures of ‘my little pony’. It worked great.
Its simple like that.
And if it isn’t we’d like to hear from a Linden WHY it isn’t. Their 2 years long ignorance makes me think they simply don’t WANT to answer the question, because ieiher they had to take action, or admit their DMCA/copyright promises aren’t worth a lot.