Protecting Your Copyrighted Content
Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 12:15 PM by: lauraplindenImitation 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.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:30 PM
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?
April 11th, 2008 at 12:32 PM
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?
April 11th, 2008 at 12:33 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:35 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:35 PM
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?
April 11th, 2008 at 12:37 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:41 PM
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?
April 11th, 2008 at 12:41 PM
Someone sold a cimilar object inworld.. i abuse reported it. nothing happened.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:41 PM
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
April 11th, 2008 at 12:42 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:43 PM
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…
April 11th, 2008 at 12:45 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:46 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:48 PM
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).
April 11th, 2008 at 12:51 PM
@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?
April 11th, 2008 at 12:52 PM
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?
April 11th, 2008 at 12:59 PM
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!
April 11th, 2008 at 1:00 PM
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.
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?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:02 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:02 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:02 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:04 PM
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
April 11th, 2008 at 1:06 PM
@ 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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:07 PM
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
April 11th, 2008 at 1:07 PM
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.
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.
@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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:08 PM
[...] on intellectual property says… Posted on April 11, 2008 by Morris Vig …it’s your responsibility. Not [...]
April 11th, 2008 at 1:11 PM
A real life lawsuit about an object in a video game that’s similar to yours? That’s absurd.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:13 PM
@19
A copied item will no longer have the original creator’s name or the orginal creation date.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:16 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:18 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:22 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:22 PM
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/
April 11th, 2008 at 1:23 PM
@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?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:25 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:26 PM
@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?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:27 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:30 PM
#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?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:32 PM
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?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:33 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:34 PM
@151
Too late, sucker!
April 11th, 2008 at 1:35 PM
OMG!
“…LEGITIMATE USES OF COPYING MECHANISMS.”
April 11th, 2008 at 1:36 PM
Good work Linden Lab
April 11th, 2008 at 1:36 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:37 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:37 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:37 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:40 PM
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?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:42 PM
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
April 11th, 2008 at 1:43 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:45 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:46 PM
@ 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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:46 PM
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?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:47 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:47 PM
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
April 11th, 2008 at 1:49 PM
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?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:49 PM
please read *are* for *a* in the first paragraph above . thx
April 11th, 2008 at 1:49 PM
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?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:51 PM
@Uccello Poultry and all other residents who worry about UUIDS hurting the legal copies: read the previous posts they answer your question.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:53 PM
Thank you Jenta! I was not aware of this fact.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:54 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:55 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:56 PM
@60 are you saying that all illegitimate copies of any products share no UUIDs with any legitimate products? I didn’t know that.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:57 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:57 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:57 PM
what about texture artist?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:59 PM
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?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:59 PM
#48
Ops! You accidentaly allowed ppl to get that for free?
Accidentaly …
People are not guilty. are they?
April 11th, 2008 at 2:00 PM
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
April 11th, 2008 at 2:02 PM
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!
April 11th, 2008 at 2:03 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:04 PM
[...] the full blog post here: Protecting Your Copyrighted Content « Official Second Life Blog Blogged with the Flock [...]
April 11th, 2008 at 2:05 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:05 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:07 PM
@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’
April 11th, 2008 at 2:07 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:08 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:14 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:14 PM
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).
April 11th, 2008 at 2:19 PM
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!
April 11th, 2008 at 2:29 PM
[...] So, the Lindens are moving on SL>SL content theft finally - a little bit: Protecting Your Copyrighted Content Official Second Life Blog [...]
April 11th, 2008 at 2:30 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:36 PM
@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.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:39 PM
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)
April 11th, 2008 at 2:41 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:44 PM
Well said Razor, spot on.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:46 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:48 PM
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?
April 11th, 2008 at 2:50 PM
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.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:50 PM
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