Second Life

     Philip Rosedale, in an interview recently on CNN claimed that the copyright security on Second Life exceeds that of real life. He also boasted about how players can make lots of money by being "Virtual entrepenuers" in second life. (it has happened and these few examples seem to justify Phil's case... but) While some have made some good real life money (I was on my way personally - see posts in general discussion) the ones at the top find themsleves in the cross-hares of Mr. Rosedale himself. Get too wealthy and you get knocked off, ripped off or worse.

     The concept is fabulous, the Second Life world offers a host of features that the competitors can't even touch. Sadly the money isnt where Phil's mouth is. Copyright infringement issues are just the tip of the iceberg. Here that?... it's the fog horn of the titanic, brace yourselves for a catstrophic collision. Misrepresentations on national TV are rarely overlooked by a media eager for scandal. This one is all about saying on thing and doing quite another. You will find this wreck at the bottom come next year unless the management and philosophy get a much needed overhaul.

I do agree Second Life needs a patent system. I see people getting ripped off all the time. I will not design until they either do an approval process or the patent system. I think the There approval process is a good idea. It keeps the freaky stuff out and protects designers work.

This is a big issue in all Virtual Worlds, not only Second Life. When Active Worlds was big it happened all the time too. Of cource with any rip off, its crappy. People are starting to try and rip off Jinx_TV and Majandi in There and quite frankly, it is distastful.

Edit: Fixed A Name

Well from my expeience There is safe from alot of stuff like this. I believe this to be because of the submission and approval system. They keep a growing record of all items submited. I guess they compare things to make sure rip offs can't happen.

There have been very few times textures got ripped off. But other then that, no. I think Linden Labs should do the same. They could keep a database of textures and items submited to their offices. They first approve it or not and then compare it to the database for a match.

That simple. If this stuff happens all the time then they are lying about their copyright system. If this stuff can happen then Second Life members don't own their own designs. A submission system seems like its the only choice, to me any way.

Linden Lab is too tiny for that role (they have admitted it publicly, in meetings with users) and they really don't want to do that (except in the Teen Grid).

With over 6 million unique items being offered for sale, how much time do you think they need to approve them all...?

It's a nightmare. Yes, it also means you can get "ripped off", although, more likely, people copy ideas, not objects/textures (these are the exceptions, where some bugs get exploited - but the number of people who manage to do that is really tiny. On the other hand, copying ideas is quite easy).

Ideas get knocked off all of the time in the real world as well. Cheap, generic substitutes find there way into dollar stores, etc. However, a T-shirt with a certain design on it cannot really be copied in real life... I'm curious as to whether or not Linden Labs would take any sort of action against someone in SecondLife for a blatant copy of... say... a T-shirt design.

No.

Actually, Linden Lab can only intervene in two cases:

1) Trademark infringement. This means that if someone uses a trademarked design (say, a logo) and it's reported, under the terms of the DMCA, the content has to be removed immediately, either voluntarily or not.

2) Copyright infringement (ie. a design that is copyrighted, like a picture or a T-shirt design). This is a much more delicate case. Technically, only the copyright owner (or their legal representative) can file a request for removal of copyrighted material. This means if someone rips off a T-shirt design by, say, Nike, and Nike never notices it — as long as you don't use their logo!! — you can't complain: only Nike has the right to complain.

This is all due to very complex legal issues related to copyrights. This also means that if someone creates a T-shirt in Second Life, and someone else copies that design, there is nothing you can do. Copyrights only protect the physical (or virtual!) embodiment of an idea, not the idea itself. You can't get a copyright on "a red T-shirt with a white stripe". Anyone can create that precise design and sell it as their own — that's perfectly legal.

What you cannot do is get a T-shirt from someone, do several copies of it (because you illegally got the original texture, exploited a bug, or somehow conned the original creator into giving you a fully copyable version), and sell it. This is illegal under copyright law, and all the owner has to do is to file a complain with Linden Lab, and, once more, they'll remove that content.

Bear in mind that Linden Lab is neither police, nor a court of law. They don't deal with legal issues, except under their Terms of Services. In a sense, they act precisely like a telecommunication carrier — they are a service provider, hosting 3D content on servers, and providing a 3D viewer to access that content. If someone uses an ISP to illegally copy MP3 or DVDs, the ISP is not liable to any kind of legal action — it's up to the company that owns the copyright to the music or video to file a forma complaint. In that case, the ISP will assist the authorities in tracking the culprits down, and remove all illegal copies they can find (say, on a Web or FTP server). But they're not "authorities" in that regard. They're only requested to assist the police and the courts by all possible means if there is a request/complaint.

Linden Lab is under that same status. The only action they can take is under the provision of the DMCA. They can't "play police", even if they wished.