Second Life <-> Real World Property Rigths

Beryl, I'm not trying to bash There. But there was something in their TOS that led me to believe they were a little more uptight about these things than SL. I remembered some pretty Draconian langauage from their TOS and when to their site to see if I could find it.

Its the clause dealing with Submissions



Now Developers may get a special deal that overrides this part of the TOS. Or they may consider the developer contributions as something different than submissions. Or this is just a bit of scary language that they have no intention of enforcing. But, it certainly gave me pause.

They do go on to say about Original Content Submissions



But its confusing to me. If its subject to the Member Agreement, and the clause covering submissions seems to lay claim to complete ownership, but later they say some submissions are merely licensed by the company, then which is it? Anyway, maybe you want to suggest to There to clarify that part of the TOS. I'm sure it may have given the wrong impression to other people as well.

oops, must have been writing my post while Zephyrus posted. Anyway, its a notable clause from their TOS.

No problem Bel, and I imagine that the licensed content could be those that are already protected by previous claims - for instance, i doubt the nike swoosh is something nike just gave to there with the fatal intern's upload - i imagine there is a lot of agreements around nike's role as a content provider.

Zeph

Kudos to Linden on the new license. Was wondering when the RPG world would wake up and smell the virtual coffee.

Power Jack

Oh, I'm no apologist for There, believe me, ask anyone who knows me very well.

I just remember this forum posting of mine and the There reply, and they seemed to be pretty firm in it that they allowed RL use of user-created content. I never fretted too much about it when I played There because I didn't contribute any content because you actually had to PAY to have your content used in-world. I didn't really scrutinize the TOS or Developer notes on this subject, but it sounds like it is still a fuzzy area for There.

And, most definitely, bravo to SL for spelling out their very fair policy.

I'm not even a creator and I like this... bravo to Linden for being very clear about the mission and values of Second Life.

The annoucement about intellectual property rights (via email) blew my mind. Such a pleasant surprise.

Well done Lindens.

Hrm now to fly to D.C. and register the copyrights for kitty!

Bos

I like the license. But, I'll play Devil's advocate for a sec. Put on you 'way-back' hat and set it to about 3 months ago. Setting: A bunch of Linden execs sitting around a conference table. Conversation goes something like:

Exec #1: "What are we going to do about all this copyrighted stuff that people are putting in SL? We are at risk."

Exec #2: "Well, we can't just delete it. We will lose too many players."

Exec #1: "Hmmm. yeah. Don't want to make the customers mad. * time passes * Hey! I have an idea. Let's make all this virtual stuff legally theirs. That way we have at least a legal umbrella to stand under (though it be small) when we get sued by the music giants for all these MP3s."

Exec #2: "Great idea. We lose nothing. But gain everything. Now the legal responsibility for all that stuff is theirs."

Fast foward to present day.

Just a thought.... Remember, I LIKE the license because I don't break copyright laws.

Sapphire

Flame Away

Sapphire, if what you infer about the new policies is true, then hats off to the Lindens for finding a way to allow us our creative freedom (and ownership thereof) yet make us ultimately responsible for what we bring in-world. After all, with freedom comes responsibility, or at least it should.

It's also been a nifty way to drum up some publicity for SL, too. You LL people who came up with this deserve an extra holiday bonus this year, IMHO. Gimme your addresses and I'll send you some of my homemade Christmas candy...

Actually, we were sitting around a table with several people who have done a lot of thinking about digital property rights, discussing ways to recognize the creativity of Second Life residents, how to support growth of the world, and how to build a robust economy. Acknowledging the contribution of residents to Second Life by changing the TOS to allow them to preserve the same intellectual property rights in SL that they have for original creations in the real world just seemed like the right thing to do.

As a common carrier, we operate under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). If there is a dispute about copyrighted materials, such as MP3 files, we have a designated DMCA representative who makes sure that the copyright holder and the alleged infringer work it out between them. To see how this works, go to DMCA. This link shows up at the bottom of every page on this website.

As we've explained before, trademarks are handled differently. Because the DMCA doesn't cover trademarks (like the Nike swoosh) if we become aware of a trademark in-world we will ask the resident who uploaded it to delete it or in some way alter it so that it is clearly not the trademarked property.

The new TOS policy relates to original works that you create as residents of Second Life, . It allows you to use your work to your benefit, if you choose. Our hope is that you'll keep on making wonderful, interesting, amazing things which all of us can enjoy and admire. And now you'll also have the additional benefit of possibly profiting from your labor, just as you do in the real world.

I can definitley appreciate the ground breaking work. But, no matter how much you point at DCMA or whatever, legally copyrighted material is streaming off of your servers. Again, I like the new TOS. But... don't take the high ground unless you can be sure of the foundation below it.

Sapphire

Sap, these changes do not affect already established intellectual property. Your uploading someone elses song does not make it yours no matter what SLs TOS says. But what it means now is, if you happen to upload a bunch of sounds and loops, and use a scripted music maker, put together a really cool piece of original music and record it, its yours to sell to anyone - you retain the rights to YOUR creations. Nothing at all changes about other peoples creations.

On things like sound clips you don't own rights to/have permission to use, there has been stuff in the TOS since day one that says basically "If you upload anything that could possibly get LindenLab in trouble, its YOUR responsibility when the RIAA comes."

So back to your devil advocate scene - the new TOS only applies to your creations in world and your creations uploaded to the world. It can't apply to other peoples creations who have not given permission to have their content copied and shared (all those sounds clips, and doubtless countless textures). I think if any, the only evil corporate reason for this is to get us to make more good content, which is what we want to do anyway, and this just rewards us for it.