Hypocrit creators

I am sooooo tired of skin and shape creators who whine about ppl stealing/copying their creations, when they themselves are using the images of celebrities to create skins and shapes that they then sell for a huge profit. I wonder if they have these celebrities' permissions or if they compensate them in any way? I doubt they do.

I am not one of those who steals other ppl's creations, but I think skin/shape sellers like Alady and Nicety (yes i know there are others, i just can't think of their names) who use the images of celebrities like Rihannah, Beyonce, Angelina Jolie to name a few, to create skins and shapes that they then sell, are just as guilty of stealing as those who steal/copy the items they produce. Unless they have the celebrities' permissions and/or compensate those celebrities in some way, they are committing a crime and should be reported to the Lindens to be delt with accordingly. Just like they report people who steal their creations. They are nothing but hypocrits.

What crime do you say they are committing? In general terms... what might a RL police officer arrest them for?

In the meantime, seems to me there's a huge difference between someone producing an artistic impression of a celebrity's appearance and someone making an unauthorized copy of that artistic impression. It may be that these celebs or their agents feel they have a grievance, and if they do, I am sure they will not be shy about making Linden Labs aware of it. Indeed, if you feel so upset about it, why not write to the celebrities themselves, drawing their attention to the matter, and let them take it from there if they think it's worth bothering about?

I'm fairly sure there was a policy announcement recently regarding creation/re-creation of real-world things that may have included "likenesses" and maybe businesses, logos etc.

But anyway, the title here should get some bites.

eta: found some links but nothing solid.

I met a hypocrit creator once.

He'd created a cute furry critter which mimicked the symptoms of hypoglycaemia. It was used in the classroom to teach kids what to look out for.

He marketed it under the brand name "Hypocrit"

Anyway, long story short, in an interview for Cuddly Teaching Aids Weekly he very foolishly told the interviewer he didn't care if kids knew what hypoglycaemia was, he was really just in it for the cash.

The banner headline in CTAW the next week was:

Hypocrit Creator exposed as Hypocritical Creator!

I always wondered if they could legally use the celebrity name as an advertisement to sell there skins...such as a Naomi, Beyonce or Brad. I figured it would catch up with them once the right ppl knew that things were going on regardless of LL policy. I do feel that sure ppl should be allowed to sell likeness but its a fine line on how to do that, in rl there are plenty of knock offs. To be blatantly is no so good, slippery sloop.

I can imagine some celebrities would welcome virtual copies of themselves being available, as long as they were flattering to the original!!!

Real people* are being copybotted? (horror smiley)

This has got to stop. (stern face smiley)

*Actually maybe celebrities aren't 'real people' - in which case, carry on!

I don't know how it is in some countries, but in the UK people make a living out of their resemblance to celebrities by hiring themselves out for advertisements, marketing promotions, corporate entertainment and the like. Do you say they should be paying the originals royalties? http://www.splitting-images.com/

Some creators are hypocrites since they create garbage-quality skins that aren't even worth protecting, sell it for a ridiculous price, has that snobby creator attitude, and puts posters everywhere "demanding" people to report content thieves. It's none of our business if your skin gets stolen, why should people bother wasting time reporting something for your business without a return, or even a thanks?

From my experience it's not like you can just scan a picture to get the shape and skin you want. After having spent day's to just get a half way acceptable shape and skin for myself, it amazes me the way some people's skill and talent allows them to reproduce a celebrity likeness. As to whether they should be allowed to sell using the celebrities name that's a different story but I do respect the skill and time I know it must have taken.

Trademark Infringement is the issue.

You can make a shape that looks like Angelina Jolie, but assuming that she's protected her name (which most celebrities do, you can't sell it as an "Angelina Jolie" shape.

Who cares? They're just celebrities.


"Dude, her head's bigger than her pelvis." (boingboing. Legal hilarity ensued.)

oh nope not at all but is that the same thing?

oh that is such a gross picture

Not a crime, but a tort: Appropriation.

And Ralph Lauren fired her for being too fat.

I'm not making this up, you know.

but still unless you are creating things in SL and do your PS/GIMP work you dont realize how much time and effort it takes to do such things. It is a lot of work and no one has the rigt to be so self entitled to just take it because they want to.

Indeed. That story just keeps on delivering.

Probably everybody has seen the Dove Evolution ad, but just in case: .

I've never seen a shape/skin look like the person/celeb it was suppose to be. A lot of wishful thinking involved I imagine... lol

In the US, a person "owns" their likeness, and their permission must be obtained to use it. Some famous people protect the use of their likeness with the same fervor that Disney protects the use of Mickey Mouse.

You could probably get away with saying your avatar is "Inspired by Angelina Jolie". Calling it "Angelina Jolie" would be opening yourself up for a copyright lawsuit.

Um.......

I can't imagine that any celebrity would take an avatar likeness in SL all that seriously. Really.....maybe the the ad pics look 'sort of' like the celeb.....but by the time joe or jill noob has bought the shape & skin and put on a mohawk 'do and spiked accessories with maybe a steam punk flair....who the hell can tell anyway?

It's likely our real world celebs have a lot more to be concerned with then someone creating their likeness in SL and naming it as such.

That said.....I have spent over 3 years in SL and it's taken me about that long to really perfect my shape making skills, and then only in the last few months I've got th hang of skins. And lemme tell ya.....there's no slapping a celeb photo (or any photo for that matter) on to a flat image and wrapping it around a 3d avatar and calling it good. It just doesn't work like that. There's soooo much involved with creating a skin, and once that is satisfactory....one has to mold the shape just so, to really come close to a final look. I've tried recreating a few famous people....just for the pure sport of it. It's art to me.....just as if I tried to draw their likeness or sculpt it or paint it. There's no 'copying' involved.
I don't use their names to sell my creations....I use my avatars more for my own hobby of photography in SL.....and when I post my work for public view....I don't name my image "Josephine Baker" I call it "My Josephine" or I say my avatar was designed to look like bla bla bla. I would never be so egotistical as to actually sell my creations under a celebrity name. But I don't necessarily think any harm is being caused by those that do that.

And....let me ask ya this......when was the last time YOU saw an avatar walking around and thought to yourself....OMG.....that looks exactly like Jessica Simpson!!! Or OMG....that guy looked just like Woody Harrelson!!!! Doesn't happen. And if it does....it probably wasn't even intentional.

I think LL recently made it known that use of real world brand names, including celebrity names, is no longer allowed. One creator who had named her poses after the celebrities they were inspired by has had to rename all her products. (Imagine the time and cost of remaking/reuploading all your vendor ads...eeeep. I do not envy her that task.)

One thing- if it were so easy to slap a photo of a celeb on a skin and recreate their shape, then sell it for huge profits, every woman and their dog would have a successful skin/shape business. It aintent that simple.

Fixed. (^_^)y©®™

no not an avatar that looks like a person

It is the sales of buy this Beyonce Skin. that I think is and may be an issue for them and we all know one major major skin person that does celebrity skins.

Firstly, forget what LL's policy dictates, and learn U.S. and international copyright law before basing your decisions on what LL says. It doesn't matter that you think celebrities won't mind (they will and do, and their agents and lawyers even more so), and it doesn't matter if you think this is just a game and no one cares...they do. The laws on likeness and personal identity were made to prohibit these very things, people making money off someone's name or looks without their consent. RIAA has sued countless people on behalf of recording artists whose music was pirated not in the hopes of recouping that money they potentially lost, but in order to make examples of people and let it be known that they weren't going to let it continue.

Consider this, that music was shared, not sold, websites with mp3's made their money from advertising not selling the music directly, but the average Joe who the industry went after hadn't made a dime. In Secondlife some skin creators make a HEALTHY living upwards of 50 or 60 thousand U.S. per year. Now considering the amount of skin creators out there....the dollar numbers start to really add up. Hmmm, now let's add people creating vehicles, clothing etc all based on brand names and you can see where this is heading. There is a lot of money being made without regard to copyright in SL and Linden Labs is not really doing much about it, hence the lawsuits they're currently involved in.

I do agree with the OP that hearing creators who copy other's work or likeness whine about their *work* being copied without permission, is annoying. On the other hand, if you're tired of hearing it, learn to use MS Paint or whatever and make your own, or are you just whining about the money you spent buying that *gotta have* skin? For those creators that make it from scratch, all the prims, all the textures, think about how they feel when someone gets fat off their hard work with REAL money? I've had textures ripped that ended up on IMVU, should I take that as a compliment and smile, or get angry because I know someone's making money off my work? And to those who think...yeah buddy, whatever, it's just a game, chill out......how about you spend the hours, days, weeks, laboring over something you want just right...and then have someone spend 5mins to take it and start making money with it and you don't even get a thank you. Until then, you're just an armchair opinionated slacker who shouldn't be giving advice.