Can a content creator restrict...

If the license is in a notecard reachable only after purchase, then no. Set up as many copies as you want.

If there is some large "read license first" sign, or something, easily seen and not hidden. Not light grey text on a white board or hidden behind a plant. Then you get into fair/enforceable territory.

There are reasons for having copy available, you can mess up a mod item, and having copy will allow you to "fix" your mistake. So it isn't just a "copy means copy" issue.

Fair? As long as the "license" is easily seen, easily read, etc. etc., then I would say it is fair. Enforceable? I have no position on the matter. Other than there are some "penalities" that can attach. For example: if it is a house, and you rez 5 copies (or however many), and it says 1 only in world at a time, and they catch you, they can ban you from their store.

I've answered first post after only reading first three posts. If my points have already been expressed, and/or the thread is now about kittens, sorry.


See above. So that someone can mod the item without fear of completely messing up, and/or with the security that they can "fix" their mistake.

I can see both sides of the story really. Some builders like their builds to remain somewhat unique, and not see entire sims full of one their builds because some land rental company spawns it all over the place.
At the same time, making it copy is very useful, since, let's admit it, sometimes the customer messes up and knocks out a wall, sometimes SL messes up and floats all prims all over the place, sometimes the estate owner or LL messes up, and starts a rollback on the sim right after you rezzed your no-copy object (house, furniture or otherwise).

And sometimes, it's just useless without copy-permissions. Think holodecks here, though you can actually put entire houses in a holo-emitter if you want. No-copy objects are simply useless to holo-systems. (these would need mod permission too, I might add, otherwise an object is still useless for holo systems)

Since I last posted in this thread, another restriction of the SL permissions model has become prominent... the lack of cross-grid licensing.

So now there's an opportunity here for someone to give people a legitimate hook for accepting a more restrictive license in SL. A license that says something like "you're licensed up to five copies of this product... in the following grids...".

For me, I only buy copiable homes (we build most of our rental homes anyway ) and in most cases furnishings. if I wanted transfer Id pay that bit extra so, if I decided I no longer wanted the 70 copies Id paid for , I have the choice to sell them or give them away etc..whereas copiable will just either get deleted or sit in my inventory totally useless unless I decide to use it agaiin (and once Ive removed a style of home from our properties, theres usually a good reason and it wont get used again)

I copy homes as much as I wish..Ive bought them..and they are copiable..no further discussion required for me. The exposure for the builder is good..and yes..as one other poster pointed out, a fair few of residents who move on to their own land , ask me for landmarks to the stores that I buy my homes & furnishings and landscaping items from.

I must add, Ive never come across this *limited* copy thing...sounds weird

I don't really have a problem with the creator requesting that you not rez multiple copies at once, and I would definitely respect such a license, if I liked the build enough it buy it on those terms at the price it was offered.

The fact that it's not enforceable is unfortunate, because otherwise it's a reasonable way to try to work around the limitations imposed upon us all by the SL permissions system.

Let me pose a question to folks who think the license term is unreasonable: I have a full-perm kit of sculpts and textures for making beautiful flowers. The terms of sale of this kit, which are clearly provided before purchase, state that you may incorporate the flowers into your commercial products and give them away to others if you like, but that you may not distribute any copies of the kit itself (except he does allow you to give a copy to your own alts, which I think is lovely).

SL permissions clearly allow redistribution of the kit or any portion of it with any perms you please, but the seller of the kit has offered different terms, which you agree to when you buy the kit.

Does anyone think this is an unreasonable restriction? If so, why?

I didn't notice this thread was from Feb before you noted that "since I last posted . . .".

Ha! I got trapped by the necro too.

One of the hair makers does this. When I get bunches of hair at things like the Hair Fair, I simply accumulate and then check them all later. My way of checking them is to rez them on the floor and see if I like the style (and color if color is not modifiable). I did this recently and the hair started screaming into chat that the hair was protected by licenses, yada yada, and I was being reported to someone. Whether or not I was reported is irrelevant - I swore to never ever buy hair from that store and I deleted all of their hair from my inventory.

Personally, I suppose that a content creator has a right to license things as they see fit - "as long as it is clearly spelled out BEFORE you buy. I would be pissed to find out after buying and would probably ignore such. Unfortunately, I am pretty bad about reading notecards anyway, so if I was only told via a notecard in the box, I would likely never read it and therefore never know.

However, even if I read it and acknowledged it before I bought it, I cannot exactly imagine that I would remember it 6 months down the road. Therefore, in my usage of things, Copy is COPY.

Ditto - I am pretty good about checking the dates of a thread, but did not on this one.

haha that was my fault I think.... I was looking for stuff on perms and started to type merrily away...

*hides*.

As a side note, I do licence my products for other grids (ones I trust).... anyhoo, as you were.

Yes, that is how I check out a large batch of hair also.. and found the same maker. All her stuff went into the trash. As far as I know, she is using the hair to record every place I go, what is said.. no telling what all her scripts are doing.

Come to think of it, the message said something about banning me from her stores. I should check that out and see if she did, so I will remember not to shop there again.