DMCA is worthless in most SL texture theft issues

Unfortuntely we cannot put much faith in this legal "ninja";


I'm aware that many SL residents want LL to resolve all copyright disputes for them, but please think about the fact that there are over 10 million unique objects in Second Life. Let's say that during the course of one year, there are copyright disputes regarding just 1% of those objects - that would be 100,000 disputes (a low estimate). Let's say that a proper review of the dispute and the objects involved would
take an average of just 2 hours (a ridiculously low estimate) - that would be 200,000 hours. I think I work pretty hard, but this is beyond my capacity. In addition, copyright is not actually my field of law - in fact, there isn't a single person at Linden Lab who is properly qualified to adjudicate copyright disputes. Asking me to review your copyright matter is like asking a foot doctor to perform brain surgery.
Ginsu Linden

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. Why can't we have faith in Ginsu?

Perhaps your definition of "faith" is dependant on what role you think he (and LL) is supposed to play here.

Can we have "faith" that LL will resolve copyright issues for us? Absolutely not. That's not what they're there for. It's simply not their job. As Ginsu has correctly pointed out, resolving a dispute is the job of the courts. LL is just a service provider, and as such, their job is to remove disputed material when they've received a proper legal notice to do so. That's it.

Now, can we have "faith" that Ginsu is a competant attorney, and that he (I think he's a he) is serving Linden Lab as well as any lawer could and should, and that his answers to our questions as customers of LL are honest, factual, and well informed. I would say so. At least, there's never been any evidence to the contrary.

So Ginsu's not specifically a copyright lawyer, so what? He's also not a judge, and ONLY a judge can settle a legal dispute. It's not Ginsu's job, or anyone else's at LL to decide how these things pan out. They have certain obligations under the law as a service provider, and settling copyright disputes is not one of them.

I have total "faith" that everyone at LL, Ginsu included, does the job they're paid to do to the best of their ability, just as I have "faith" that the officers of the court do the same. I don't expect LL to settle legal disputes between SL users any more than I expect the courts to host a 3D online world. They're two totally different things.

To Wandas question: no a uk copyright won't help, LL is a us business and so you need a us copyright, also if the person is from another country you have to get a copyright from that country, most copyrights don't transfer between countries.

To Cindas question: if you get a lawyer and want to pursue a lawsuit against someone for copyright, your laywer can subpeana LL for the IP address of the person with the textures and you can sue that way, the goverment will handle taking the IP and getting the persons RL address for you.

So where is the crime of copying a texture without permission committed? In the US, or in the country where the person who copies the texture lives?

The obvious answer is the US, because that's where the servers are. But it could be argued that since LL are the ones in the US, and as a service provider they aren't held responsible for the copyright infringement, the crime has to be committed by the person who does it in their own country.

This is incorrect, from my reading of information from the U.S. Copyright Office.

From Copyright Office Basics:The list of countries that the US currently is involved in copyright treaties with can be found in Circular 38a: International Copyright Relations of the United States

That's not at all contrary to anything I said and in fact proves my point -- LL is not in charge of policing content, they're in charge of taking down infringing content when proper legal notice is given by a filled out form. You don't need to 'prove' anything or have anyone judge it, you just need to fill out the form and LL will remove it. Then it's in the hands of the US legal system for appeals and lawsuits, where it actually belongs. That's all anyone is saying.

... And before anyone gets any wise ideas about using takedown notices for abuse, that's not the smartest thing to ever consider, because you are not playing with LL so much as the government if someone calls you on it.

Simply put, that isn't good enough.

Sorry you feel that's not good enough, Wanda, but the law is the law. If you want it to change, write your congressman. If you're not a US citizen, then ask your US friends to do so, and you can contact whatever governing body represents your interests in the country your in, and ask them talk to the US congress.

As has been said several times now, under the law, only a judge can settle a legal dispute, and copyright is a legal matter. As Ginsu so wisely pointed out (in Belaya's link), copyright is a real world legal issue, the scope of which goes far beyond whatever happens inside Second Life. Were LL to involve themselves in such matters beyond simple DMCA notice compliance, they would be opening themselves up to all kinds of liablilty. Again, it's simply not their job to try to settle these things, only to act as they are legally obliged as a service provider. Their interest has to be to remain neutral.

Now, if you want to participate in an online world where the service provider WOULD have ultimate say over copyright, go into one where the users do not own the content. In order for the provider to dictate responsibly what's what, copyright-wise, they have to own the copyright on the materials involved. If you want to give up ownership for some sense of more efficient policing, that's up to you, but I'm betting you wouldn't like that option any better.

Me, I'm happy to own everything I create for SL, just as I own everything I create for every other purpose. SL's just a distribution method, nothing more. Asking them to settle whose texture is whose would be like asking Barnes N' Noble to settle whose book is whose. They don't do that. Their function is simply to make the material available to the public. Legal rights questions are for courts to settle. That's it.