Proof of a design ripper.. also looking for some advice

Hey everyone. Last night a friend of mine told me that he found a ripped off version of my F-16 for sale for 150L more than mine costs.

The creator, who shall remain nameless, says he thought of the design all by himself and has been making jets and other things for a long time. Here are some pictures showing how close they are. Pay close attention to the outline of the prim made when you select it.

The black one is his, the grey one is mine.


-The prim joining the wing to the side of the nose- (brightened so you can see a bit better)
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/6184/f16ripnose1rn3.jpg

-The prim that forms the cockpit area below the canopy-
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/3431/f16ripnose2cx7.jpg

-The nose cone-
http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/1364/f16ripnose3wd6.jpg

-The canopy-
http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/5211/f16ripcanopykv7.jpg

-The upper and lower prims forming most of the fuselage-
http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/9889/f16ripbottomsectionre7.jpg



I want to know what can be done about this and if anyone else has had similar experiences?

Thanks for reading

Happens a lot, and it doesn't require any special ability to do so. It's known as "Copy by numbers". They just buy one of yours and reproduce it exactly on their own using the escat prim settings you used. It's time consuming and ethically just plain wrong. But, there is zero you can practically do about it, and LL will give you no response at all.

Your main defense is that your product is better textured, and your loyalty of your customers and word of mouth will help you. Several major designers have been hit by this often, and there is not much you can do, except let word of mouth about the person take over in game. I know ETD and Panache recently did some unique things to deal with a similar copying of some of their hair. They ran a Sheer Bullshite, White Lies sale on the items that another stoire copied, both to undercut them and also to publicize the copying.

Community reputation is your best ally in such things.

uhmm actually you are the ripper...
you copied a f16 and im sure the person did the same..

btw yours is so much nicer, the other one looks like crap

Umm...it's not quite that simple hon. But...nevermind.

than explain, seriously, i want to understand, cause im not really getting all of these

Thanks Zoe. I'll have to figure something out to let everyone know what he's up to. I'm not allowed to post his name in this thread, correct?

you can't but you can post it on sluniverse

Correct

Volatile, the entire point of me posting the closeup shots of those difficult prims being identical was to keep people like you out of this thread.

than i guess you didn't realize this was a public forum, maybe you should have posted it somewhere else...
don't open your mouth unless you are willing and ready for the comment...

It's not a matter of being ready for it. I was just doing my best to try and keep those people that open their mouth just to cause controversy away from the thread. I mean, why else would you say that? Did I say anywhere that I thought of the real F-16 design also? No. I'm pointing out how the prims are identical.

Well, my skin is just a painting of a human, and I am quite sure I didn't invent humans. But that does not mean I didn't put months of work handpainting that skin from scratch to bring that texture to SL and offer my 'copy' of a human to you. If someone else takes the time to also paint their own copy of a human from scratch and brings it to second life...I have no compliant. We both worked hard to make our own interpretation of a human here. But if that person just steals my skin texture and sells that as their own...I have a right to complain. They stole MY work, my effert, MY interpretation of a human and are now profiting from it.

All authours writing mystery novels are just copying the very first mystery novel in a way. But if I copy your mystery novel word for word, I have actually done something unethical, and in many cases illegal.

The OP took the time to figure out how to make an f-16 in SL. That isn't easy given the tools we have. he made his own interpretation of an F-16 and offered it up for sale. The other gentleman comes along and buys a copy of the OP's F-16 and goes into edit mode and looks at every detail of how the first F-16 was made and copies it in exvery detail. In this case, again, they are stealing someone else's work and interpretation of that F-16 and claiming it as their own. That is unethical at the least.

Hope this makes some better sense now.

Its the difference between you and a co-worker both writing reports on a new project...and that co-worker instead stealing a copy of YOUR report and offering it word for word as their own.

Now now, no reason to be rude to the lady.
She did point out a fairly valid point. It's not like yours is an original design. Sure, he might have copied your prim setup, but unfortunately you don't hold rights on the original design itself.
But rest assured, due to the current LL's standpoint more or less nothing could be done even if the plane was actually an original design. Your quality is definately higher though, wich should hopefully allow you to stand on top despite the ripoff.

hmm, could he not have looked it over and decided he could do a better one? or are the numbers to close? you don't think it could possibly be luck?

That's right.

There are no patent rights in SL. If you make it, and others can see it, they can build their own copy.

No, there are a million combinations of prims that could be used to build an F-16 in SL. If the second residents is identical, as it seems to be in every way...then they copied it. The statistical possibility it happened by chance is...none.

The total disregard for ethics and IP rights in this environment really DOES make me want to close shoppe and just say "fuck it". Human beings make me sick.

Ah well Zoe.. we tried lol
It does surprise me though how many people intentionally miss the point (which we have made clear and obvious) just to oppose and cause drama.

Perhaps you should learn the difference between copyrights and patent rights.

There are no patent rights in SL, in fact, LL specifically excludes patent rights in the TOS.

By the way, before you get into fabulous superior mode where you criticize others for copying, the name you use for your skin business sure seems like a rip off of another major (and better) skin designer in SL.

As you stated

Really? because I have been Using Boneflower as my pen name and artistic name on the internet for a good 10 years now. Odd. I will have to look up this other Boneflower. Strange I haven't found them yet in my searches here.

P.S. - I have done this for a living most my life. I am well aware of the various patent, trademark, and copyright laws. Perhaps you might wish to get off your accusitory high horse and read what I said. I referred to the practice of "copying by numbers" in Sl as "unethical"...which if you ask most anyone, you will find they will agree with. I also pointed out to the OP to not expect any response or help from LL on this as they have decided not to be involved in IP rights issues. I basically find nearly your entire post to be inflametory, accususatory and offensive. I am actually rather happy you find my art below your standards, as I find I would rather not have your business.

ok i can see that, but i disagree that the statistical chances are none to slim. i'll explain it this way, they both are obviously going to make one that a person can fit in.. so that rather narrows down the size factor wich narrows down what size everything else is going to be, because everything will be in relation, correct?

By identical I mean identically shaped prims, look at the edit outlines. I could care less about what size they are tbh.

Hon...to be honest...there is a reason I never post in IP rights threads. This topic pisses me off. I only posted originally to tell the OP not to expect LL to do anything. I only posted after than to try to explain the concept to you because I like you. But after being told that makes me a hypocritical "superior mode" ranter, I think I need to stick to my original plans and not post in such threads again.

I really don't feel like discussing it any more. Have fun and I hope your day goes better than Mine. I think I need a vacation from SL.

I agree Dustin, it looks like he copied your prim design for this plane. It is highly unlikely that any two people setting out to create a prim version of that plane would end up with an identical configuration and combination of prims.

You should post his name on SLUniverse, it is a community service to do so. I think the Rants forum is where people put this kind of notice.