Shoe RIPOFFS! Have you seen these???

Hi everyone. We're hoping that the "detectives" here in forums can help us. Recently my friend Estrelle Fauna saw a pair of the shoes you see below (The first picture is the oringal shoes created by Estrelle, the second picture is the ripoff pair) on a player in SL (Name Withheld). When asked where she got them, she went completely silent and defensive claiming it was a gift. They are an EXACT copy. Not eyeballing. Mind you the texuring is absolutely CRAP on the copies, however a copy is a copy.

So we ask you, the readers of the forums in SL to help us track down who the thief is, so a proper report can be filed. There is no room for blatant theft in SL and should not be tollerated. Estrelle put MANY hours into making this pair of highly detailed shoes and she deserves that credit. Thank you for your help.

-Lizzie.

Umm... if the texturing on the "copies" is much worse, how can they be an "exact copy, not eyeballing"?

Because the prims are an exact copy, not the textures. It's still theft.

I still vote "eyeballing". There are several differences between them in the prims alone.

I'm not saying its not copying, but it's not an "exact copy".

Yer right! The thief actually moved a few prims before retexturing! How utterly clever!

Not.

Same thing happened to Fallingwater Cellardoor a few weeks back over a belt. If you copy something -exactly-, and remove a prim or two, or add one or two and retexture, it's still theft.



Add to this the person's unwillingness to give a name of the creator when asked by several different folks, and.... something begins to stink.

We're not posting here to debate whether or not it's theft. We already know it was. We want help finding the creator so this can be handled through AR.

Thanks.

These are shoes I made last October and they were and ARE unique until now. The person wearing them was standing right in front of me, refused to tell me who made them. The prims are identical to mine textures or no it is theft.
New Products Post
Here is a link to when I posted the shoes in new products. Dated 10-05-2005

I am offering $$L for any help in finding who made these shoes.

Thanks everyone

Dident MetaVerseMessenger (http://www.metaversemessenger.com) start a part in the paper where this kind of things should be written about??

IF not its time for such.. Katt?

I have the original Estrelle shoes - same style but in blue.. wonderfull done... every part are great... and I only shop the original in SL or IRL..

Designers are to often copied worldwide.. sad but true...

/Tina

Yes. The columnist has posted numerous requests for just this type of story.

Why didn't you use the edit wheel and see who the creator was?

she was wearing them. You can't tell who the creator is if someone has the thing attached, far as I know... unless there's a way to do so?

So what.
Two people in SL make similar shoes,of varying quality, no doubt based on shoes theyve seen in real Life.
Does this mean all the MP5 variants out there are rip offs?
Does this mean the various reproductions of RL aircraft are rip offs of each other?
Does this mean if i make a lightsabre its a rip off of someone elses design?
the answer to all these is no.
Big deal, more than one person has done a pair of strappy shoes with little pink flowers on them... GET THE FUCK OVER IT!!

I don't think there is any need for this sort of abuse Lucifer.

I see a complete difference between two pairs of shoes with flowers on, and ones which have no originality at all, and merely copy the placing of every element. One is a coincidence, the other is deliberate theft.

I make shoes with flowers on, and Estrelle wouldn't dream of accusing me of copying hers simply because they have flowers on. Even the briefest of glances shows that the copies in the pictures above are very close in design, and one must be a rip-off of the other.

If both shoes are inspired by something RL, that would be different, but in that case I would expect the creator to cite the inspiration.
Cali

I'm really curious to know if this IS actually considered theft, by copying a particular design of prim objects in SL. I guess what's at issue here is whether or not you can copyright a SL prim design... right? I mean, it's obvious if someone manages to steal an actual texture and sell that in some way, but prims? Does anybody know of a precedent for someone being punished for (or asked by Lindens to stop) selling an exact (or near-exact) prim copy of someone else's original creation?

In real life, I could copy a designer clothes object down to the last design detail and sell it to my heart's content, as long as I didn't infringe on or include a registered trademark (like the Chanel opposed C's, or Burberry plaid print). Does the same rule apply in SL? I'd really love to know what sort of rules Lindens have/will impose on issues like these, since they will affect all designers in SL.

Pretty much my point Beryl, although expressed without the exasperation.

Good designerns dont need to steal.. IRL or SL.. and only a real designer that once or many times have seen her/his designed stolen know how it feels. Deep in the heart,,,

In all the world many live on steal ideeas, designes.. poor people that cant develop any by themslef.. sadly they often do more money then the one that have done the original design. . had the product ideea... and the worse are that to many think this is nothing to care about...


LL should care....


...and we that design in SL - we should crave that this are not allowed in SL by LL....

I had the same reaction as you did after reading this thread and looking at the shoes in question. While certainly derivative, they are not an exact copy. If the creator made their own texture and eyeballed the prims, it is not a duplicate. In that case, the question comes down to how close to the original does a design have to be to be considered infringing on the design?

I am sympathetic to the threadstarter, who makes a clearly superior product. However, I think they may find there is very little they can do even knowing who the designer is. LL tends to take a very hands off approach to this kind of stuff unless you can prove copyright - and is someone going to go to court over a pair of shoes in SL? I suppose ultimately it will happen, but the economics of pursuing legal channels outside of SL to stop this kind of stuff is both cost prohibitive and without much precedent.

Indeed, I doubt that LL will do anything about it and it's not technically theft (although it's pretty obvious what went on).

The place for this is definitely the consumer column in the Metaverse Mesenger and perhaps a little bit of private "shaming" when you find out who the copyer is. Like as not the person who did it just has no idea about right and wrong and the reaction of the community against them will be enough to make them see the light.

That is, unless when yo ufind them they have a whole store of copied shoes , that's a different story altogether.

This is done all the time in RL. Walk down any downtown street in any major city in the summertime and you'll see people selling designer knockoff bags and whatnot that are almost identical to the original, except for a few altered details. The quality is usually crap though, and people who want *real* quality will always go spend the extra for the real thing. Not saying it's right, just that it's very common, in RL as well as SL. If you've built a reputation for quality (as Estrelle has) that'll impress people and keep customers coming back. Cheap knockoffs come and go, but true quality lasts.

*pulls up a chair*
*pops some popcorn*
*calls Kathy Griffin*

Yep. There's nothing new under the sun, folks.

i looked at the pictures and its even worse of a ripoff than u realize

my sister has a pair of shoes pretty much exactly like those in RL!

so not only is someone in game copying ur shoes, so is an actual RL shoe company!

http://slbbb.wordpress.com/

Send your complaints here. No editing of names, I promise.

Hmm, I can see the difference in quality between the two pairs of shoes. That's the difference between sales and no sales. Whoever is ripping off should spend more time developing their skills to make a quality product and not worry about the design until they can actually execute a good design. Even if it was a rip off, probably the thief isn't making great sales on such a crappy looking product.

Im really sorry this has happend to you estrella, been there done that.

I have had many of my designs copied prim per prim, specially skirts.
I filed abuse report them but LL wont do anything unless you report a DMCA copyright act and then you can get LL to take the item out.

Did you create this out of your mind? Or was it something you saw in a picture?
Did you check the prim numbers to see if it was the same numbers?
Was your shoe your selling "Mod"?

If the prim is "Mod" the theif can steal the prim number...


The best way is to warn everyone who this person is so they dont shop there!

Really sorry!

- wuv

How do we know that both shoes weren't actually made by the same person and this isn't actually a marketing ploy? Not saying it is. Just asking.

I think we have our theft ladies and gents.