Copywright Infringement that threatens all SL builders

Just a thought. It seems that a lot fo the issues are saying, yes I own this, and then having to prove it after the fact.

Has anyone actually filed with the Copyright office to make sure their ownership is secure? Granted, it's supposedly not nessecary, but I'm sure it would be harder for LL to ignore takedown notices from users if they were also served with a federal document verifying the claim.

OK NO ONE IS GETTING THIS.

My digital architecture creation - my build was copied.Yes, Digital Architecture falls under DMCA.


1. As i have said in a previous post - the name Schmooze is all around the world. It is in the dictionary. I liked the name. My 3d club was not based on any club. This came from my head.. so lets clear that one up right quick. If yo uwant the names of the people who watched be build this from scratch last year, by all means. They will tell you how many times i built and rebuilt until i got it til i was happy and to this day i find fault in my work

2.I am not treading on fine water, as some of you have said. I have done nothing wrong.

3. I will not be happy until these people admit what they have done wrong. Apoligise to me for lying. I have the notecards, I saved them and to take down the build.

thank you for your support and no support through flames, this is now not in my hands. Though I will update you on the outcome.

~Tya

Umm you claimed, earlier in the thread, that you created Smooze from a club you have been to in Canada...so Smooze is from your head?

That being said, you will NEVER EVER get LL's to help you with any attempts to 'copyright' shit in SL.

Someone copied your shit, that sucks, get over it, cuz noone at LL's is gonna do squat





Then your going to be an unhappy lil camper

Then your going to be an unhappy lil camper

OK you dont get it LMAO. NO I NEVER SAID I CREATED IT FROM A CLUB> THE WHOLE DESIGN IS FROM MY HEAD. HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY THIS. WHAT YOU THINK A GIRL CANT BE CREATIVE???? THERE ARE PROBABLY 100 CLUBS IN THE WORLD CALLED SCHMOOZE, I FOR ONE LIKE THE NAME. (CAPS LOCK) I LIVE OUTSIDE OF TORONTO, CANADA, I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO SCHMOOZE IN TORONTO. MY CLUB WAS NOT BASED ON ANY CLUB DESIGN BUT MY OWN

Just take deep breaths...................

can you not see the (caps lock) type??

Night all

I feel and think that some people on purpose feed your bad hard feelings now Tya or they feel good of seeing you sad and upset.. or both...

We that are creative designers and have inbuilt feelings about our designs u- stand how you feel and thats not fun to know..

Let the ones that love to see you feel bad not win and stop to write at this thread and be with you close friends and start to do something new - You are great and do great things keep on with that.. leave this.. let them sit there and wait.. and nothing happens.

I want o see new things from you.. so.. please..

/Tina - doing EXAKT stylish things are more fun than fight at a forum - I am sure of that.

Thanks Girly .. ok off to bed now lol have to get up in 4 hours!! All my cable was out last night lol catching up on the forums

First of all let it be known that I do not post in the forums. I rarely even read them. Forums in general seem to become more of an outlet for defamation to one’s character rather than an outlet in which to discuss an issue. It’s sort of like the whisper game that children play. By the time the whispered message gets back around to the original owner it’s been totally morphed into something completely different. Ok so with that said let me go on to the issue at hand.

The issue at hand here is whether or not the accused are being falsely accused of copying a fellow player’s work in game. Now while others want to throw around acronyms about copyright infringements and licenses on names, clothing, music and items with very similar characteristics to items in the real world is an irrelevant point to this post. The point of this post asks, did the accused copy the build or not and what will Linden Labs do about it? Having been to both establishments in game I will have to concur with many others that the accused did in fact copy the work of Tya. Having known Tya for a long time I asked her if she had gotten her inspiration from a real life club and she said no that the inspiration for her build had come from within herself. So it is a mute point to say that Tya got the inspiration for the build from a club called Schmooze in Toronto. What is relevant to the point here is that Tya had created her club in game months ago and now a club that is very similar to hers is created months later. I for one would be interested in knowing where the accused got their inspiration for their build. I find it very hard to believe that two people in Second Life who barely know each other could come up with the same build in game at the same time. So, now the issue lies with Linden Labs. Do we as citizens of Second Life have any rights over the builds that we create in game? I for one would be highly upset if somebody were to copy the builds on my sim. It takes a lot of time, effort and pride to build something in game that is completely unique to any other build in Second Life.

As for the creators of the remake club, for you to discuss any other creations of Tya’s is shameful. You my friend are just pulling at straws trying to take away the focus on the issue at hand. You know what you have done, take ownership of it and give credit where credit is due.

I don't see the infringment.

It's a black textured nightclub with a dance floor, DJ booth, and lights.

This has been done at least 100 times since SL's been launched.

Hi hello, Black Sun in beta, for one.

Club Elite?

Then there was that really good club in uh... I forget, but ReallyRick I think was the one that showed me it. Extraordinarily done club, but all-black textures and reflections.

*shrug*

If it was a prim-for-prim copy, you imght have a case. Instead, you're both riffing on the same ideas: black walled club with music and lights and a bartender.

Furthermore, you can't copyright an entire encompassing idea like that. You can copyright the design, the EXACT design, which the other person did NOT copy. The layouts are completely different. Hell, even the textures are different.

When I write a love song, the song itself is copywritten, but the notes and the concept behind it (love) cannot be copywritten.

Nor can you patent it. The patent office isn't going to let a patent for a virtual club in a virtual world fly, mostly because they can't wrap their heads around the word "virtual".

Trademarking requires you to actually file it, get it approved, and then, finally, defend it to the death from all comers. Otherwise you lose the trademark by default. It's expensive.

In short, sorry to hear about your issues, but there's nothing really here to get in a tizzy about.

Unfortunately pretty true. I think about the only time LL did anything was when people were stealing scripts through the hacked client. Ok generally a lot of people will complain about stuff thats hard to verify but there are some places where they really should have stepped in like the freebie resale.

And er... Digital Architecture? I think you've got the wrong interpretation, unless I missed parts I think it's meant as in digital systems design.

I can think of at least 4 people I know off the top of my head who's stuff has been reverse engineered piece by piece, exactly. And then sold. LL's position is "can't do much about that".

The club looks similar but one is definetely not an exact replica of the other, and as such, I think you'll have a hard time trying to prove anything.

From the US Copyright Office: (emphasis mine)





There, in black and white. Find the documents you need, get yourself registered, or all the infringement in the world will hold no water, especially not in a court of law, let alone in LL's court.

I am Swedish Citizen to 100%

Are the USA laws for me to?

I design my things IN Sweden using my own brain and hands - body.. on a Swedish keybord and my IRL body are in Sweden - my ava are in SL - the processors are in SF... the software are cyber/meta.. SL are owned by LL that are registrered in?

What laws do I live under in SL?...

/Tina - Whant to know EXAKTLY what I can expect what are the facts.. ... in this case..

This "event" has probably raised awareness of Tya's skills and her lovely club by a factor of tons.

Will somebody please copy everything of mine now? So I can kick some ass and become a superstar!!!

Time Magazine, here I come!!

Having looked at both clubs, it appears to me as though they are very similar, but you've been paraphrased, not copied. The layout and general construction are similar, but the details of construction vary, and frankly, if it were in the real world, it's not close enough to have given you a strong case in court.

The other thing is that despite what you think, polygons on a computer screen aren't architecture. Architecture is wood, metal, concrete and glass.

Now for the silver lining: while I agree that the copy is obviously made using yours as a prototype, it frankly isn't as good as the original. Your time would be much better spent adding features to yours that make it even better, and let the poor sod play a perpetual game of catch-up (which he'll never win, because he's got to wait to see what you do before he can even copy it).

It's a lot of work doing what you did, and he'll either keep making flawed echoes of what you've done or give up and do his own designs while you keep your obvious lead. Either way, you win.

This is nice to know but Linden Labs is located within the United States of America. I suppose that a Swedish court could make a ruling but how would they enforce it? They would need the help of the United States government to enforce any ruling and thus they would have to go through them. The same applies to you as well. The worse that Linden Labs can do is to ban you. An American court can not go after your money in Sweden with out the help of your government.



I do not see Linden Labs getting involved. A Canadian court does not have venue over an American Company operating within the United States. Again any action needs to go through the Copyright Office of the United States. It can even be argued that all of the objects are located within the US since once they are uploaded they can not be downloaded within the TOS and the servers that they are located in are in the State of California.

Lordfly

that superiorly cool club that Reallyrick showed you, the one with the refections etc - THAT is Schmooze. The work of Tya's THAT got copied

Naivete at it's best.

Yeah, right before watching your buddies get permanently banned if they keep this up.

Please be more specific in your post. I do not understand this message. Who is going to be banned and for what?

retracted, misread post.

Again from the copyright office (emphasis again mine):

-----------------------------

Copyright protection is available for all unpublished works, regardless of the nationality or domicile of the author.

Published works are eligible for copyright protection in the United States if any one of the following conditions is met:

* On the date of first publication, one or more of the authors is a national or domiciliary of the United States, or is a national, domiciliary, or sovereign authority of a treaty party,* or is a stateless person wherever that person may be domiciled; or

* A treaty party is a country or intergovernmental organization other than the United States that is a party to an international agreement.

* The work is first published in the United States or in a foreign nation that, on the date of first publication, is a treaty party. For purposes of this condition, a work that is published in the United States or a treaty party within 30 days after publication in a foreign nation that is not a treaty party shall be considered to be first published in the United States or such treaty party, as the case may be; or

* The work is a sound recording that was first fixed in a treaty party; or

* The work is a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work that is incorporated in a building or other structure, or an architectural work that is embodied in a building and the building or structure is located in the United States or a treaty party; or

* The work is first published by the United Nations or any of its specialized agencies, or by the Organization of American States; or

* The work is a foreign work that was in the public domain in the United States prior to 1996 and its copyright was restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA). Request Circular 38b, "Highlights of Copyright Amendments Contained in the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA-GATT)," for further information.

* The work comes within the scope of a Presidential proclamation.

-----------------------------

In other words, all of SL's creations reside in San Fransisco, CA in Linden Lab's servers and therefore fall under California state law and US federal law.

Fair enough. Nevertheless, the poor rendition of the copycat is a far cry from that workmanship, and couldn't even be considered a horrible mutant clone, much less a reverse engineered architectural design.