Could someone with legal understanding tell me what this means please?

I would be grateful if somone with some legal background could advise what this statement means to me if I share my SL Creations with this entity. I think I understand it, but I want to be sure. Thank you in advance for your guidance. (This is SL related and the company name is taken out of the paragraph by me so I don't violate the TOS and out of respect for the company)

5.5: License. When you submit Content, you grant **company name** a non-exclusive, world-wide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable right to exercise the copyright, publicity, and database rights you have in the content.

That'd be SLExchange, right there.

That means they can do whatever they want, whenever they want with whatever content you allow them to have. But consider this: with the tech involved it might be necessary to have that flexibility, and there's probably quite a bit of butt-covering in case there's a hack of any kind at some point.

With any service, its often good to both analyze the legal documents but also to ask the users of the service about its day-to-day operations.

Regards,

-Flip

It means capitalism is alive and well in SL.

without giving legal advice particular to your case, and without saying anything more than this is my coversational interpretation, and sugggesting that if you feel you have a problem that relates to this issue you get a lawyer, I can say this:

It means that even though you create something and hold the rights to it, you are spefically allowing the company to use what you create for its own purposes and without paying you royalites, for any legitimate purpose, world wide, forever. You are also granting the compnay the right to sublicense your intellectual property to someone else.

typically this would arise in an advertsing or promotions type of situation. I am intrigued by the consequences of the sublicense agreement as it suggests that the company could potentially accpet a fee for sublicensing your intellectual property, though that may not be the intent of the language.

So basically, that means SLExchange has the right (as granted by their TOS) to sell the items in my magic box themselves and take the money for it?

This does NOT mean they can use your stuff in any way, shape or form because copyright laws still trump these clauses. This kind of thing spreads like wildfire for people who don't really understand it. Cafepress and DeviantArt are notible 'victims' of misunderstanding.

When a company makes this declaration it means that you are giving them the right to -host- your content. They also have the right to display this content at their discretion. This means that when you upload something, you're giving them full right to post it on their site and you can't later sue them for posting it. It also means that they can use this content in their advertisements to promote their site (Much like SL puts up avatar pictures on their front page without credit).

ELECTRONIC END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR VIEWING THIS WEBSITE AND FOR USE OF LUMBER AND/OR PET OWNERSHIP

NOTICE TO USER: BY METABOLIZING YOU ACCEPT ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, USE OF YOUR HOME AND CAR BY THE AUTHORS OF THIS AGREEMENT.

The Website End User License Agreement accompanies the Web Pages and related explanatory materials ("Crap". The term "Crap" also shall include any upgrades, modified versions, or repaintings of the Website licensed to you by either The Prince of Wales, a sentient washing machine, or your old Rabbi (the one who used profanity).

Please read this Agreement carefully. At the end, you will be asked to accept this agreement and provide this Website with a warm, lingering, creepy hug. If you do not wish to accept this Agreement, simply click the "I do not accept" button while forcefully shoving your computer off the back of your desk ("Card Table".

Upon your acceptance of this Agreement, this Website grants to you a nonexclusive license to use this Website or your own Shoes ("The Dressy Ones", provided that you agree to the following:
1. Use of the Website.
1.1 You may use this Website on a hard disk or other storage device. On a scrap of drywall with a Sharpie, install and use the Website on a file server or a tomato server for use on a network or a VHS copy of the motion picture "Network" or for the purposes of (i) permanent installation onto the small of your back at the base of your spine via a tattoo or other storage devices or
(ii) for providing the illusion of working while at work (using the following methods of deception: looking intently at the screen, moving the mouse, and typing decisively on the keyboard); and make backup copies of the Website for later printing and spreading out in an alley to make a nice bed.
1.2 You may make and distribute unlimited copies of the Website, including copies for commercial distribution, as long as each copy that you make and distribute contains this Agreement and is created in one of the following media: carved out of ice, as in an ice sculpture centerpiece; smeared in mustard on the side of a white or off-white panel van; or taught to a parrot who is then condemned to fly the earth for eternity, incessantly repeating the mantra of this Website.

2. Copyright and Trademark Rights. The Website is owned by its authors ("the Elks Clubs of America" and its suppliers. Its structure, organization, and code are the valuable trade secrets of the Freemasons ("Spook Weirdos", probably. The Website is also protected by United States Copyright Law and a group of big, scary goons who will happily beat you until you're ejecting teeth like a winning slot machine, and begging them to stop kicking you in
the head. Use of any trademark does not give you any rights of ownership in that trademark, you cock. Except as stated above, this Agreement does not grant you any intellectual property rights in the Website. Got it, fucko?

3. Restrictions. You agree not to modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise attempt to discover the inner motivations, dreams, aspirations, or weird, possibly sexual fantasies of the Website.

4. No Warranty. The Website is being delivered to you AS IS and we make no warranty as to its use or performance. WE DO NOT AND CANNOT WARRANT THE PERFORMANCE OR RESULTS YOU MAY OBTAIN BY USING THE WEBSITE. LOOK, WHEN THIS WEBSITE GOES ALL CRAZY AND DESTROYS YOUR COMPUTER, KILLS YOUR PET, SLEEPS WITH YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER, DIGS UP ALL YOUR OLD POETRY AND LAUGHS AND LAUGHS, THEN CALLS UP YOUR FRIENDS AND READS THEM ALL THOSE REALLY EMBARRASING PARTS OUT OF YOUR JOURNAL, LIKE WHEN YOU SAID YOU WERE "DESTINED FOR GREATNESS" OR SOME SHIT LIKE THAT, WE MAKE NO GUARANTEES AND WILL SIMPLY JOIN WITH EVERYONE AND LAUGH AT YOUR SORRY ASS, BECAUSE DAMN, THERE'S NO
FUCKING WARRANTY HERE. GET IT? NO WARRANTY. NONE. AT ALL.

6. Notice to Government End Users. The Software and Documentation are "Real Bitchin'," as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R. §2.101, consisting of "Real Bitchin' (formerly 'Radical' items)" and as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. Or maybe 56 C.Fsomething
something. 7. Oh, and these things, too: §§§§. Consistent with 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §§227.7202-1 through 227.7202-4, as applicable, as well as §R2-D2 and §JOHNNY 5, locked in a beautiful metallic embrace of everlasting robot love.

PLEASE INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OR DECLINE OF THE FOREGOING AGREEMENT BY CLICKING ON THE APPROPRIATE BUTTON BELOW.

[I AGREE] I [I DO NOT AGREE]

I'd be careful with this, actually.

It says you are giving them "full database rights" to your product. The problem is, at the end of the day, in SL even the actual product is nothing more than a bunch of data in LL's asset database. So whether "database rights" would include copying the actual product isn't clear.

Thank you all for your input! I appreciate you taking time to give me plenty to consider...

Jakkal hit the nail on the head - the clause means that we have the right to host your content (meaning website content - words and images). It specifically does NOT include content in-world, so it does not in any way mean that we can sell your items without your permission.

As for questions about database rights, that is specifically so we can continue to maintain and improve our service. It covers things like backups and data warehousing.

Regarding sublicensing, this covers situations where we might provide a screenshot that includes your content to someone else for advertising (or whatever other required purpose). For instance, one style of terminals includes an old screenshot of our homepage. That screenshot includes content of a merchant or two. Considering that this texture was created by someone other than us, it is a valid example of sublicensed content.

There is absolutely no malice intended. One person has privately made me aware that it appears the attorney who wrote this language for us may have copied it from another high-profile website, so expect it to change soon. I'll also suggest that the wording be made a bit less worrisome if possible.

Maybe. Except for the fact thaat you have given them a license to use your copyrighted material. A good license would limit this to the display and presentation. As it is written this is a blanket licnese to use your copyright. The copyright laws cannot trump this particular clause because this clasue grants a license to utilise the very same rights. There are ways to challenge this, but as a technicality, it is a very broad license.

I spent about forty minutes reading the new terms carefully.

It is up to all of you to decide if that means anything.


In the end, I think it is a good, responsible move for all concerned.

I'm glad to see people acting in intelligent, pro-active ways to head off disputes, make clear what their positions are and so forth.


SLExchange and SLBoutique are both important business 'partners' to West Trade Imports. I fully support the reasonable methods they undertake to ensure continuance and stability.

Exchange, that sounds a lot like the clause on Amazon concerning reviews you submit, and so forth - is that the site in question?
Regards,

-Flip

Well you need to consider the entire "TOS" or whatever legal agreement you're looking at here. But the specific clause can't trump copyright laws, that's why they exist. That's like saying it's okay for you to murder someone in your house because you signed an agreement.

No, it appears to be copied from eBay almost word for word. Maybe there is some book lawyers refer to for this stuff and just copy that text? I don't know. Anyways, the wording will be changed to also state what we do not claim rights on, such as in-world content. This should happen today or tomorrow.

I'm sure there are fairly standard clauses all attorneys use, for things like act of God clauses, and the infamous "you, your heirs, assignees, family members, etc, etc". I know I see a lot of identical terminology on a lot of contracts.

Regards,

-Flip

Bip.

Actually in this case you are granting a license, which is giveing them permission to use your copyright. Its not at all like committing murder, since the law does not recognize any sort of license to kill. It does however recognize a license to allow others to use your copyrighted material, and that license can be as narrowly tailored or as boradly tailored as you want to to be. You can, in fact give up your copyright interests alltogether by agreement.

Yes, ther are, and attorneys plaigarize good contractual language shamelessly, and guard thier own good language as best as possible. But really there are may types of clauses that are common to all contracts and well usually the best wording is that which fits the intended purpose of the clause.

Thanks for the official word, jake!

If I had a dollar for every sentence that I spoke starting with, "Well, I'm not an attorney, but...", I'd be able to afford my lawyer for more things!

-Flip

The wording of that section has been changed to be less broad in scope, more explanatory, and a much better fit for what SL Exchange does. It should (hopefully) raise a lot less questions than the previous text.

Thanks for the criticism everyone. Believe it or not, it helped.

Thank you, thank you!