blatant copyright infrightment list

here are the links to some few sl items that are showing clearly copyright infrightment


the shape i am not sure but the apple logo is copyrighted


these i know at least the sleeve logo is protected



the watch backpannel is coming from a calvin klein watch (google : calvin klein)

more to come

Not to be pedantic, but you've identified one example of trademark infringement, one example of borderline copyright infringement, and one really shitty object.

Way to go.

(Edit: I'm going to up that to two counts of trademark infringement. I believe CK is a registered mark.)

I think all three are trademark infringements, aren't they?

Copyright infringement isn't really a big deal and something I believe LL has safe harbour against.

Trademark infringement, however, is a problem.

all use copyrighted logos


like this one

What do you hope to accomplish with this thread?

It depends. I'm not sure if either of the patches depicted on the arm of the SG-1 uniform are actually registered trademarks. The Stargate SG-1 logo on the sign is trademarked, though. So yes, all three are trademark violations.

And yes, you're quite right about the difference between copyright and trademark infringement.

is it distubing you?
well the thing is that these peeps could simply create theyr derivated logo, it would be so much more creative to find something that ressemble the coca cola logo without being it, giving to sl more identity and would not cause trademark problems

another one coca cola by the way



usually every logo created in movie productions are copyrighted

What is Rizla? This is a product I've never heard of.

rizla+ is a brand of cigarett paper

there was somewhere these vuitton bags and channel i belive but i cant find em

Ahh. That would explain the shirt.

You need to differentiate between copyright and trademark. Not every image or logo is trademarked.

lets stick to pure trademarks then



true beer brand names, i checked

If I owned one of those products I'd want to know who to thank for the free advertising.

Just on a tangent of pedantry: you're misusing another site's bandwidth. The original host of these images provides them as a service to their customers, not so that you can link to them inline in a discussion about copyright/trademark infringement. You're basically stealing resources from a small business (namely, SLBoutique).

Hotlinking is poor etiquette.

If you can't show they are making an ACTUAL profit (NOT lindenbucks, REAL CASH, as in taking it out of game and into real world) off selling those items, then there's no beef, right? LOL

I like this graphic, how about you, succulent? ohh yes a REAL society YAY!


http://www.bcss.org.uk/

Here's another way to look at it... let's say someone is selling a name brand product and they actually do well with it. It spreads far and wide in SL and their brand name is constantly in front of lots of eyeballs. Let's say that person makes $1000usd from it in a year. Now let's suppose that company wanted to do that themselves and advertise to the demographic in SL and get their brand name in front of that many eyeballs. How much do you think they would spend? I can guarantee it would be more than $1000 and it would come directly out of their pocket rather than in the form of potential revenue they were denied. It's viral marketing at its finest, and it's a bargain.

the best way of protecting yourself from copyright enfringement is to modify at least 33% usually keeps ya outa court.

So is ripping off trademarks!

This is on the same level as fake trademarked material at flea markets and sidewalk vendors. I have railed about it before to no avail.

Basically, I see no harm at this point, because SL is, at best, at the level of a really sophisticated fansite and there is merit to the "it's free advertising argument." Besides, there is no official avenue for us to get "licensed" merchandise.

Yet.

Once this SL thing catches on, I think there will be some changes. A corporate lawyer would have a field day here. Especially with those who make and sell these items (I think that the free and L$1 items should be cut some slack.) I am honestly amazed that the "infringement" searches the lawyers run haven't turned up SLexchange/boutique, etc. for further investigation.

I say this as the proud creator and wearer of a NASCAR Ryan Newman T-Shirt (that I have only given away.) I will wear it until the real thing makes it here.

yet the companies with whom i've spoken (well-known brands) will not allow me to use their trademarks.

It may be copyright infringement, but I see nothing in the thread so far which does anything other than ADVERTISING for those companies. Sure, selling that stuff is probably not a good idea, but it gets people seeing those logos.

Coca-Cola doesn't sell Coke t-shirts to make revenue on t-shirts. They sell those t-shirts to SELL MORE COKE. Likewise, if people like to smoke, buying that rolling paper logo in SL is not going to cut into RIZZA+'s ability to sell their rolling papers. It's not like you can print it off into a usable rolling paper, likewise that arm patch advertises stargate 10x cheaper than Sci-Fi can.

I have no arguement that it is infringement, but my gut tells me the holders of most of those copyrights even if they DID know about SL, they would turn a blind eye to the majority of it. It plays right into their corperate agenda for FAR cheaper than they could accomplish it on their own, and because they are already making revenue on the sale of the advertising logos and objects the people doing that advertising CANNOT ask for reimbursement from the companies.

The reason companies reserve trademarks is primarily twofold. One, they do it to prevent other companies from selling stuff AS their products (immitation products), and TWO to keep people from asking for money for doing unauthorized advertising or slandering the product. I am sure if you sold coke bottle dildos with the coke logo, there would probably be a bit more incentive for the CocaCola corperation to get on your backside about it... little banners and logos though only benefit them.

I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate. It never fails to amaze me how dense big corporations can be, though viral marketing is definitely starting to catch on. Too many dinosaurs still won't know a good thing whey they see it.

while i won't defend corporate intelligence, i'm also not so quick to dismiss it.

i think there are some issues most of us don't consider that they do. for example, imagine if that recent killing in China hadn't been over a simple "virtual sword", but somehow involved a branded item. imagine a player who is attacked and humiliated by a griefer wielding a branded item (a Mccullough chainsaw or something). and the player is so humiliated they take RL action. and somewhere in the lurid press story, that brand name pops up.

considering all the generic "videogames are violent" newstories, i can imagine a marketing VP weighing the worth of spreading their precious brand in these seemingly lawless venues against the possibility or probability of brand damage. i may not come to the same conclusions they do regarding the potential risk (obviously i haven't since i've tried to persuade them), but then i'm neither in their shoes nor fully cognizant of all the issues they consider. being aware that i don't know everything, i respect their decision because in the end it's theirs to make and not mine.

Yes, I'm quoting myself because I'm really very interested in an answer.

I am a graphic artist and one of our first lessons in creating a new logo was to look at other logos; it was then shared with us, as John Hornpipe has already stated, that your new logo only need be 33% different to be legaly yours.

I'd also like to reffer back to the points made by Chip Midnight which are -very- valid in that this is next to free advertisement for these companies. A good example of the power of these free advertisements is the rolling paper you found. I, along with many other posters, had no idea what that was for. Now, however, I do and am that much more educated about the availability of that company's product at absolutely no cost to the company itself. So, if I ever felt the sudden urge to lose a few braincells, I'll have a paper company in mind... after I find a manual to educate me on the rolling itself of course!

Exactly. It's free promotion, essentially. We are doing their product placement for them in a virgin field. That is why distillers and cigarette companies give away so many t shirts. On the other hand, many companies, Polo and Louis Vuitton coming to mind as rather extreme examples, will fight to seemingly rediculous lengths to protect their designs and trademarks, and that has me a bit worried. It's all very good to sell people the Rolex Cosmograph they can't afford in real life, but we do need to use a little common sense to keep the lawyers out of our grid.

Sorry Csven, but I think that's a bit silly. If someone is hacked to bits by a maniac with a chanisaw in RL does the press write headlines like "Man brutally Killed with Mccullough Chainsaw."? Nope. You're right though. That kind of luddite fear of new venues such as this one is pretty pervasive among old school marketing departments.