Lend me a hand

This doesn't seem quite right. There are all kinds of toy cars with that shape, all over the place.

P.S. I wouldn't call it being a vigilante. Vigilantes take the law into their own hands. I think it would more accurately be called being a snitch.

And if you had read the link in a post in the Shiryu thread, you'd be aware that toy companies are now being sued - and losing - for doing this without license. The most recent one I read (in that thread) concerned the shape of the Hummer.

Toy-makers are reproducing a gluttonous cube of high-density ferro-shit?

Jarod, this isn't your battle, it is NOT your place to report other people for this violation, it's theirs. Budweiser has the right to search the whole of SL for their logo and have it removed.. you doing it just makes you whiny. "but Mommm, if I can't infringe on copyright Bobby can't either!!!"

The procedures we have in place are to respond to people who are using trademarks or copyrighted material belonging to other people, and are designed to protect the trademark and copyright holder from unfair practices. If you see something that you think is a trademark violation, please file an abuse report or let an in-world liaison know.

I think it would more accurately be called being a snitch.

I want to point out that Robin Linden ask us to just do that.

I meant more in terms of things like clothing or vehicles, for example, It's not up to some random user to decide someone has copied a design, this stuff happens real world all the time, and it's not up to you to decide that a knock-off is similar enough to be an offense.
Instead of wasting the time of LL with abuse reports, try asking the person to either take it down, or let them explain how/why it's different?

(berry/buck/mills/stipe)


Shiny happy people laughing
Meet me in the crowd
People, people
Throw your love around
Love me, love me
Take it into town
Happy, happy
Put it in the ground
Where the flowers grow
Gold and silver shine

(chorus)
Shiny happy people holding hands
Shiny happy people holding hands
Shiny happy people laughing

Everyone around, love them, love them
Put it in your hands
Take it, take it
There’s no time to cry
Happy, happy
Put it in your heart
Where tomorrow shines
Gold and silver shine

(repeat chorus)

Hey, here we go!

(repeat chorus 4x)

Please be aware that Nike's record is not frozen in time. You might wish to verify Nike's current overseas activities before insinuating that they are doing something immoral or unethical.

Wow, so every time you see a crime being committed you turn the other way? Are you one of those people that "doesn't want to be involved" so you never call the police when a crime is being committed? Wow, you are a model citizen; do you speak at schools to the kiddies?

Ummm....trademark infringement and copyright violation are civil matters, not criminal.

You asked am I a model citizen...yes. I would match my contribution to society and the legal system against yours anyday...ANY DAY. Bring it on girl.

§ 506. Criminal offenses5
(a) Criminal Infringement. - Any person who infringes a copyright willfully either -

(1) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain, or

(2) by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000,

shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, United States Code. For purposes of this subsection, evidence of reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work, by itself, shall not be sufficient to establish willful infringement.

(b) Forfeiture and Destruction. - When any person is convicted of any violation of subsection (a), the court in its judgment of conviction shall, in addition to the penalty therein prescribed, order the forfeiture and destruction or other disposition of all infringing copies or phonorecords and all implements, devices, or equipment used in the manufacture of such infringing copies or phonorecords.

(c) Fraudulent Copyright Notice. - Any person who, with fraudulent intent, places on any article a notice of copyright or words of the same purport that such person knows to be false, or who, with fraudulent intent, publicly distributes or imports for public distribution any article bearing such notice or words that such person knows to be false, shall be fined not more than $2,500.

(d) Fraudulent Removal of Copyright Notice. - Any person who, with fraudulent intent, removes or alters any notice of copyright appearing on a copy of a copyrighted work shall be fined not more than $2,500.

False Representation. - Any person who knowingly makes a false representation of a material fact in the application for copyright registration provided for by section 409, or in any written statement filed in connection with the application, shall be fined not more than $2,500.

(f) Rights of Attribution and Integrity. - Nothing in this section applies to infringement of the rights conferred by section 106A(a).

Inspired by the crackdown on automotive trademarks, I have begun flying around the world and Abuse Reporting people who are specifically selling Trademarked items -- avatars, clothing, furniture, etc. I've reported three today already, and it gives me a rather good feeling to know that I'm helping to pretect our Second Life popultion against lawsuits.

If you want to confirm the status of a Trademark, I suggest using www.ustpo.gov.

I'll check back later this week to see the status of what I've reported, but obviously I can't check every store in every sim. Help me help Second Life!

(I just wanna say that even if you do make an exact duplicate of a car/shoe/whatever i'm not realy seeing how it's the same thing since mazda aren't going to sell second life cars.. & if anything your helping to promote their brand. SO that's just petty & stupid. )

I just ARed your post, and sent an email to Muppets Holding Company©, LLC.

Your blatant theft of their copyrighted lyrics won't fly in these parts my friend!

It's gotta start somewhere!

I laugh so hard at these threads how everyone post as if they are an expert on the subject.

I'm always pretty startled that someone who comports herself as an intelligent person still doesn't understand that Second Life isn't a game. Second Life is a platform, like the World Wide Web, IRC or Instant Messenger to create and distribute content and information, as well as to interact with others. I've had five minute conversations with people who had never heard of Second Life and who, without my prompting, immediately corrected themselves when they called it a game, since, obviously, Second Life is not a game.

(Kindly print out the above paragraph and tape it to your monitor so you can read it next time you feel compelled to make a post about "the game."

As for money being the root of evil in Second Life, I think that the individuals who hate money most deserve it the least (in RL and SL). Evil, Cocoanut, because it eludes your capacity to attain it? Evil because it cannot be demanded and must be earned? Evil because to hold money, one must use one's brain for an extended period of trial and error, before money can be reliably earned from a given practice?

How, without money, would you propose that I exchange my ability to make a profit with the ability of a brilliant scripter to make a complex system? How, without money, would you suggest that I create content that offers on-going updates and improvements to its owners? How, without money, would a college student have spent weeks making a fun gadget that gives hundreds of customers hours of enjoyment while granting the student a better diet and additional gasoline each week?

The Linden Dollar, and its USD value, is the ultimate testament to the ability for civilized people to come together and exchange the value of their work and their mind power. Backed up only by the confidence of one resident that another will find value in his L$, the currency is exchanged by thousands of people daily to create a wealth of ideas, content, entertainment and money from which the entire community benefits. Businesses exist in Second Life that would have been impossible ten years ago. Entrepreneurs have testbeds that would have been unfeasible to create five years ago. A lot of hard working people can use their talents in unprecedented ways to feed themselves, their families, their futures.

This is a game? This is evil?

Whenever value is to be gained, there will be hijackers and parasites, who substitute the creative effort of others for their own. This fact has existed since the dawn of civilization and isn't likely to end soon. These parasites are duly ostracized and punished by their community for trying to take a short cut to wealth they do not deserve and could not otherwise earn. That's what's happened here. Want to sell a product that is truly yours and cannot be taken away from you? Make it yourself. All of it. And rely not on the groundwork laid by others, but on your own ability to create the most compelling product around.

Can't do it? Then get out of business.

OK. From Nike's 2005 Quaterly Report:
"Over the last decade, I’ve seen a number of chapters written on the quest to improve working conditions in the apparel and footwear industry. In the first chapter, we upgraded processes and conditions behind closed doors. However inadequate our critics may have found these efforts, they did result in factories that were far better than what we found originally." (emphasis mine)

Hey, I might just be spewing bile, but I don't find this all that reassuring.