New Permission Setting: Fair Use Copy

There are several circumstances where I would like to donate clothes to a new resident, but I'm unable to because almost all of my clothes are No Transfer. However, I understand why the clothing creators set the permissions this way. If you want to sell content in second life and you don't want your entire inventory stolen, you only really have 2 choices when it comes to permissions (ignoring modify):

No Copy, Transfer
Copy, No Transfer

Most clothing designers choose "Copy, No Transfer" because this allow their customers to customize the item into multiple outfits. Unfortunately, this permission setting has a detrimental effect on the resale value of the item: L$0.00.

To address the problem, SL needs a new permission setting. We need a "fair use copy." This new permission setting would allow you to make unlimited "No Transfer" copies of an item. However, once you transfer the original item, you also lose the copies. This system would allow you to make unlimited copies for personal use, which is very similar to U.S. copyright law. However, you would lose those rights as soon sell or give away the original copy.

Clothing is SL needs to have transfer permissions. The benefits to the SL economy of a resale market would be immediately apparent. While someone won't be interested in buying the t-shirt you bought last month at Mischief, several people would probably be interested in an eBay listing for everything Janie Marlowe has ever created. In fact, such a collection would probably sell for more than the sum of it's parts. Transfer permissions would also allow "fashion consultants" to sell outfits made from their favorite items. New markets would be created if people could only sell their clothes.

In addition, content creators could sell clothes with (fair use copy) transfer permissions for more money. Since people could sell collections of your clothes, they can be considered an investment. Who wouldn't want to invest in clothes?

While a "fair use copy" may not be the best solutions, please consider giving clothing designers an incentive to include transfer permissions.

What about rezzed copies? Are you going to scan the whole grid for a skirt sitting on the floor somewhere?

I like your idea, I wish there was someway I could grant them the ability to make personal copies and also resell or give away their entire access to the object, but your proposal as it stands is unworkable for technical reasons

No, just scan the asset server for objects with this "sales-UUID" (a special ID created on transfer of ownership that remains attached to the object even if rezzed), and change the owner to the new owner.

Still possibly too expensive to implement, but MUCH more feasible. It might cost a small transfer fee.

For clothes, you could limit them... when you put them in a box or wore them then all the other copies in your inventory could be greyed out an unavailable, since you generally only want clothes copied so you could have multiple settings for them. That way there would be at most one copy "in world" at a time.

For prims, you could do the same thing when you rezzed one in-world, and it'd come back if it were derezzed or taken, that would work for things like vehicles... you'd need an "I've lost this vehicle between sims" button or menu item that would kick off a server scan and re-enable the vehicle. For prims where you want to use multiple copies (like furniture) you'd need the "sales-UUID" idea.

Clothes don't Rez on the floor. They only exist in your inventory and on your avatar. Your example would not be an issue with clothing.

However, objects would be much more complicated to manage. My proposal only applies to clothing.

Like boxed clothes you get from stores: Put clothes into object content, then rez the object

... have permission been awaiting a re-work?

*holds breath*

In RL, the First Sale Doctrine allows anyone to resell anything that they buy. This allows businesses like second hand clothing stores and video rental stores to exist. Bringing First Sale Doctrine would allow new industries to develop in SL. There are many businesses that could exist with transfer permissions. If you think of one, please post it here.

There is money just waiting to be made if the permissions are subtly changed.

Please vote for this proposal:
http://secondlife.com/vote/index.php?get_id=1357

Thanks,
Stephen

Stephen,

I don't know if indexing the entire asset database on another key field could be called subtle. It sounds like a major overhaul.

I do agree with your intent. It's good for everyone if copyable items could be "returned for refund", or resold in a limited way which isn't currently possible.

This may be armchair quarterbacking, but I'm not sure that it would require another key field. It seems to me that internally there is field in each asset which references the "source" key, and that could be keyed to the "master" copy in the avatar's inventory, which then references the key of the creator's copy (indicating it's the master). Once the master leaves someone's inventory, the other copies could be rendered unuseable or removed since their source is no longer in the avatar's inventory. This ought to encompass any copies in any object's inventory as well, which would be no transfer anyway. I suppose there should be a bit somewhere to indicate its fair-use status for backward compatibility, but that's far less than a new key field.

Any Lindens listening? Is this impractical?

~Boss

This concept is already in the works under a different category not related to clothing. Its using 'soft copies' of items in your folder. As you already (should) know textures and sound files are already stored in your inventory as a soft copy. Meaning if you duplicate a texture, rename it, give each of those differently named copies to different people.. every copy will still refer to the same asset key.

Another proposal that has already had linden feedback is for people to make as many soft copies of items in their inventory. So if you purchased a single item like a shirt or prim sunglasses you could have as many shortcuts to that item as you want. So if you have 5 outfits that all wear the same set of glasses you could keep the glasses themselves stored in an organized place in your objects folder and put a shortcut into the folder of each of your outfits that wear them. When you drag the folder to your av the original pair of glasses gets worn instead.

Its not a fair-use copy. Cause its not a copy at all. Its just a way to have a reference to a favored item more easily accessible. This allows the systems resource servers to only have to store one copy of the item and each 'shortcut' you have would require SIGNIFICANTLY less storage space. So doing this would reduce the load on Linden Labs and make life easier for us.

This would only be useful for attachments. Dropping a no-copy item in-world would invalidate (delete) any inventory shortcuts you have because the item would no longer be in your inventory for the shortcuts to reference.