Copyright and Trademark infringement policies: why some seem to be exempt

I have been told multiple times that products using copyrighted and or trademarked content in SL without consent of the respective owners is strictly prohibited and have modified and recreated my content accordingly. However, when i see shops like the one listed below that blatantly ripoff the same copyrights i was remanded for, and several abuse reports prove fruitless, i am starting to begin to feel that the responsible content creators are getting burned.

Assault with scripted objects in a safe area is a violation of TOS, and can and will get a user quickly banned. Unauthorized use of protected content is also a violation of TOS and......nothing ever happens. What's the deal? What is the hierarchy of the TOS? what policies will result in action when properly reported, and which ones are ignored?

In addition, the offending items (which i again emphasize several AR's have been filed) are those in the same that I was personally denied for from their respective copyright holders. When I brought this to the attention in an inquiry if they were indeed authorized, the companies had the following responses, which i will gladly forward any of the Linden Lab staff upon request.

There are countless more examples; however these two specifially frustrate me because when i was planning to use these two same images in my own products, and was turned down by both companies. Now, this store is using the same two images without authorization for capital gain, and after several contacts to the lindens nothing is happening. It makes me want to just forget creation ethics and respecting others' property when it seems us residents are not held to the same TOS. AR's have been fruitless and haven't yielded results or a response, so perhaps i will get one from here.

Coordinates: Shepherd 47,40,107
Owner: Jamie Bergman
Copyright/Trademark Holder: Springfield Armory

Official Response:

Thank you for your inquiry into our copyright and trademark policies.

The photo you attached is one that was obvously downloaded from our website and is the property of Springfield, Inc. It cannot be used without our permission. Unfortunately, the only people we grant such permission to are Springfield retailers.

Thank you for checking on that. Please advise the user of this photo of the violation.

Bill Dermody
Marketing Manager,
Springfield Armory
xxx-xxx-xxxx

Coordinates: Shepherd 88,68,113
Owner: Jamie Bergman
Copyright/Trademark Holder: Lions Gate Entertainment Inc.

Official Response:

Trademarks, Copyrights & Restrictions

All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are proprietary to Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. and its affiliates. Except as otherwise provided herein, you may not reproduce, perform, create derivative works from, republish, upload, edit, post, transmit, or distribute in any way whatsoever, any materials from this Site or any other web site owned or operated by Lions Gate Entertainment (the "Site Materials" without the prior written permission of Lions Gate Entertainment. However, you may download or make one copy of the Site Materials, and other downloadable items displayed on the Site, for personal, non-commercial home use only, provided all copyright and other notices contained in the Site Materials are left intact. Any modification of the Site Materials, or any portion thereof, or use of the Site Materials for any other purpose constitutes an infringement of Lions Gate Entertainment's copyrights and other proprietary rights. Use of the Site Materials on any other web site or other networked computer environment is prohibited without prior written permission from Lions Gate Entertainment.

Mica's, I feel your frustration--noone's excempt from these policies. I know because I've seen numerous actions taken for myself. People wonder if things get done, and they do--they're just not there to witness it.

However, and here's where a lot of confusion is: copyrights and trademarks have significant differences, and are not synonyms.

In the case of the former, what I noticed missing here was no mention of the DMCA, which we're compliant with. The original gunmaker should file a notification with your assistance, as listed on the page, and the content in violation will be removed ASAP.

In the case of the latter, I don't see a recognizable trademark in those pictures--these are often removed by Liaisons and Customer Service Lindens on the spot. A good example would be the Nike swoosh, or the McDonald's Golden Arches. Sometimes, the appearance of these trademarks inworld even includes the (TM), leaving no room for doubt! If it isn't so clear, then abuse reports are filed and investigated. Hopefully, your abuse reports included links to the source material with visual proof of a trademark. An A/B comparison is invaluable and easy. [email=abuse-manager@secondlife.com]abuse-manager@secondlife.com[/email] should be contacted in the event this somehow got missed.

Historically, when no action is taken, it's because of a lack of details and conclusive evidence. It sadly happens more than it should--but it sounds like you've spent quite an amount of time on this, so hopefully this will be of further help. Best of hope.

Here's an authoritative post by Robin with related details.