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LL's stance on artists original artwork- what is it?

Savi Sieyes
Registered User
Join date: 20 Aug 2005
Posts: 31
08-09-2006 08:23
After reading LL's TOS and the US and International copyright laws I am deeply concerned as to the statements made in LL's TOS.
I am positive I am not the only artist in sl trying to find these answers so I hope LL responds in some fashion :

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In the TOS it states:

3.2 You retain copyright and other intellectual property rights with respect to Content you create in Second Life, to the extent that you have such rights under applicable law. However, you must make certain representations and warranties, and provide certain license rights, forbearances and indemnification, to Linden Lab and to other users of Second Life.

Users of the Service can create Content on Linden Lab's servers in various forms. Linden Lab acknowledges and agrees that, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, you will retain any and all applicable copyright and other intellectual property rights with respect to any Content you create using the Service, to the extent you have such rights under applicable law.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, you understand and agree that by submitting your Content to any area of the service, you automatically grant (and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant) to Linden Lab: (a) a royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid-up, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to (i) use, reproduce and distribute your Content within the Service as permitted by you through your interactions on the Service, and (ii) use and reproduce (and to authorize third parties to use and reproduce) any of your Content in any or all media for marketing and/or promotional purposes in connection with the Service; (b) the perpetual and irrevocable right to delete any or all of your Content from Linden Lab's servers and from the Service, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and for any reason or no reason, without any liability of any kind to you or any other party; and (c) a royalty- free, fully paid-up, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to copy, analyze and use any of your Content as Linden Lab may deem necessary or desirable for purposes of debugging, testing and/or providing support services in connection with the Service. Further, you agree to grant to Linden Lab a royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid-up, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, sublicensable right and license to exercise the copyright, publicity, and database rights you have in your account information, including any data or other information generated by your account activity, in any media now known or not currently known, in accordance with our privacy policy as set forth below, including the incorporation by reference of terms posted at http://secondlife.com/corporate/privacy.php.

You also understand and agree that by submitting your Content to any area of the Service, you automatically grant (or you warrant that the owner of such Content has expressly granted) to Linden Lab and to all other users of the Service a non-exclusive, worldwide, fully paid-up, transferable, irrevocable, royalty-free and perpetual License, under any and all patent rights you may have or obtain with respect to your Content, to use your Content for all purposes within the Service. You further agree that you will not make any claims against Linden Lab or against other users of the Service based on any allegations that any activities by either of the foregoing within the Service infringe your (or anyone else's) patent rights.

You further understand and agree that: (i) you are solely responsible for understanding all copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret and other intellectual property or other laws that may apply to your Content hereunder; (ii) you are solely responsible for, and Linden Lab will have no liability in connection with, the legal consequences of any actions or failures to act on your part while using the Service, including without limitation any legal consequences relating to your intellectual property rights; and (iii) Linden Lab's acknowledgement hereunder of your intellectual property rights in your Content does not constitute a legal opinion or legal advice, but is intended solely as an expression of Linden Lab's intention not to require users of the Service to forego certain intellectual property rights with respect to Content they create using the Service, subject to the terms of this Agreement.
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As far as I can tell this refers to anything created in second life. What I'd like to know is, what about art that is created out of sl and then uploaded into sl to sell the image? To me that is the same as using the image I created to reproduce greeting cards etc. which is my right as owner of the image.
If I have art that was created before I ever signed up and decided to up load it into sl to sell the image I own.... does LL have rights to use my copyrighted image NOT created in game? Can LL use the images I created out of game for advertising purposes simply because I uploaded them into the game to sell? Does LL have the right to reproduce these registered copyrighted images without my knowledge or consent for advertising purposes in the real world?

Thank you in advance your your response.
Torley Linden
Enlightenment!
Join date: 15 Sep 2004
Posts: 16,530
08-10-2006 11:21
Good question, Savi. I'm asking about this for clarification...
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Ginsu Linden
Junior Member
Join date: 28 Jul 2005
Posts: 24
08-10-2006 15:56
Yes, content created in Second Life, including by uploading content created outside of Second Life, may be used to promote Second Life. This clause was written to make it possible to use screenshots, video capture, and the like on our website and other promotional vehicles. As you can imagine, since Second Life is a highly user-created environment, it would be very difficult to show people what Second Life is like without showing user-created content.

If you are concerned about the appearance of your intellectual property in materials that promote Second Life, you should not upload that content to Second Life. However, I'd suggest that most things created in Second Life have more value the more people see it, so it's to your benefit to have your content featured in SL promotions. After all, the more people see your content, the more may want to buy it from you.

Nevertheless, if you do see your content in SL's website, advertising, or other promotional materials, and you would like us to stop using it, please let any Linden know.