omg, the audacity!

...
Went to check out a new gallery opening today -- and I won't say where it was, or the name of the gallery, nor will I name any names -- but there is some BLATANT artistic plagiarism there. This isn't the standard ripping off of famous artwork being resold as cheapy art prints for your SL abode -- I am talking about at least one piece that I recognized as the work of someone else, being sold as an original, for somewhere in the range of L$5000-L$6000!! I IMed the gallery owner with some vague questions, asking if the pieces were original (he said yes), and if he created all the images himself, to which he replied that 10 different artists had contributed to the gallery...

In the words of Dolemite... "Bitch, are you for real!?" Whoever did it probably thought they were being REAAALLL smart -- spending L$10 for an upload fee in hopes of selling a stolen image for L$5000 is one hell of a profit!! Sheesh.

Soooo, I'm not sure about the rest of the art in that place -- but that one picture, at least, is NOT original artwork. Art buyers, beware! >;P

Screenshots below, compare and contrast!

Good grief

You will find that thievery abounds in SL. Whether it is the selling of freebies, or the selling of someones elses creation from within or without of SL. Hmm, now that I think back, I was guilty of this myself when I sold copies of paintings I had DL'd the texture of from the internet. I never thought of it as stealing, but looking back that is exactly what it was.

On the brightside, they won't sell any at that price.

Looks like more than one piece there isn't original. I can't remember artist names...

Hmm. Where is this? Could you IM me inworld when it comes back up, please?

I have a range of work which I would like to sell in SL, any ideas how I go about it ?

Many thanks

lc

Cool that you mentioned him. I have played poker with Rudy Ray Moore at The Palms many times.
A cool guy and very underated.

Assuming your artwork is original, talk to Savi Sieyes in-world. There's also a kiosk outside most museums/galleries now that dispense notecards containing landmarks to other galleries. It's worth a try.

yeesh! that is outrageous neb. and that is a famous image, surprised that thought they could get away with it
x

hehe - Harold Edgerton visited my elementary school when I was a kid, and showed us an exhibit on high-speed photography. I still remember meeting him, even though I was probably 8 at the time.

Very cool on the photo - Uncool on the plagarism

There are ALOT of famous images in SL -- how about the Van Goghs, the Impressionist art prints, all the Andrew Wyeths in the freebie boxes -- I believe the Wyeth family still holds the rights to all of Andrew's work -- so what is the prob? It's a damn ART PRINT. It cannot possibly be passed off, in SL, as a real artwork. It's a little computer image ripped off from the web, just like every single rug and art print and 95% of the textures used in SL.

What are you all having hysterics about? Did you pay the little guy in Pakistan that wove the real rug behind the image in your SL house? Did you pay the website that the image was copied from? Have you even THOUGHT about where all the rugs, the mirrors, the art frames, the art prints, the textures and fabrics in SL come from? THEY'RE ALL STOLEN IMAGES, PEOPLE.

Get a freakin' grip, people.

Most of the art (pictures) I've seen in game isn't original.

The artwork in question is not out of copyright yet. Most impressionist works, Van Goghs, and other pieces made before the 1920s are. I sell books of Victorian-era art, and also sold my original artwork until I realised that the copyripped works of art would make it pretty much impossible to get a toe in.

My house textures, windows, etc are made from scratch or from copyright-free sources.

That's the problem - the copyright still exists for the piece in question, and yanks the rug out from under those of us who actually /do/ make the artwork we sell.

So, please take into account that some of us actually aren't egregious copyright violators when you decide to say "get a grip".

I published 10 of my own original photographs at a gallery (perhaps the same gallery), to be sold as original works, and they are indeed mine and original.

I am sorry to hear that others are not respecting copyrights. I know I would be pissed if someone stole my work, especially if they turned around and sold it.

Duke

Most of the textures I've seen for sale in world are stolen from various places on the web. No one bitches about that though.

Is anyone even dumb enough to pay 5000L$ for something they can make themselves in a moment?

Yes, but most of them are either n00bs or at J---- B------'s store.

Just wanted to point out that it is possible that original artwork and/or photography might be worth $5000L to someone who really likes it.

Some of the photographs I provided the gallery are of orchids, and you won't find them growing in your backyard (unless you live in Maui). Add to that a little skill (:ahem: modesty aside) and a decent camera to boot and the time to put it together, and $12 doesn't look so bad....

..provided 1) You like the pictures
2) You're not willing to go out to the web and steal similar ones yourself.

So, if you're posting here about "How dare they" and you like my stuff...come by.

Non-original prints are also available at my gallery (of different photos) at a lower price. Supporting true artists is the best way to make them pay attention or care enough about Second Life to actively pursue copyright infringement.

Without an ACTUAL market on Second Life for photos or artwork, though, the infringement will likely continue because it's just NOT viable enough for original artists to give a crap.

Dear Nebulosus, Thank-you so much for pointing out the oversight at my gallery! I have taken care of it! The last ninety days since I was ‘born’ in Second Life has been a whirlwind of activity learning all about Second Life and building an art gallery for local Second Life artists to display fine art and receive a fair price for their tremendous creative efforts. And with your thoughts about “original” art in Second Life, we have tightened our policies to assure our valued clients that they are truly buying the creative efforts developed from the talented minds of our artists. Please review our Towers Gallery Art Policy below that reflects our dedication to a challenging effort of ‘computerized’ original art.

Our new art company, the Towers Gallery in Kuula is dedicated to Second Life artists and I have been very happy with the quality of artists I have found in Second Life. I see that you are an avid artist in Second Life and I would be very proud to represent you at our gallery. We have a wonderful business and marketing management group that is excited about bringing art to a new level of exposure in Second Life.

Our opening night last Thursday was a total success with beautiful live music, and we actually had a line of people wanting to get in our gallery because our sim was full!! We look forward to live music every Thursday night at 6 pm, so please tell your art loving friends to come enjoy the art and music filled evening with us. Many of are artists are there for you to meet and talk about fine art in Second Life. And based on sales at the gallery so far, I am very happy to report that people in Second Life are very willing to pay for the creative skills of our talented artists!

Thanks again Nebulosus!

Sincerely,
Brian Brewster
Towers Gallery

Towers Gallery Art Policy and Pricing Guidelines

The time and effort that a work of art represents is based on the creative mind of the artist and is valued on its unique qualities and the innate talent of the artist. Computerized art presents a different experience than a canvas and we need to establish guidelines to maintain the buyer relationship and how we represent our “original” works of art to the Second Life public.

All creative works of art on display for sale in the Towers Gallery must be “one-of-a-kind” and ”sold-only-once” creations. We need to assure the buyers that the image they purchased is not a “poster” image that can be found at other places for sale. This responsibility rests on the artist who will maintain originality by placing his name on an image as ‘creator’ on only one single image that is for sale at the Towers Gallery. The buyer will not have the ability to make a copy, but has the right to transfer to another citizen in Second Life.

It is the responsibility of the Artist to provide assurance to Towers Gallery and to our valued customers that the work of art is a creative image actually produced by the artist and not just an image copied from any other source. The Towers Gallery will maintain that every piece of art in the gallery is a development of the creative ability of the artist and that a work of art purchased at the Towers Gallery has not been the product of duplication, but an original thought expressed freely and solely by the artist.

Artists may keep images in a personal catalog of all their work, but will never sell any image that appears in the gallery unless the gallery is notified to remove the image from the gallery.

We can’t control people that may “steal” an image in the gallery for their own use. I am not aware of any recourse that Towers Gallery may use to enforce copyright law in Second Life. But any image stolen will not have the artist named as ‘creator’ on the work of art and therefore a stolen image can be identified as an illegitimate reproduction of our one-of-a-kind works of art presented at the Towers Gallery.

Note that the Towers Gallery will not present “limited editions” for sale. The Towers Gallery will maintain only one-of-a-kind works of art to maintain our dedication to the buyer that the art they buy is the single effort of our talented artists.

It is the responsibility of the artist to inform the Towers Gallery of any work of art that is being displayed elsewhere for sale. Any deviation from this policy will result in the artist’s work being removed from the Towers Gallery.

The valuation of the work of art is determined by the Towers Gallery management. We use economies of time, talent, and uniqueness when determining price. We try to maintain the Second Life economies of scale which don’t represent the time and effort an artist puts into a single work of art, but the pricing is consistent with creative efforts seen in other objects for sale in Second Life. For example, a single painting in the Towers Gallery will have many hours of creative work involved, similar to a residential structure for sale in Second Life which may cost $3000L to $10,000L, and a “house” is certainly not as creative as a piece of art. The residential structure objects are just an architectural form with off the shelf textures placed on surfaces. Our art is truly based on inspirational thoughts and feelings of the artists and will be valued with this creative effort in mind.

The Towers Gallery provides a unique center for artists to express and transfer their creative talent to art lovers in Second Life. The Towers Gallery is devoted to quality and will always maintain only the highest level of trust with our customers and artists. We have developed the Towers Gallery specifically for that elite Second Life experience to create a truly beautiful environment in our Second Life world.

In dog years?



P2

Do remember, however, that under current U.S. copyright law, anything produced prior to 1923 is now in the public domain.

http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

P2

Actually as a technicality most images in SL are "stolen" at least the source material for images, be they skins or otherwise. People use source shots of body parts to make skins. There is a whole list of it. People sell van goh prints in Real life. People sell prints of famous art in real life quite often in fact and there are artists that duplicate those works and sell them as such. Alot of people claiming original work in SL are in fact lying i'd say there i only a very small percentage that is actually original.

But thats creative freedom i dont think people should try to squash that and i feel that mabye alot of the laws out there limit creativity to expand more.

I wish people woudn't make statements like "it's all copied from somewhere else anyway" when referring to art (or textures). I don't care if it's true for 90% of the stuff.

Selling my own original art was something I planned to do myself. If people have the attitude that it's all just stolen stuff off the web, anyway, it encourages stealing.

For chrissakes can't you upload your own textures for 10L, goddamn theives.

I wish that too, Io. My stuff is original to me; my original skin was made from snapshots of my own body.

The whole thing is pretty disheartening.

I think your body is pretty much copywritten, heh.

Really, the idea that because someone used a few photosourced elements in a skin they worked on for a week makes it somehow little more than than a "copy and paste" is really only trying to justify theft.

Even if I uploaded another arist's work, it cost me 10L that you don't want to pay, so you're ripping me off.