BEWARE: More textures/designs were stolen and resold. What’s next?

Ken...let's simply say that the permissions set by a designer/creator are not able to protect his items from beeing ripped. There are malicious programs that can do such things...

I'm not discussing specifics, but you can use third-party software to grab textures from SL at a higher resolution than the texture tab.

okay copybot "the original' is gone however to my knowledge their are 3rd party programs out there that are copybot replacements to grab textures which is what i was asking as the only other choice is a screenshot which of course well that's not gonna give anything that wont require a lot of work. Also drawing it makes no sense because if he can draw that well he can make his own as pictures of guys with body hair that you can use to see which way it goes are all over the net. So if you didn't have a permisson but and it was pretty high detail there is really only one way it can be done with a 3rd party program that yes does exist.

Anything else like some guy drawing every hair in place well that has to be personal hehe, but since your unknown then its a rip anyhow this is what i was looking for so basically as usual there really istn't a huge way other then if you see some guy loitering WAYY to long to kick him from your place

It predates copybot by quite a bit.

Without detailing how, the way people rip off textures in SL is through an exterior run program. In essence, what you "see" in SL in on your PC so is available to a certain extent.

The only way to prevent texture theft in SL would be to prohibt uploading of textures, which would defeat the whole point of texture creation in the first place.

Anyone using those programs knows they are "frowned upon", reguardless of what they may claim. You can NOT take textures from SL by "mistake" or without knowing a bit about how SL works, how to utilize those exterior programs, and perhaps a bit of PhotoShopping.

The "legality" of it has been discussed and rediscussed *buries that horse and gives it last rights*. It comes down to morality. It's wrong. We all know it's wrong. It only takes someone who doesn't care about right or wrong to do it.

~Jessy

Take our word for the fact that's it's possible, through no fault of the designer, before we start wondering if your interest is so keen because you want to find out how to do the same thing.

i do create textures.. thx all ur replies..

OK, I think that the topic has been shifted a little, I hope it won’t get derailed and then closed by the moderators.

The objective of my first post was: a) to alert other designers about a potential rip off of their textures, since I can’t possibly know all the designers’ work that the person was selling in that store and b) to get ideas or recommendation on what could be further done apart from of the actions that I already took. And thank you all for your feedback so far.

Vakis, I'm sorry this happened to you. I think it would be really helpful if you posted this on an outside forum like secondcitizen where you can "name names" so that content creators could go see if their creations are also being ripped off (and consumers could boycott).

Thanks for alerting everyone to this situation.

PS: Everyone: I am right that you can name names on outside forums, right?

I think the shorts in clothing 4 pic are by Jesseaitui...

/invalid_link.html

Just logged into SL & sent him an IM with a heads up.

Yes.

Good - you'll understand why people don't want to outline the method

@Caldonia: The SL TOS can't possibly prohibit posting names, screenshots or chats outside SL or SL web. I still have to confirm that though

@Pal: Yes Jesse has been notified already.

(thanks for the answers above)

Definitely sounds like an unrepentant ripper. Wish there were a way to rail-road these rip-off artists out of SecondLife.

I could see some amateur unwittingly 'stealing' a few textures, not realizing what they're doing is wrong... for them, a cease&desist with a stern warning is probably fine, but not when they build a business around theft like this.

If someone has not just one but several DMCA claims filed against them they should be suspended during the process of confirming (to make sure they don't quietly delete the plagarized content).

If LL confirms that the resident is guilty of those DMCA filings against them, they should lose their land, their account balance, inventory, and get IP banned.

I just don't get why some people feel the need to steal other people's work and pass it off as their own. So they can't do it themselves... why can't they go find something they CAN do legitimately.

...was notified the day it occured.

If anyone see's something of question it may be best to ask Vakis (would be best) or even myself (since I was present) who we notified thusly not over running folks with IM's of "old news". We kinda took who we knew that day, and agreed to sorta split the list and make notifications to whom we recognized.

<edit>

(and I see Vakis is staying on top of this also and for some reason it's taking forever for some of my posts to go through lol)

If you sold the textures Full Perm then you gave the buyer the right to resell them according to way permissions work.

BUT

if you make textures no tran, ppl who buy them and use them to creatue object cant sell the object with the texture on it due to texture persmission?

What would the object look like if it had a /no tran/ texture on it and it was sold or transferred? is that where the 'missing image' thing comes from?


Selling textures is so risky in sl because in order to sell them you MUST give full perm to user and by doing that you give them persmission to resell it.

and of course, anyone can also hit 'print screen' button the keyboard and grab a copy of anything they see then load it into photoshop

Being in texture sales is a tought business, untill SL comes out with a way to allow USE of textures and allow resale of items using textures but not allow resale of textures it self, it would be a permission nightmare!

good luck

Thanks to everyone who had my back and gave me a heads up about this.


I guess whenever you(in general) release a product you have to know that this sort of thing could happen.

This guy had 2 of my products for sale in his shop, I`m not sure if -he- ripped them or if he got them from someone else who did. I`m noticing a lot of , i mean A LOT of, people selling "business starter kits!" now..They`re full perms. So a lot of items that were not meant to be sold elsewhere have gotten into the hands of theives and now innocent people having no idea they were stolen.

Seeing all the photos of the (quite ugly) vendor boxes sicken me. Sl is getting so hard to be a content creator in now aday. From having your stuff ripped off, to people soliciting their business in your shop(s), people pretending to work in your shop and ripping off customers, and the list goes on.

I think the whole hype of people making money in SL to the media has turned this into tons of new players coming in to make money..and out of that- a den of theives.

It`s just getting worse. I wish there were more to be done about all of this...And to start, we should be able to name names in here.

Do we have to post explicit instructions on how to steal textures before people will accept that it can be done REGARDLESS OF PERMISSIONS OR ORIGINAL OWNERSHIP? The thief doesn't even need to own an object with the texture to steal an exact copy with no restrictions on it at all. This isn't using printscreen, this isn't copybot, this isn't something the content designers or LL can fix with a technical solution.

This thread isn't about someone reselling full perm textures, it's about someone stealing content that was never set to full perm, making it full perm, and reselling it.

This thread the guy stole clothing, textures(on clothing layer), and skins. Not objects. This "exploit" should be fixed, but as far as I know it doesn`t work to take textures on the "clothing" form.

if it's not copy bot or print screen or UUID theft, then yes please do tell

We at texture World include this not along with textures sold:

TEXTURE PERMISSIONS:

All textures are sold with full permission.
-Copy means you can use a texture multiple times. Without that permission, a texture would be gone once it is used.

-Modify means you can save a texture to your hard drive to modify it yourself in your paint program.

-Transfer means that you can transfer the texture on any project. Without transfer you would not be able to sell or give the creation to another person.

You may use these textures on all your personal projects. Builders, clothing designers, and furniture designers are free to use textures they purchase directly in the store in the construction of their wares which can then be sold to others.

However, these textures may not be resold or given away to other parties on their own, or as part of another transaction. Selling or giving away textures without the express permission of the creator is a copyright infringement.

It is easy to assume if something in SL is set to full permissions that you may distribute or resell copies of it. The texture ALWAYS remains the property of the artist who created it and copyright protection applies at the point of creation.

For custom requests or questions please contact Crimson Valentino or Najmah Handayani.

Thank you for interest in textures by Texture World!


Now not sure how this would hold up if a suit was filed but, it does make people aware that reselling the textures is not acceptable.

Do some research, its out there. I don't think anyone wants to post how to do it, but think of this:

What you see in SL has to be sent to your computer. That data, specifically textures, ends up, unencrypted, outside of SL, at some point. If it wasn't, you wouldn't be able to see it now could you?

The issue with selling textures is no one is going to buy restricted permissions and when I have bought ones with restricted permissions I can't use them to build items they won't show up in the texture options in inventory.
I bought several flower textures bit ago with restricted permissions. I can't use them all I can do is look at them in the inventory.
I have been to several texture shops and its interesting one of the biggest I won't mention here with over 21k in population has several freebie textures too for sell.
The purple silk swirl, the white tile with tiny blue diamonds, etc.
Out of 5, 3 Textures shops I went to the largest tend to sell freebies or textures I have seen other places or were from Lindens that they are selling. Few of mall owners I have talked to who sell textures don't make them they resell. Some shops have literally other people's names on them, there no way to determine if these people had permission to sell there textures.
Problem with if you're artist or texture creator there no real protection. I can literally spend hours making collage or hand drawing, texturing something upload it share it with few friends or sell it and those person can in return turn around and sell it to anyone for whole lot more, there nothing I can do about it.
Also because of the nature of how textures are anyone can take snapshots and tweak it bit and upload without even buying if they really want the item.

This note is all the shops that sell textures including ones who steal textures.
I am not saying your shop does that but how do you enforce this?

A written notification must be made. This can be done either by fax or written letter (regular mail or courier). Emails will not be accepted unless a prior arrangement has been made. The notification must:

1. Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has been infringed upon (i.e., describe the work that you own).
   
2. Identify the in-world item that you claim is infringing on your copyright, and provide information reasonably sufficient to locate the item in-world. For example "The allegedly infringing work I am referring to is located on the map area labeled 'Freelon, 104,30,56'."
   
3. Provide a reasonably sufficient method of contacting you; phone number and email address would be preferred.
   
4. (Optional) Provide information, if possible, sufficient to permit us to notify the user(s) who posted the content that allegedly contains infringing material. You may also provide screenshots or other materials that are helpful to identify the works in question. (This is for identification only, not to "prove" substantive claims.)
   
5. Include the following statement: "I have good faith belief that the use of the copyrighted materials described above and contained on the service is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or by protection of law."
   
6. Include the following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed."
   
7. Sign the paper
   
   [**]Please note: The DMCA provides that you may be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys fees) if you falsely claim that an in-world item is infringing your copyrights. We recommend contacting an attorney if you are unsure whether an in-world object is protected by copyright laws.
   
   Send the written document to the designated Copyright Agent at Linden Research:
   
   Ginsu Yoon
   Attn: Designated Copyright Agent
   Linden Research, Inc.
   1100 Sansome St.
   San Francisco, CA 94111