WHY WHY OH WHY would anyone do this?

WHY WHY OH WHY would anyone do this?

It has come to my attention that a very good friend of mine's island has essentially been DUPLICATED.
Many of you are probably familiar with this place. It is the "Lost Gardens of Apollo", one of SL's most beautiful islands. The creator has built this island over a 17 month period, tweeking its loveliness. The person who built the copy sim is obviously an alt in my opinion, only born 3/2/07, and most newbies do NOT have the building skills to build the things here. First off they have basically copied Apollo Gardens. They have purchased some of the original items and placed them on the copy sim (no harm in that at all). However, they have copied some of his items and are planning to sell them themselves, these things are NOT full perms. They have ripped some of his textures, they have layouted and built their island in such a way that when you initially go there you actually think you are in Apollo, they have a guided tour, magic carpet just like Apollo (an original built by the Apollo owner), the towers, the bridges etc, boleros, music stream, sunset, harbour decorations, textures, lamps, etc are so similar it is ridiculous. The person who has copied Apollo apparently has stated that it is all coincidental. Not likely that it is.


I have told my friend to file a DMCA, which he will do.
I would like to encourage everyone to file an abuse report about this.

Is there anything else that he can do?
Looking for advice.


ORIGINAL
Lost Garden's of Apollo

DUPLICATE PLACE:
DUPLICATE

Why work hard when you can just rip stuff off, instead?

I don't subscribe to that ethic, but some do.

Its a sad fact of SL that this happens and im sure will contine to happen as LL wipes its hands of things within the game. The gardens are a beautiful place and i have spent many hours there chillin'

As far as i am aware the only ony person that can file the DMCA is the creator and asking everyone to file an abuse report is inherently wrong, Why u mite ask, but there has been no abuse to others just to the creator of the gardens and by asking others to file an AR you are encouraging others to fill up the Abuse reporting system with reports that will swamp real ARs and we all know how slow LLs are in resolveing these cases anyways.

I think its a shame and i hope that he files the DMCA, but asking everyone to file ARs makes u no better than the person that allegedly ripped off the gardens wasting LLs time while they trawl thro ARs that neednt have been sent as there is a proccedure for Creators to follow not the general public that didnt create the place in the first place.

I wish him luck in the pursuit of his claim

Before you start badmouthing a sim owner, may I suggest you get a clue?

I visited your slurl link. There is nothing there 'copied' from the Lost Gardens of Apollo.

About the ONLY thing you got right was that the sim in question does contain items bought from TLGoA. That's bought, not copied!
The landscape bears no resemblance to TLGoA.
The builds bear no resemblance to those on TLGoA - other than incorporating a few elements bought from TLGoA

There are some textures that look very similar. BUT... I own those textures too! They come from various 'Total Textures' CDs!
Not to mention some originating from various texture packs on sale in SL and/or SLEX/SLB!
In fact there are textures in use there which I only used inworld for the first time last week, having bought them in SL about six months ago . Are you going to accuse me now of 'copying' them from TLGoA? Or should I start making wild accusations about texture theft?

Furthermore the sim in question, not being nasty to the owner here, doesn't in any way have the 'look' or 'feel' of TLGoA.

This near hysterical accusation of yours, which appears completely unfounded in reality, reminds me somewhat of the Fashionista cat-fights - where a creator, seeing something vaguely resembling one of their creations, starts screaming 'copyright theft' on the flimsiest of evidence...

Frankly you are lucky you pulled this stunt in SL - where there is no penalty, except the well deserved contempt of more level headed residents, for such ill considered, some might say malicious, outbursts.

Personally I feel you are doing your friend - the owner of TLGoA - no favours at all in throwing these wild and apparently unfounded accusations about in public. IF there is a copyright issue, leave it to them to sort out, quietly, without the drama.

In any case, it's not copyright abuse to make a "clean room" copy. I'm entitled to make a painting of a painting if I want.

I've visited the sim in question, and find that although it bears striking resemblences to Lost Gardens of Apollo--I see more inspiration than direct copying. I won't speak to the issue of texture or object copying--that's for the owner of Apollo to work out with the owner of the new sim, and Linden Lab. It is, for example, entirely possible that the owner of the new sim did, in fact, purchase all the textures in good faith, and it is the merchant who sold them that is in violation. (I do not know this to be the case, nor am I making an accusation. I'm merely pointing out alternatives.)

Overall, to this experienced eye, the new sim is in no way a direct copy of Lost Gardens of Apollo. The space utilization alone is about 1/10th as good as it is in Apollo; textures are not as crisp (and indeed, the terrain textures are MUCH different on the new sim; texture repeats and alignment are not as precise as at Apollo (one look at the towers will demonstrate that); veritical placement of a "sky palace" is competely unlike Apollo (and rather too low, in my opinion); and overall the sim lacks the romantic flare that distinguishes Apollo from its imitators. Call it homage, call it imitation, call it what you will, but frankly, I don't see a replication.

Like I said, objects and textures (and copying thereof) aside, I really doubt there's much here to argue in a DMCA claim. This impresses me more, if you'll pardon a metaphor, a case of trying to recreate the Mona Lisa and getting a picture of a smirking George Bush instead.

Kam

On a positive note - Traffic to both sims will increase dramatically thanks to this thread.


I'm gonna start a "Britney Spears is exposing herself in my sim" thread.

Who owns the original copyright on Badly done Tacky clubs with flashing dancefloors?

I want to discuss it with this person .. since theres usrely some money to be made by threatening all the copy cats with DMCA.

You might be entitled to make such a painting, but that doesn't mean you're entitled to use it in any way you want. The "clean room" part is more complicated.

You're only allowed to make a copy of a copyrighted item if it comes under fair use or you have permission. Fair use refers to how and why something is being used. So, for example, you go to an art gallery and make a copy of a painting, for your own personal use to study the style and improve your own style, that's probably ok. But you're not allowed to turn around and sell prints of it, or put on your own art show using it, etc. Painting, of course, is complicated: who is to say whether one impressionistic painting of a lighthouse is a copy of another or simply a different painting from the same location, of the same real-life lighthouse.

This situation doesn't come under the fair use argument, because it's being used in the same way as the original, and not for academic, literary, journalistic, or any of the other common legitimate fair uses. Based on the posts so far, it does seem to have questions similar to the lighthouse painting question, and others. Things like who actually owns the copyrights on the textures, and so on. Copying the style of another sim is unlikely to be considered an infringement, but putting everything in the same places would be, even if they're tweaked. I can't really say, based on the information here, I'm just pointing out how complex the copyright issues can be.

This is amusing, but it's also a good example for clarifying one point about copyrights. "Badly done Tacky clubs with flashing dancefloors" is a idea. Ideas can't be copyrighted. Expressions of ideas can be, meaning a copyright infringement might exist if one particular club copied the specific design of another, but there would have to be a lot of details in common.

Very true

Lost Gardens of apollo doesnt own the faux Greek Garden scheme either. (if thats what it uses.)

Is a big difference from sharing a theme, even copying a theme and copyright infringement.

George Lucas (Star Wars) tried to stop Battlestar Galactica - but couldnt prove he owned that style of Science Fiction.

I'd love to compare the two but Apollo has been full for the last half hour...can't get in!

Full of people playing spot the difference.

Sure seems like a great way to get traffic to these sims. Business must have been slow this month.

heh when I visit a forum I see this post in the thread prey tell its possible it is for generating traffic same identical thread in two forums on two different sites (goes to check a couple more just out of curiousity)


Yeah i'm wierd ... strange things make me curious hehe

There are some similarities in architecture. Like the way one european cathedral is similar to another, but I don't think they sued each other. Some items were purchased from apollo. So it is bound to remind one of Apollo. Duh. The other place has much that is ORIGINAL and nicely done too, though the construction technique is not of the same standard.

Inpired by? perhaps. Copied? Hardly.

I hope nobody visits my new website in that New virtual, everythings now up for grabs game.

http://www.weblo.com/property/city/Rapid_City/84927/

(<: shameless promotion

Make yours from scratch. Buy a texture pack and your using textures that anybody else could buy as well. If youve made the texture yourself and its ripped off, then you have a copywrite issue. Your photoshop skills suck? Cant make textures? Then your stuck using the same stuff as everybody else in your situation. Nothing you can do about that.

I been copied too!!! I am sure I seen an exact copy of my custom build Villa on Chriestel Island, unfortunaly I cant remember where I saw the copie of it. Come and see, give me trafic and if for some reason and cercumstances you find the copy p l e a s e IM me in world.xxx

After investigation, the Op's claim is unfounded IMO. Although similar, there are more than enough differences to prove this and I can say that I have pretty much all of those textures in my inventory.

Both of my custom and prefab builds get ripped off all of the time, theres not allot you can do about it and it hasn't affected business any. In fact I am currently stalking a customer who purchased one of my best prefabs a few days ago. They own a custom build business (which raised my suspisions when they purchased a prefab) and I managed to locate their build space some 600m above one of their plots and have been watching them duplicate the build prim for prim over the last few days. Short of a verbal confrontation that i know from experience will not get me anywhere, there is f*ck all I can do about it. I am hoping its just a going to be a custom build for someone rather than a prefab they a going to sell multiple copies of.
Anyway i digress....

finally got into apollo and it certainly doesn't look copied to me. Just my opinion though. Most of the buildings are different, some of the structures are similar and a lot of the textures are the same but I'm sure they are available for sale. If the OP had proof that they are custom textures then there might be a grievance, but the two sims are very different. Great job increasing your traffic though

Funny story though, I had a custom home built based on a floor plan I'd found on an architecture site. My neighbor across the waterway built a VERY similar house...right across from me. talk about obvious! I told my builder about it and she just laughed saying hers was better, which it was. some people are shameless.

Well in a Real Life sence of thinking ( Interior Design I am ) Some people don`t have a creative gram in their bodies. Hence copying is the only way they have to create. When i see events like this i just laugh! Because Second Life is suppose to be about Fun and creating? Not copying and stealing ideas. Sharing idea is what designing learning is about. But exect copy is just a joke. Wehn i see copies or look-a-likes I just laugh. So you have a Copy od my Idea? So you took from my design? Some people just can`t wait and want everything at one time. But there is some things those stealers don`t have Imageations, and creative thinking. These people soon burnout and leave because they have cheated their creative thinking in the building process.

I am sorry this occured, but really those that did this are not as smart as they might think. They cheated their created ability to express their creative passions.

Usagi............ ASID

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Yes, but ANY item is copyright of its creator.

There's a considerable danger of going copyright mad. Do I have copyright on the arrangement of things on my desk? Can I sue you if I find your desk looks like mine? Let's not go crazy here. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

<rest snipped>

Yes, but ANY item is copyright of its creator.

There's a considerable danger of going copyright mad. Do I have copyright on the arrangement of things on my desk? Can I sue you if I find your desk looks like mine? Let's not go crazy here. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.