In a Quandary

[Morgaine Christensen]

This morning I was looking for a mesh building component to use in something I am creating.  During my browsing of the new mesh building components, I ran across very nice detailed statue and  piece of furniture at a good price.  I am not sure what made hesitate and start to question the items, but I did.

I started searching around for 3D models and sure enough. I found the piece of furniture on a popular Free 3-D model hosting site.  It appears according to the disclaimer on the web site "...This files are licensed under the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. In short: you are free to distribute and modify the file as long as you attribute it's author(s). "

Per the Creative Commons site this particular type of license has the following requirements.

Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes.

Share Alike — If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.

The item I found did not attribute the work to the original creator that I can tell .  It is being distributed and sold for commercial use as a full perms mesh items for creators to use. The item has not been transformed from what I can tell just imported into SL, along with the original texture,  and being sold. 

I know that SL is and has been filled with lots and lots of mesh from other sources since the world started accepting mesh.  Since this is not my item, I cannot file a DMCA and rather makes it not my business.  However, as a merchant and creator, I feel I have an obligation to other creators...not to mention if I had used this item in my creation(s) wouldn't I be breaking DMCA as well?   

Should I flag the item for LL to review?  Would it even do any good?

[Deja Letov]

It won't do any good to flag it. You aren't the original creator of it and they have no proof the person is doing wrong so nothing will happen. What you can do...and I have done several times, is contact the original creator and let them know what's going on. I know several people from nexusmods forums who post mods for Skyrim have filed take downs from creators here in SL.  That's about the best you can do. I'd also be interested to know the marketplace listing if you want to private message me. I have a list going that I steer clear from buying from.

[Pamela Galli]

This is happening with some very well known "designers", and no, LL does not particularly care, unless the creator files a DMCA. Some are not on the so-called "free" sites, either, but Turbosquid, etc. There is no way to stem the flood of uploaded "free" 3D models, which LL knows very well. 

I have started promoting my original meshes as "Exclusive" to La Galleria, meaning, no they were not taken from the internet and you will not see them everywhere. 

 

[Dirtnap Mumfuzz]

I noticed some time ago that SLMP has flooded with ripped game graphics of vehicles, weapons, you name it.

Chances are, if the price seems too low to match the quality of the design, it's too good to be true. And if it's too good to be true, it is probably a rip off.

Unscrupulous people frequently steal graphic files from game CD's, convert the file type if necessary, and upload it as their own, usually charging a price so low that it makes it very obvious they are trying to offload stolen products. Kind of like that guy in the van selling DVD players and VCR's by the side of the freeway, or those scuzzy dudes trying to sell cheap house speakers in the Home Depot parking lot.

With only a little bit of cursory investigation, you will find that you can build an entire sim based on a video games' source files, just using the ripped off graphics you can easily find upped to the marketplace.

 

I have no idea how these blatant copythieving scumbags get away with it for as long as they do. It's pretty disgraceful to be honest.

But since there is nothing I can do about it (except not get paid to chase someones copy right for them) I have no choice but to look the other way. I imagine at some point this loophole will get closed, and then Linden Labs will possibly be sued into the stone age. Only time will tell.

[Morgaine Christensen]

Thanks for the replies, Everyone. 

I think maybe I just needed to vent. *sighs*  You try to be honest and do the right, but in the end, it's like nobody cares.  We end up enabling these people and their bad behavior by having to just walk on by like everything is just fine...it's just wrong. 

I know LL has a small staff and cannot police everything In-World and on Marketplace, but is sure frustrating.  

 

[Amethyst Jetaime]

 I know it is frustrating but even if LL had the staff to police it, it would still be a sticky problem. 

It is possible that the person selling these items is the actual creator of what you saw when you searched for it.  There is no way of knowing that since the merchant is using an avatar name not their RL name.  It is also possible that the merchant has permission from the creator to sell the items.  It wouldn't be fair to have an item pulled from MP and disrupt legitimate commerce if either of these things is true. 

The only way to prevent illegal uploading into SL is for LL to have creators submit everything they create along with proof that they created it or have a license to use it.  It would require hiring a large staff and probably charging creators a fee to be creators to support it.  Then every time you want to upload anything, even a simple texture, you'd have to wait for approval, which might take days or even weeks.  I don't think anyone wants that. 

I don't think that nobody cares or is enabling bad behavior.  The current system while flawed in some ways is the best solution as it puts the power to enforce IP rights where it belongs, with the creator.  It is also the law.