COPYRIGHT IN SL - CARLA

[CarlaChiari]

Hello,

I have figured out the answer, but maybe I was not very clear. I explain the question well:
I have an agency and an academy of fashion with the logo, and I organize important events. How can I protect the name and logo of all this, including competition?
This is my question :-)
Thank you for your answear and greating!

[KarenMichelle Lane]

You may avail yourself of real world service mark & trade mark legal filings using either an online service or a patent lawyer. Yes, these services cost real money to do.

[Rolig Loon]

The answer is exactly the same one I gave in your first thread.  Copyright and trademark registration have nothing to do with SL.  They are legal matters handled in RL by the federal government.  As others pointed out, your work is automatically protected by copyright, whether you pay to register it or not, but registering it puts you on public record as the person who claimed authorship if there was ever a legal question.  If you create something and someone else copies it and claims it is their work, your complaint is therefore also a RL legal matter.  The only way that Linden Lab is involved is that by federal law (DMCA), they are required to respond to your complaint by removing the offending work from their servers.  You can read about the DMCA and Linden Lab's responsibility here >>> http://secondlife.com/corporate/dmca.php

You can also read Linden Lab's Intellectual Property policy here >>> https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Intellectual_Property

[Lindal Kidd]

And my response is the same too!

Getting a logo registered as a trademark in Real Life is expensive.  You can do it, but you probably won't because it costs too much. 

There have been cases where someone in Second Life will use the same name, and even a similar logo, as a competitor.  You can file a DMCA notice against such people.  You do not need to show proof that your material is registered with the copyright office or trademark office in Real Life (although it can help.)  All you really need is to be able to show you created the work first.

[Nalates Urriah]

The answers here are correct. Copyright and Trademarks are RL concerns. Despute over such items are matters for RL legal systems. The Lab will not get invloved unless forced to do so per a DCMA filing.

The point in filing either is to estabish the date you claimed the Copyrigth or Trademark beyond any question. There are other ways to do the same thing. For instance, one can post the logo on Flickr and photo sharing sites that date the uploads and thus establish a date with a third party, which is the essential point in any copyright despute.

For Trademarks failing to register tham can lead to legal desputes. The filing is to some extent a way to finding out of the Trademark is already in use. So, by NOT filing you prevent others from knowing your mark is in use. They may legitimately decide to use your mark, or one so similar as to essentially the same, without knowing you are using it. Then you can be put in the place of having to fight to take it away and gain exclusive use.

Practicality

If you are uncertain or do not intend to push you bussness to make the cash flow to pay for these things, this is a moot point. These issues can cost US$200 to $400 to file. But, to defend or stop someone from copying your items or marks can easily cost $20k and up. One really has to decide if they want to go this far and whether they are willing to possibly spend these amounts. If not, drop it from your plan.