Question to Ebbe Linden about section 2.3

[Tali Rosca]

Ebbe Linden, since I know you sometimes answer questions directly here on the forum, I am reaching out to you in hopes of you addressing a question which has so far gone unanswered, despite a lot of talk about related issues.

As you know, there are worries about the Terms of Service section 2.3. While you have updated some text in that section, a problematic part still grammatically reads that we are required to give LL a license to do, in essence, “this, this, this and everything else”. This turns the sentence into a list of examples, akin to the “including, but not limited to” lists you often see in such licenses.

This is widely regarded as legally problematic in relation to 3rd party content libraries or commercial work for 3rd parties, since it requires us to give away rights which are simply not ours to give.

I hope you will take the time to address this directly, and either

1) Give a convincing and legally binding explanation for why “and otherwise exploit in any manner whatsoever, all or any portion of your User Content (and derivative works thereof), for any purpose whatsoever in all formats” does not actually mean “and otherwise exploit in any manner whatsoever, all or any portion of your User Content (and derivative works thereof), for any purpose whatsoever in all formats”.

2a) Explain why you believe it is in SL’s best interest to block such use,

or 2b) Confirm that it is LL’s official stance that content creators should violate 3rd party licenses and hope nobody protests.

If there is another option I have missed, I would love to hear it, but please do not tell me that “LL is not interested in stealing your content”. I am aware of that, and that is not what I am asking about. This is purely about the legal compatibility of the terms of service with common licenses; something I find critical if SL (and SL2) is to be the platform for creation and international commerce and sharing you talked about when joining Linden Lab, and not just a toy for loyal residents who know and trust LL.

Bluntly, I feel LL has dodged this specific question for long enough, and it is time to give the community an answer.

[irihapeti]

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Tali Rosca wrote:

 

or 2b) Confirm that it is LL’s official stance that content creators should violate 3rd party licenses and hope nobody protests.

 

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i am not understanding this question/posit

my understanding of the ToS is that we cannot upload anything to LL servers for which we do not have a lawful right to do so

in terms of 3rd-party licenses we can only upload them if the right to do so is granted us in the licensors T&C/ToS

[Tali Rosca]

That is exactly the point. The ToS requires you to give LL the right to use the content in any manner, for any purpose, in any media (and warrant that you have the necessary rights to do so).
No license allows you to pass on such extensive rights to a 3rd party. By uploading under these terms, you will be violating anything but a pure Public Domain release.

[irihapeti]

some licensors may allow this

if unsure then is best to check with the licensor before uploading their licensed stuff and incorporating it in your own SL works

if the licensor says No then is No and you cant do it. Already some texture suppliers have said No. Is incumbent on the uploader to ensure that they have done their due diligence on stuff they upload

is pretty standard practice this in the commercial world. Doing due diligence