Copyrights for texture regarding Disney prints.

[ZigZag666 Nosferatu]

Currently own and operate a rental sim for Gacha resellers, a tenant is selling their own gachas using Disney prints and there has been some debate on copyright issues from other tenants.  They downloaded the prints from this site, http://overthebigmoon.com/free-disney-princess-silhouette-prints/

The site does say: "These prints are for personal use only. You may not sell them in digital or physical form."

What are the lines of copyright infringement and should we take down their machine? being that all dancers are copywritten music and gestures are mostly copywritten soundbits. Any help on this matter would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[Madelaine McMasters]

Hi ZigZag,

It seems pretty clear from your description that the Gacha items violate the website copyright, unless the creator of those items has some special permission (license) from the free silhouette creator and potentially from Disney. Disney is usually pretty strict about usage of their intellectual property.

You're already hearing complaints from other tenants, so I'm not the only one thinking this way. It's your sim, you make the rules. I'd IM the creator, asking them to remove the offending items. Invite them to replace them with something that's copyright free. If you get push back, push the eject button.

Good luck, it's never fun to say "no" to someone.

[Lindal Kidd]

Madelaine is correct, and I also applaud your concern about protecting intellectual property.

However, I will point out a couple of things.

1.  As the landlord, you are not responsible for the actions of your tenants.  If they get reported to LL and banned from SL, you yourself will not get into any trouble.
2.  Since you are not the owner of the material being infringed, you have no actual standing in the matter.  The copyright owner is the one who has to file the complaint (a DMCA "takedown notice") with Linden Lab.  If you want to be a good citizen, you can notify the person or company you believe is the copyright owner and tell them about the suspected infringement.  They will, if they choose, take it from there.
3. However, as the land owner, you can make and enforce any rules you please.  And if your rules say, "don't sell stuff here that infringes someone else's copyright" then you certainly have the right to eject any offenders.