Any risk in buying/wearing an avatar from the Marketplace?

[Mighty Yalin]

Hello everyone,

 

There is an avatar that I'm interested in buying from the Second Life Marketplace, but I wonder if there is any risk of getting banned for simply buying it or wearing it in public? The reason I wonder is that I know for certain that the avatar appearance itself is from another company outside Linden Labs, so I wonder if there is any risk that I could get in trouble simply for buying and wearing it?

 

Or, is anything you buy on the Marketplace safe to use in that regard, and the responsibility entirely on the seller/creator?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Rhonda Huntress]

The only real risk is that it suddenly goes missing from your inventory when it is removed from SL.

Personally I don't buy stolen property but feel free to make your own choices.

[Freya Mokusei]

Nothing is without risk, especially when it comes to social presentation.

Individual land owners can ban you for any reason, or no reason at all.

I'd guess (and only guess - I have no authority) that it's highly unlikely that LL themselves would ban you from the entire platform of SL just for wearing an avatar that breaks Intellectual Property rights (which is the assumption I'm making when you say "a company outside Linden Labs"), but that it is probably a not-smart thing to do. You're free to do it, but you'd be sponsoring people who don't care about IP rights, and are very unlikely to care about your rights as a consumer, either.

Remember that LL provides no protection for purchases - no refunds, no investigations. If someone's selling someone elses work, they orobably won't be invested in making it work well or providing support - it may be broken or be sold without scripts. If it's mesh, it might be poorly rigged, or not rigged at all (essentially it'd work like an action figure, not an avatar). Few users in SL have sympathy for people who tried to take advantage of the system.

[Madelaine McMasters]

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Freya Mokusei wrote:

Nothing is without risk...

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[Freya Mokusei]

 Well, those are lies.

The Personal Injury complex and false PPI claims both waste time and money. Risks still exist, It's just that they fall elsewhere in the economy.

And yes, I know that post was meant to be a joke. Being taken seriously is a risk I see you taking often.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

There is a slim possibility that the seller of that avatar has a license or permission to sell it here in SL.  If that is the case they should have no problem showing you proof of a license or written permission prior to your purchase.  And I don't mean just their saying so.

The larger issue here I think is if you should support a thief that steals the IP rights of another person, if they can't produce proof of a license or permission. Personally, when I see an avatar in SL that is an obvious rip off of someone's IP rights, my respect for that person goes down.  They are a person that puts their own selfish gratification ahead of what's right.  Maybe that's harsh but that's how I feel.

As far as other things on the Marketplace overall, it is the seller that is responsible.  However if it is ripped off, you stand to lose the item without refund.  Luckily most sellers are selling items they created themselves or items that they have a license to sell legitimately.  There are creators that sell their items full perm in SL and on special websites that merchants are licensed to buy and texture, script and/or use them as part of their own creations then resell it.

[Chic Aeon]

I guess my question is WHY would you want to support someone that is stealing.

IF the person selling on the Marketplace had the rights to sell the avatar (there ARE actually people who let you download things they have made and upload for PERSONAL use -- this is still against the SL TOS but at least not an Intellectual Property Rights issue) -- then they should state that in the description of that item since many folks will know.

 

There are tons of great looking avatars made by people who actually -- well MADE them (whew -- what a concept). I suggest you look a little harder. 

And yes, I might, if feeling feisty, ban you. Other land owners (especially content creators) might also. 

[Syo Emerald]

I'm suprised that you fear so much about the Marketplace. Its not more or less "risky" than buying anything inworld. Now about your question: Copyright protected content is _always_ on the risk of getting removed, if the rightful owner decides to contact LL to ask for it to be removed. For simply wearing it or having it in your inventory, you are not in risk of anything more than simply not having it one day.

But there are two other things to consider:

- Buying supports someone who steals characters and ideas

- If its a character from a game, you have the risk, that it has been ripped directly from the game its from. It may look poorly or perform bad, because the person ripping it out of the game has no actual 3D skills.

[Pussycat Catnap]

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Mighty Yalin wrote:

There is an avatar that I'm interested in buying from the Second Life Marketplace, but I wonder if there is any risk of getting banned for simply buying it or wearing it in public?

The reason I wonder is that I know for certain that the avatar appearance itself is from another company outside Linden Labs

, so I wonder if there is any risk that I could get in trouble simply for buying and wearing it?

---

If that avatar is a copied item from some video game or a source like Daz3D / Renderosity then yes it could vanish on you at some point.

That said there is at least one popular mesh body part taken from Daz3D's Victoria model that has remained in Sl for years...

But it's your money if you buy something like that and it vanishes.

 

[Sassanach7]

If in doubt, don't.