Commercial use of snapshots

[Marianne Little]

I have read the TOS regarding snapshots. As far as I can tell, I am allowed to take snapshots on private land unless the covenant say it is forbidden.

On Mainland, it is allowed everywhere.

And it is allowed to take a snapshot in a pretty sim, buy a frame and sell it as decoration?

(q) “Use” means to use, reproduce, distribute, modify, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform.

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Snapshot_and_machinima_policy

Asking this because English isn't my #1 Language and it is often implied things in legal language that foreign users can miss.

 

[Orwar]

   I only briefly skimmed over it, but if it's not against the covenant for you to take a snapshot, then you may take a snapshot. That snapshot is now yours, and you should thereby be able to do anything that you want with it.

   If anything would be a concern, it's the items within the frame of the snapshot - I haven't read the 'actual' rules regarding this but technically any mesh or texture within SL is the IP of its creator (and in some rather awkward way, LL). If you take a picture of a chair, with just a blank background, then the original creator of that chair (not the current owner or land owner thereof) might have something to say about it (although realistically I find this improbable). If you take a picture where you have multiple objects from multiple creators though, or even multiple objects from the same creator, then it's your (or the land owner's) composition thereof, and thus I would consider the snapshot to be your IP to do with commercially as you will. 

   Other than that I would just do my best to adhere to common sense and convention. In my opinion (and that's without me having read through the entirety of the U.S. 'Fair Use' legislation), taking a photo/snapshot in which someone else's property or product is included is fine, even for commercial use. As long as you don't do something silly like taking a photograph of a picture and try to sell it. 

   On the other hand, the rules state that a sim owner must put in their covenant that photography is not allowed - and that may be something that not all sim owners are aware of. Generally I doubt that anyone would mind, and that if they did mind, they would have seen to it - but if you're in a sim that isn't expressly made for photography, the polite thing to do might be to ask the owner's permission, but 'legally' you don't 'have' to, as per "If it allows snapshots or doesn’t address them, then you do not need special permission from the land owner as long as you comply with any terms that may be in the covenant."

[Chic Aeon]

14 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

On Mainland, it is allowed everywhere.

I don't believe this is true as anyone owning land on Mainland can put the same "do not take photos here" info in their land tab.  Not likely that many do, but still good to check -- especially if you are going to sell.  

You ARE allowed to take photos on any Linden property including the LEA sims.

Edit as Orwar just posted. 

 

I do not agree about the having anything in your photo owned by anyone else. For one thing thousands of Flickrettes would be out of work. Also the TOS states that each person uploading gives The Lab rights to show and transfer their items and that anything out on display is out on display.  I am not going to look that up but it has been that way for well over a decade.    

There ARE a few sims (The Looking Glass used to be one and a large complex of sims that is no longer around) that prohibited photos being taken for resale).   They are very few. 

Machinima rules are quite different and I never actually understood WHY :D. 

Edited January 18, 2019 by Chic Aeon

[Orwar]

23 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

I do not agree about the having anything in your photo owned by anyone else. For one thing thousands of Flickrettes would be out of work.

   Hm, just out of curiosity, which part do you not agree with? 

   The point I was trying to make was, obviously the creations of others can be in your pictures - just as in real life, a clothing company can't claim ownership of a picture you take of someone wearing a product of theirs. The only thing I think -could- rub a creator the wrong way, would be if you single out their product to a blank (i.e. all white/black) background and try to make a profit of selling a picture that contains nothing but their product, even if I think it unlikely to happen. 

   If you wouldn't be allowed to take photos of others' creations, well, unless you uploaded your own avatar into SL you wouldn't be allowed to even take a selfie, which is preposterous and would put anyone who ever took a snapshot of pretty much anything in conflict with the TOA. 

   But say I bought a T-shirt from <insert big brand clothing company here>, and did a close-up shot of just the logo, and then tried to sell prints of it - then that would quite probably be regarded as copyright infringement. Likewise if I put on a HUD for my head, did a print screen, took the logo off the HUD, put it on a prim and put it up for sale as 'art', the creator would 'probably' be well within right of having your product taken off the market - even though technically I don't know if, or how many brands that are in SL have been 'properly' patented. 

[Marianne Little]

I forgot this question, RL was a bit too much a while.

On 1/18/2019 at 6:15 AM, Chic Aeon said:

I don't believe this is true as anyone owning land on Mainland can put the same "do not take photos here" info in their land tab.  Not likely that many do, but still good to check -- especially if you are going to sell.  

You ARE allowed to take photos on any Linden property including the LEA sims.

Edit as Orwar just posted. 

 

I do not agree about the having anything in your photo owned by anyone else. For one thing thousands of Flickrettes would be out of work. Also the TOS states that each person uploading gives The Lab rights to show and transfer their items and that anything out on display is out on display.  I am not going to look that up but it has been that way for well over a decade.    

There ARE a few sims (The Looking Glass used to be one and a large complex of sims that is no longer around) that prohibited photos being taken for resale).   They are very few. 

Machinima rules are quite different and I never actually understood WHY :D. 

Quote

For Mainland or Linden Homes parcels where Linden Lab is the estate owner, you do not need land owner consent to take snapshots, but you do need special permission from the land owner to capture machinima.

From the link in my original post. It looks like the owner of Mainland can write "do not tale photos here" but it does not count.

I would not take pictures of private homes, I do think that special architecture, landscaping and such things could be nice. Not capturing other avatars of course. I think I would avoind Mainland whose owners clearly say "No, you can't take pictures here". No need to go out of my way to upset people.

I don't know if anyone want it, but we will see. I can always find Wiki commons free images and other free to use images and sell them, but that sounds so boring.

I found some pictures of old sims I took that are closed now, and they might be more interesting, a sort of nostalgic value. Like those in RL who buy "Old London" images and other landscapes from the past. There is no way to go back and check the covenant, but the places was featured on Flickr a lot, so I assume it was no law against it then.

Good God, it is time-consuming to put out things for sale. I would not bother to do it unless we now go from 2 incomes to 1 income in RL. Even if I don't sell a single item, I don't have time for shopping when I work with it. So it is something to do, now that I can't just buy 10 000 L without hesitation and shop like crazy.

[loverdag]

 

41 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

From the link in my original post. It looks like the owner of Mainland can write "do not tale photos here" but it does not count.

"For Mainland or Linden Homes parcels where Linden Lab is the estate owner..."

I'm not sure but I think most of Mainland parcels, when they are owned by residents or group of resident, do NOT have LL as estate owner, so this rule do not apply on them.

At least I do not see "Linden Lab" as estate owner there:

I think this rule is mostly about LL homes?

So I would be careful on Mainland, I tend to believe parcel owned by residents or group of residents are allowed to set their own rules, incl. snapshot restriction.