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Unauthorized use of My dept's logo in a profile pic

KyleWForrester

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KyleWForrester

KyleWForrester

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Not sure what all I can do here. A gentleman, we'll call him Joe for now, is using My Fire Department's logo in his profile picture. He is NOT "employed" by My Fire Department, nor was he at the  time the picture was uploaded. He is not authorized in any way, shape or form to use this logo. What all can I do?

I've filed a DCMA complaint as well as reported his profile but I'm at a loss as to what IF any other options I have, since technically this logo is My design....

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Alyona Su

Alyona Su

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5 hours ago, KyleWForrester said:

Not sure what all I can do here. A gentleman, we'll call him Joe for now, is using My Fire Department's logo in his profile picture. He is NOT "employed" by My Fire Department, nor was he at the  time the picture was uploaded. He is not authorized in any way, shape or form to use this logo. What all can I do?

I've filed a DCMA complaint as well as reported his profile but I'm at a loss as to what IF any other options I have, since technically this logo is My design....

Locate the profile on the web (my.secondlife.com/name.resident) - file the DMCA takedown on the profile picture that appears there (it will have to be removed from the profile proper to do so).

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Alwin Alcott

Alwin Alcott

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11 minutes ago, KyleWForrester said:

@Lindal Kidd no, not with him. He's one of the few in SL I would NOT want advertising from as he'd tarnish our name. This is just the latest in a SERIES of issues we've had with him, not including harassment and stalking...

so in short he got you where he wants : totally pissed.

ignore and don't look back.

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Lindal Kidd

Lindal Kidd

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42 minutes ago, KyleWForrester said:

@Lindal Kidd no, not with him. He's one of the few in SL I would NOT want advertising from as he'd tarnish our name. This is just the latest in a SERIES of issues we've had with him, not including harassment and stalking...

I understand, but there's an old marketing saying, "Any publicity is good publicity."  The big problem for anyone is to get their name/business/product in front of people's eyes.  Linden Lab themselves seem to take this old adage to heart.

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KyleWForrester

KyleWForrester

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4 minutes ago, animats said:

It's not a DMCA issue. DMCA is for copyright.  It's more like the "stolen valor" problem. Useful reading on Task & Purpose.

You might be able to get LL to do something if you sent them a formal letter on department stationery signed by your chief.

It's a Second Life Fire Dept, but I was the one who designed the logo (back in 2016 and still have the PSD)....so it would be a copyright/unauthorized use of intellectual property issue...
 

It's My dept, I might add....

Edited by KyleWForrester
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Wulfie Reanimator

Wulfie Reanimator

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19 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

I understand, but there's an old marketing saying, "Any publicity is good publicity."  The big problem for anyone is to get their name/business/product in front of people's eyes.  Linden Lab themselves seem to take this old adage to heart.

That phrase is about as true as "the customer is always right." It's not literal, it describes an attitude and a philosophy of weighing pros and cons.

"The customer is always right" in practice: "Sure, we'll accept this returned item even though we don't sell it, because this customer is likely to spend more with us in the future." (Also "It's cheaper to keep a customer than gain a new one.")

"Any publicity is good publicity" in practice: "I'm going to sell literal bath water, because the stupidity of it will spread like wildfire and more people know about me than before and some will stick around because they saw something else they like." (This becomes less effective the bigger you become.)

Having a random SL fire department's logo on an (alleged) griefer's profile picture is not the same. For one, it's copyright infringement. You can tell a story about something dumb but you can't just slap their work on its own into an otherwise empty article.

And the likelihood of anyone opening their profile and going "Wow, a fire department! I wonder what they're about? I'll go check after I ban this douche." is very unlikely. It's not even effective advertising because there's barely anything to look up based on that logo.

Edited by Wulfie Reanimator
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Lindal Kidd

Lindal Kidd

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Maybe so, Wulfie...while my original comment was somewhat tongue in cheek, I still think it's valid.

I mean what about, "Hey, look.  This guy is dissing and griefing and bad-mouthing this SL Fire Department.  Maybe I should go check them out and see for myself what all the fuss is about."

I admit that if the logo is all the guy has in his profile, that's not likely.  But some people with grievances against someone put a lot more in their profiles than that.

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Alyona Su

Alyona Su

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20 hours ago, animats said:

It's not a DMCA issue. DMCA is for copyright.  It's more like the "stolen valor" problem. Useful reading on Task & Purpose.

You might be able to get LL to do something if you sent them a formal letter on department stationery signed by your chief.

If you create an image and upload it into SL you still own that copyright. If you Rez a cube in-world, you own the copyright on that cube, it's stated as such in the TOS. I was with the impression that the OP created that image. If that's the case then they have a legal right to demand a DMCA takedown. And DMCA is not only for copyright, it's for Trademark as well., albeit a Trademark must be registered with the USTPO, a copyright does not.

Edited by Alyona Su
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KyleWForrester

KyleWForrester

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1 hour ago, Alyona Su said:

If you create an image and upload it into SL you still own that copyright. If you Rez a cube in-world, you own the copyright on that cube, it's stated as such in the TOS. I was with the impression that the OP created that image. If that's the case then they have a legal right to demand a DMCA takedown. And DMCA is not only for copyright, it's for Trademark as well., albeit a Trademark must be registered with the USTPO, a copyright does not.

yes, that is correct I did create it on 12 June, 2016, and have the PSD, and PNG and as you've seen up above, the properties have the date of creation on it, which is well before "Joe" even came around My Dept. In fact, that logo is older than the acct he's using by several years....and I KNOW this ain't his only acct.....

Once I get some $ saved up (the govt is quite greedy lol) I will be registering that as a trademark as well since I don't see Myself changing the department name any time soon. GRANTED, I had to change our fb name due to a couple news stations, and other pages accidentally tagging us in posts, but that's minor.  

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Alyona Su

Alyona Su

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I'm not sure that registering as a Trademark is a necessary or feasible step unless you plan to use it in trade in RL. Either way, it's pretty easy to file a DMCA takedown with LL. Go to marketplace, flag any listing as "Violates my copyright" - any will do because you cannot actually flag anything this way, but rather it will give you links to the SL Wiki page that describes what you need to do and how to do it. You will need to give a lot of detailed information (which is why you want to have the take-down on the my.seecondlife profile page because that is a publicly-facing web page.)

As long as you are the legal owner or authorized agent regarding that work you can make the file. I've done it before and Linden Lab is no BS about it - they will take it down within hours; they don't play games because it is very serious stuff. On the flip side of the coin you had better be the owner or legal agent because if not you can be sued and penalized up to $10,000 U.S. (plus damages).

Either way, only you can place a value on that work, not I or anyone else. If it's important enough to you, then proceed, otherwise, as has been suggested, just let it go as it really is, in my mind, a minor infraction with minimal damages at best. Obviously, you (as the owner of the work) will feel differently.

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