Copybotted UUID textures - how to handle?

[LotusByNjohr]

Hey!

I'm the owner of a well known brand On SL where I sell Eye appliers. 

I recently discovered that copybotted have been copying my UUID textures somehow and sharing them on copybot forums.

Since they're not copying actual mesh, but a texture that I have designed in photoshop, I'm not sure how to approach this problem?

I don't want it to go by without consequences, because I want to fight copybotting as a problem in general.

I hope you can advise me or at least give me your opinion.

Thanks in advance!

Ana Maria Njohr 

[Wulfie Reanimator]

Just to explicitly answer the question "how do I stop people from using my UUIDs?" -- You can't, at least not without breaking the texture for all of your legitimate customers as well. There's no amount of protection that could prevent this from happening again, either. It's just the nature of SL as a platform.

5 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

make sure that your huds are no mod

Kind of related to this: Don't make your products no-modify unless you absolutely have to. HUDs, eyes, rigged mesh, etc. should all stay modifiable by default, because there's no harm and it adds to the value of your product if the customer can tweak it for their own use. You can't get UUIDs from objects that are modifiable. That said, scripts should always be no-modify. Knowing how a script works enables anybody to break the products of other people, unless your scripts are really well made.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Wulfie Reanimator

[Rolig Loon]

The formal answer is that you submit a written complaint under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) to Linden Lab.  They are obliged by law to remove the offending items from their web site (Marketplace or whatever) util there is a legal resolution.  Read >>> https://www.lindenlab.com/legal/intellectual-property-infringement-notification-policy .  

If you have used foresight and have included a watermark or other identifying information in your textures, that will make your claim more substantial.

[Rolig Loon]

8 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

Sorry. And try not to be too depressed.  It is what it is and we move forward the best that we can. 

All true.  It is much easier (not easy, just easier) to prevent copying than to deal with things that have already been copied. 

[LotusByNjohr]

Thank you all for your answers. I need to think it through and search the web a little more to see how bad it is. I am thinking that it might not be worth the "trouble" to file a DMCA - also considering the  amount of time and money I'd be spending.

If anything more comes up, I'll write it here.

But so far, thanks a lot for taking the time to help me!

Ana Maria Njohr

[Chic Aeon]

Rolig is 100 percent correct but she isn't telling you the whole story -- and I know she knows :D.  

 

1.  It is already too late to protect your textures. They are in the wild.

2. If it is a  copybot website they will probably ignore any DMCA and just move and rename their copybot sharing forum. 

3. It costs a LOT of US dollars to  fight a DMCA so monetarily it isn't worth it at all unless maybe you are a very highly paid SL creator. 

4. It is extremely sad that people just can't be honest. I mean we are talking a few dollars not the kid's college fun.

 

I have had things stolen on the web in the past many times (not SL that I know of but the web itself).   I was able to get some things taken down, but there was never any guarantee that the people were not still using them.    While apparently anyone can steal anything in SL and other platforms if they know how -- make sure that your huds are no mod of course with the scripts no mod. Anyone that can see your UUIDS has access to your textures.   I am pretty sure you already know that.

 

Sorry. And try not to be too depressed.  It is what it is and we move forward the best that we can.