ART THEFT IN THE MARKET! WHAT OPTIONS DO I HAVE AGAINST SUCH ILLEGAL ACTIVITY?

[gifted2333]

there is a user here on secondlife that is stealing copyrighted art from a friend of mine and then selling it on the marketplace

 

if something doesn't happen soon i will be forced to shut down the web site so that the stolen art cannot be sold anymore

i am hoping that an admin takes it upon themselves to resolve the issue

[Griffin Ceawlin]

1. You need to remove the merchant's name and link to the item. You can't name names here, as it is in violation of posting guidelines.

2. Your friend, and not you, needs to file a DMCA notice with LL.

[Pussycat Catnap]

"Your Friend" (who is really you because lets be honest, if it was your friend she'd be here posting this, but people always say 'my friend' when they're worried about being outed over something) needs to file the DMCA.

And if this is a real world RL artist, hire an attorney and have them send LLs a cease and desist letter.

 

[Pamela Galli]

Umm "art theft" right.

[Griffin Ceawlin]

LOL. It's true that the "artist" didn't create Beemo, she merely printed, cut, and folded. She did take the photo, I guess, though...

[Persephone Emerald]

1. Remove the link that gives the profile for the person you say is infringing on your friend's copyright, because leaving it means you are breaking the rules of the forum.

2. The item for sale seems to be a gesture, while your friend's work seems to be a photo at deviantART. (Correct me if I'm mistaken). Thus, while the person may be using the photo illegally, they aren't actually selling your friend's work.

3. The page at deviantART says "it's the cute little Beemo from Adventure time, if you wanna know how to make it like i did go to the official Adventure time website they have it free to download, make, and play with."  This suggests to me that the Beemo robot image is not owned by your friend & this particular version of it is a copyright-free one.  If anything is copyrighted from your friend's deviantART page, it is the photo of this folded paper robot.

4. Your friend may be able to file a DMCA for this merchant using their photo without copyright, but I don't think they will get very far in a court of law over this particular use.

Note: I am not an expert regarding any of the above advice. I'm merely stating my "common sense" observations. 

[WADE1 Jya]

The mistake made here is the "thief" should have asked the artist for usage rights on the photo before using the image. I checked the artist's site and they have a couple comments saying that they are PO'd about thievery of their images and rightly so...

If only they'd asked first, I wouldn't be surprised if the artist would let them use it even :matte-motes-bashful:

With a different photo, there is no other problem with the item on SL Marketplace that I can see. Since the artist is upset about it & did in no way give them permission to use the image, I think they should definitely use another image on their listing. Its very easy for them to change it & there is 1000s of royalty-free robot pictures surely! or better yet they could create their own robot image! :robothappy:

This was probably just a careless mishap where the merchant was looking for a quick robot image for their listing (since you can't show a photo of a robot sound gesture) and their mistake highlights why one should always be extremely careful with checking out the rights of any image you use which is not your own.

 

[Joanna Moderator]

I've removed the links since it's against the rules to post them.

[Ai Velde]

Merchants always get copybotted or have items stolen or copied. It's a fact of life by being a merchant in SL and copybotting/stealing has been prevalent in SL for the past 8 years. All you can really do is file a DMCA.

You can't... close down Second Life. I wonder why so many people think they have that power, and go so far as to threaten LL as if they really have 10,000 lawyers capable of magic tricks? :matte-motes-stress:

If only the world worked that way. :smileyvery-happy:

[Phil Deakins]

I think the OP was referring to shutting down the website where the image came from, and not LL's website.

 

To the OP:

Blame Google and any other search engine that displays other people's copyrighted stuff in the engines' websites. It may be legal but it's definitely immoral, and a form of theft, imo.

I've understood from this thread that nothing is being sold that can't be sold, and that the problem is merely an image that's used in the marketplace but isn't being sold. So what? And even if the original image is being sold in RL, and the same image is being sold in the marketplace, so what? MP sales don't conflict with RL sales, or cost the image owner any potential sales, or make money for the MP seller since such things are sold for mere cents. It's more likely to gain the owner some potential sales by people who are introduced to the image in the MP and in SL.

You asked what options you have. If the image is being sold in RL by the image owner, I suggest doing nothing, because it has the potential of helping the owner. Or, better still, ask the MP seller to include the URL where the image came from, and hope that it introduces people to the site.

 

[VonGklugelstein Alter]

Rules Schmules..How do you expect for us to get our entertainment budget money's worth if you keep spoiling the Drama

[Chelsea Malibu]

If you are not the owner of the content ("from a friend of mine"), you cannot file a DMCA on their behalf unless you have a power of attorney or in the case of a corporation, are an officer in that corporation.

Have you entered into SL and tried contacting this person? Perhaps there is a revenue opportunity here that your friend has not considered.

However, as I write this I realize that you will probaly never see my post as you  than likely never entered into SL given that facts that this is your 1st post, new name, no idea on the ToS, a rez date of 5/31/2011and no idea on how to submit a DMCA action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Morgaine Christensen]

First off, how do you know it is stolen? If your "friend" is selling a piece of digital artwork rather than tangible physical goods, HOW DO YOU KNOW the person selling an item in SL did not purchase said rights to use the art?  SL names do not necessarily  match up with account names in other venues such as deviant art, DAZ, or renderosity, etc.    Uuumm...has your friend even attempted to contact the merchant regarding this issue, or are you just complaining to garner attention for your "friend's artwork" in another venue? Why didn't your "friend" come to this forum to take up the cause themselves?

Oftentimes those new to SL have NO CLUE when it comes to creating and selling their items.  They see creation as a part of the SL package...get excited at creating without knowing there can be legal RL ramifications.  Could it be a new SL creator that is unaware about copyright infringement or DMCAs and a simple friendly educational conversation be had with the person being accused to rectify the issue? I know when I started creating in SL I had NO CLUE about such things..but I do now.  I have no clue what the items that are being sold by either party, but I do know that the teen and  adult grids have merged so there is a distinct possiblity the creater may truly be unaware.  Why not give the benefit of the doubt and take a sensible courteous approach and speak to the person before yelling "I have been robbed...I have robbed"   Nothing ventured nothing gained.  I suppose your "friend" would rather take the expensive legal route.

It bothers me when someone creates an account to come in and accuse people of copyright infringement and apparently not know the first thing about how to deal with said infringement rights other than threaten.  Along with that, coming into a forum and not obeying the forum rules.   

I hope your "friend" gets this resolved and you both go back to your other worlds happy and content.