what does someone do if their graphic were stolen and resold for profit ?

[Jewelz Queso]

co-created an item with someone in sl. I did all the graphics work and agreed upon a 30/70 split in profit. The last 4-5 days he has been selling the product in sl marketplace and keeping 100% of the profit...what can I do to correct this? Any and all graphics on the item I MADE and now left feeling Im being ripped off. The item is called soul seize.

[Cinnamon Lohner]

You can hire a real lawyer, and sue your business "partner" for breach of contract.  In other words, you have the same choices as anyone in this type of situation would have.  Small claims court is another option.  Linden Lab will not get involved in resident disputes.

--Cinn

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Transactions-and-disputes-between-Residents/ta-p/799395

[Knowl Paine]

It is my opinion that you should first try to work things out with your "co-creator".

If you cannot reach an understanding after reasonable effort; file an Abuse Report, state nothing but the facts, present some form of proof, avoid any personal attacks and stay in honor.

As mentioned LL doesn't get involved in Resident disputes and that is fine and dandy, your AR is for your records of your perception of an event. Save any related relevant data.

Take some time to read and learn about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Methods of protecting intellectual property are in place but there are requirements in order to prove your case. Most important is that you have developer's rights for any of the software you may have used to develop a product for commercial use.

This is not legal advice. Only a lawyer can offer legal advice.

 

I have made my fair share of errors in judgement over the years but I've always held some comfort in knowing that it was not I who had mislead. Fool you once, shame on them.

 

[Cabbage Acanthus]

LL won't involve itself in disputes between residents.  There are some good posts here about your other options. 

 

I would go with the DCMA angle...From what I hear, that will get content pulled and quickly. 

 

The absolute best thing to do is try to resolve this with the other resident involved.  Did you work out exactly how the profits were going to be split and how?  Was it going to be a weekly distribution, a monthly one?  Were they going to divvy up the profits every day?  While I do agree that you should have been kept in the loop, 4-5 days is really not long enough of a time for you to go and make an assumption that you are getting ripped off.  It might have been that the other individual was operating under a different assumption on how the distribution was going to be tracked and made than you were.

 

That is of course, before you accused them of theft and fraud and then publicly outed them on this board.   Many people might be inclined to tell you to go pound sand after that sort of thing.