I am getting sick of Linden Labs not doing anything about Copybotters.

[Chef Soderstrom]

Me and my wife own a store that has a income of around $15K USD/Year and recently there has been a string of attacks by someone who has ripped most of the items in our store under their now 11th name, and is now giving them out for free across the grid.

We own a sim and give Linden Labs over $4,000 dollars of our hard earned money per year to maintain both our sim and premium memberships. We cannot get in touch with a LIVE PERSON who can help us, and we've submitted abuse reports over the course of the last 5 days (over 10 people have submitted close to 50 reports) and STILL have this person giving our items away for free.

 

I am at my wits end when it comes to support on this service, It took Linden Labs over 2 years to respond to a DMCA takedown notice we filed, and guess what happened with that? My wife's account got deleted because their system targeted her as the copybot (It took three calls to their unlisted corporate number and multiple faxes before we had a person call us and restore the account)

Is there anything that we can do other than file these bull**bleep** abuse reports that do absolutely nothing. Even a response from someone would help, but it seems that is even too much to ask for.

[Rolig Loon]

Unfortunately, there's not much we can do except sympathize.  This is a user-to-user public forum, and we're all SL residents like you.  Abuse Reports are probably not destined to be very effective, but DCMA should be. I'm very surprised to hear that LL hasn't responded quickly to your DCMA filings.  They have no choice on those.  It's a RL legal matter.  They must take down the items in question, at least until the other person files a viable counter-claim.  You can pursue the issue in the RL court system.  I'm sure that you are more than familiar with the DCMA law and LL's DCMA policy by now, as well as the filing procedure.  For the benefit of anyone else who may be reading this thread, though, refer to >>> http://secondlife.com/corporate/dmca.php .

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Something doesn't add up here.  You say you are paying Linden Lab (without an "s" by the way) $4,000 USD a month.  Say you pay your premium membership fee at the max of $9.95 a month (we'll call that $10.00).  That means you are paying Linden Lab (again, without an "s") $3,980 a month tier............must be some sim you got there!!  And the kicker is you say you take in $15,000 a year.  $4,000 a month for 12 months equals $48,000 a year and you take $15,000 out for yourselves......you're operating at quite a loss there.  $33,000 to be precise.  If you want to get any sympathy from the masses it's best not to exaggerate to much.......it destroys your credibility.

 

Copybotting is content theft.  The DMCA is your only option to fight it.  It's not up to Linden Lab to enforce the law, it's up to a real life court to do that.  And for anything to be done on your behalf it must get to the court system............it's your responsibilty to get it to the court.  Linden Lab will take down any content that a valid DMCA take down claim is made on the content..........the secret to getting action on the take down is to do it properly.  If you don't then Linden Lab cannot take the content down..........if they do then they are in violation of the law.  Don't blame Linden Lab for a piss poor law.  But as bad as the law is, it's your only option and you are the only ones who can get the ball rolling.....quit whinning and put in the DMCA take downs (fill the claim out properly and Linden Lab will act on it.....the must.  It's the law). 

 

And a final point.  This is the Internet.  Technology being what it is anything that can be displayed on a monitor can be copied........anything at all.  You should know that.  Compensate or live with it..........there is not technology yet to prevent it.  Anyone putting $48,000 USD a year into a risky venture such as online content and doesn't know what the limitations are for protecting that content should probably get out of the business until they learn what they are doing.  But since I really don't believe you put that much into Second Life, that's a moot point.

[Knowl Paine]

Your first contact should be with a Concierge or by filing a Ticket with Support. Live Chat may also be able to help point you in the right direction. Billing is the only contact in which you can speak to a "live" person. I cannot comment on the amount of time for a response on DMCA's, it is a serious matter and it can have real legal implications outside of SL for those who repeatedly violate the DMCA. If the Resident who is causing disruptions lives outside of the United States, that complicates any pursuits for justice. The real problem is much larger than SL. Foreign Nations are willfully allowing their citizens to do as they please. You can write a letter and send it to LL, you could attend and Inworld user group meeting that is appropriate to your issue,near the end of the meeting you could inquire about "who is" the proper Linden to contact about your problem. (keep it short and sweet) I hope you find resolution soon.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

We own a sim and give Linden Labs over $4,000 dollars of our hard earned money per year to maintain both our sim and premium memberships. We cannot get in touch with a LIVE PERSON who can help us, and we've submitted abuse reports over the course of the last 5 days (over 10 people have submitted close to 50 reports) and STILL have this person giving our items away for free.

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Thank you, Chef, for correcting that error.  I would like to apologize for my first paragraph in my first post to this thread.  $4,000 a year does add up for sim ownership with two premium accounts plus some uploads and other incidentals.  Now I can believe that part.........thank you.  :matte-motes-big-grin:

[Lindal Kidd]

Keep filing the Abuse Reports.  But also file a DMCA notice with Linden Lab.

See the procedure for this here:  http://secondlife.com/corporate/dmca.php

Linden Lab is required by law to respond to this and remove the stolen content from the grid.

I see that you had bad luck with a previous DMCA notice.  Do it again.

The AR and the DMCA  notification are your only methods of redress.  Use them, keep using them, and keep your cool and be polite and factual.

The only other alternative is to file suit against the thief and LL.  Your business is of a size where this is *barely* practical, but it would cost you a year or two's income, with no guarantee of success.  Unless you were making about ten times your current level, I can't say it's a good idea.

[Baloo Uriza]

It's your responsibility as copyright holder to defend your copyrights under US law, not anybody else's.  Consider hiring an attorney.