Copyright in themed sims

[Chris Frentis]

When the Movie Avatar came out I thought I might make an a  sculpted prim (before mesh) SL avatar attachment for those who role play. I made an ad and put on the marketplace and probably did too good a job of the ad because I got in trouble and my account suspended. I didnt check my email address for a month and didnt read the warnings that could have avoided it.

I hadnt thought about copyright infingement but agree the marketplace is no place for something so similar.

Inworld the movie theme sims seem to be a kind copyright infringement everywhere and it seems to be tolerated. The question is many people keep asking me to sell those items I made and is it ok to sell inworld at one of those sims. I dont want to infringe copyright or do something illegal.

 

[Megan Dyrssen]

Answer the following question: are you a legitimate license holder of the movie? If yes, you are free to sell. If not, selling them is illegal. 

 

It doesn't matter if it "seems" more tolerated inworld. That just means no one has reported it yet. It's still illegal.

[Chris Frentis]

That what I thought and why i stopped selling them. I assumed the things looking like movie stuff  would be banned etc in time but doesnt seem to be. Truth be known I dont need the money it raises and dont really care but only  made them for the fun of it! I wouldnt attempt to sell again if  I wasnt asked so many times over the last few years.

I made a car seat too and if you went through every model car ever built it probably violates something..

[Amethyst Jetaime]

The Avatar sims may have permission to operate from the IP owner.  It isn't unusual for movies and tv shows to allow or even sponsor a roleplay sim in SL based on their show.  They may view it as a promotion.

[Chris Frentis]

Thanks for that, now the things sold in it..

[Megan Dyrssen]

Basically the same question lol - did *you* get permission by the copyright holder to sell copyrighted stuff? If no, still illegal, even if the owner of the sim does have a limited license to use these. (In most cases though they're just still out there because no one reported them yet. IIRC, the copyright holder has to file the DMCA and while that's easy for a company to do with a website like Marketplace, most of them can't be arsed to make an avatar and go inworld to look for this.)

[Chris Frentis]

Thnks for your reply, I might delete it all! it's in the same category as using pirate software to make products you profit from.

[Pamela Galli]

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Chris Frentis wrote:

Thnks for your reply, I might delete it all! it's in the same category as using pirate software to make products you profit from.

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Yes it is. Also the same category as pirating music or movies. Lots of things, and all the same.

[Christhiana]

There is a big difference between running a themed sim where you can roleplay your favorite movie or tv show and trying to make a profit by selling themed stuff from those movies or tv series. While both are IP infringments I can understand a company might see a roleplay sim as great advertising whereas selling items based on their ideas and designs is likely to be seen as theft.

[Bobbie Faulds]

And some will say absolutely not too. Anne Bishop, for instance, has 2 series of books that would make a great basis for RP sims. However, on her blog, she was asked if the idea could be used for tabletop or other RPing venues and she said there no. so....best to ask. I'm really surprised the DC/Marvel RP sim that has people RPing the heroes hasn't been flagged yet.