Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Content Theft in Second Life Pt. 2

Content Theft in Second Life Pt. 1

What if you’re not only an average SL citizen, but a content creator?

So you have an idea or a picture in your head that you think would be great to bring out and market, but you’re afraid to do so due to the recent rise of intellectual property theft in Second Life? I mean lets face it, what can you do to protect yourself? Well there is actually a lot you can do!

As the Lindens state in their Terms & Conditions, anyone person, group or company has the rights over what ever they create in Second Life. However, it is extremely hard to protect yourself and your products within because they state that it is up to YOU, the producer, to establish a system to protect you. Further more, the Lindens themselves also state that it is also up to YOU to prosecute should your intellectual property be subject to theft. So, what does one do to protect themselves and their creations? Here are a few ideas and suggestions:


1.) Exposure
Believe it or not, but getting your stuff out there in more forms than one shows more than once source of origination. For Example, say you have a skin you created- take the file and cut it up to make multiple fragments so it is harder to copy and put it in the ad. You could even add the image of the file in a banner you have created and post the ad on multiple websites. This will give the file more then one source of actual time stamped verification that the file was from you.

2.) Create Unique Traits
Make your product stand out from the rest by creating small details in the design the point to you as the creator. Like unique patterns of make up designs that will be hard to copy, or discreetly add your initials/company logo somewhere on the product. I would recommend encryptions, but unfortunately there is no such ability on Second Life as of yet. Be creative in your methods- the more creative the idea, the less likely for them to find the trait and deface your work in that area to cover their theft.

3.) Real Life Legal Protections
Now I will be the first to admit that I am no lawyer, nor a student of law. However, copyrights and patents are probably the only sure-fire way to get compensation for theft should it happen to you, and that is only if you have the funds and/or knowledge yourself to push this route. Linden Labs will not help in intellectual property theft, because lets face it: it is hard to prove you have intellectual property rights, and even worse, it is extremely easy to defend against the claims of intellectual property rights. So Linden Labs have the right idea, leave the law to the people in court rooms and stay out of the middle. Granted though, I am sure if you got a court order to have Linden Labs fork over data transmissions and tracking of who uploaded the file first, they would be happy to assist. If you want more information upon this route, I would strongly advise you to contact your lawyer, or find a lawyer if you don't have one and ask them about the best way to legally protect your virtual creations in real life law.


Add-In by the Girls:
Companies like FlickR and deviantART are offering Creative Commons licenses for files uploaded to them. While not as strong as copyrights or patents, it is still something that traces it back to you. Keep in mind, though, that these companies may have their own Terms of Service, and you should read over and understand everything put before you. If possible, see if you can get these without going through a middle man.

4.) Avoid Avatar Shaping and Animations
It is nearly impossible to say that any one shape or animation is yours due to them being based off numbers only. That makes it limited in the possibilities and plausible that some one may happen to stumble upon the exact size and shape you input on to your avatar shape. So instead, try and use these as enhancers for your actual products. Some good examples are to create a shape that would make you skin look the best and explain how the shading of the skin texture would be better suited for the shape provided. Use animations to enhance an object(s) so that it seems like the avatar is actually using the object(s). Animations are hard to set up, but if you have it customized to your object(s), it would also make it that much harder to replicate or copy it, especially if you create your own enhancement agents.

Those are probably the best ways to protect your self. Are there other ways? More than likely, but as I stated above, I am not a lawyer and will not pretend to be one. So other than that, have fun and enjoy your self. After all, Second Life is a game and should bring you joy.


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