i read this interesting post and even went off a little about its topic – saving stuff to your hard drive
there are a lot of misinformed ideas about what copyright and fair use is. so much so that it’s hard for even big companies to interpret it properly. for example, ever see how so many people still use “All Rights Reserved.” as part of their copyright notice? well those people are dopes! that has not been part of copyright since like 1930! it means absolutely nothing anymore, but people still place it on their work
and “fair use”, that’s really tough to determine and you are seeing more and more people dropping that notion in order to be a bit safer from legal issues. ever notice on some TV shows how the pixelate out art on the walls?
basically, if something someone made adds value to what you are selling, you need their permission to use it
the Empire State building in NYC is it’s own copyright. you are not allowed to use it as part of anything commercial. even though it is a part of the NYC skyline. it’s like the happy birthday song, you can’t use it in commercial places
or like music, you can’t play any radio station you like in a restaurant or bar or hair salon unless you are a member of ASCAP. lol, if you are a professional wedding videographer, you can’t film a wedding and record the audio as you film without paying royalties for the music they are playing. since you are selling the video to the wedding peeps, you are doing so for commercial gain, that music adds value (unless it was Michael Bolton)
it doesn’t matter that everyone does this, it is still breaking copyright law
same happens in Second Life, Reaction Grid, or any online platform. if you were to come to our sims and film with the water tower in the backdrop and then that film helps your portfolio, which helps you secure more prestige, well that is basically for commercial gain. so now if anyone hired you cuz they liked your portfolio, ta dah! it can be argued that your fame is partly based on my incredible (it made George Lucas who he is today) water tower!!! =p
see my use of George Lucas’ name could be argued as copyright violation of sorts. he is a celebrity and as such, special rights go along with his name. if this blog turned me into a millionaire, he could come after me (but as soon as he mentioned Ener Hax in any paperwork, look out, he is going down!) =D
three years back, i used the term Realtor for an in-world group – iliveisl certified realtor, i think. and guess what?!?! the National Association of Realtors sent me a Cease and Desist order! for real! i felt kind of important for a minute!
well dumb me, i had not even thought that realtor was a registered trademark, derr – but my ignorance of that fact had nothing to do with the law
anyway, Ann points to some vague language in the SL TOS that seems to button up this language a bit tighter. to be fair to Linden Lab, there is a diff with what full perm can mean. full perm in SL is not necessarily granting full copyright free use of something but maybe only full use in SL and not outside of it. copyright-free licensing is something peeps in graphic design know well but most peeps never run into needing to know this isl. but with SL, many peeps are creating things and selling them. that’s where the real issue comes into play
as for my water tower, i grant you full rights to use it in anything (lol, this is subject to change – the real way to legally word something, not that stupid “we reserve the right to change this” which is incredibly difficult language to argue in court – court likes straightforward language, if it is subject to change, just say it, what the hell does we reserve the right mean anyway?)
hey, what does that mean? Canadian? =)
Floetry Catnap 1:07 am on March 14, 2010 Permalink
ROFL! FUNNNYYYY!!!
Ener Hax 3:02 am on March 14, 2010 Permalink
i am a bit slow on the uptake at times, i would have deleted all the chairs i had out, messed with the scripts and maybe never figured it out! =D