Like many folks, I really enjoy Botanical trees by Kriss Lehmann, so I was perturbed by what appears to be copybotted versions decorating the grounds of a shop (SLurl). Several versions of tress from the Botanical Dark Forest collection set out with full perms and "Take a Copy" set as well as two "Botanical - (u)Japanese Red Maple Large" trees. The other ones also have the same name as their Botanical equivalents. By using Inspect I found that the trees are owned by kurie Erde and show suzytwo Nishi or rudys Aya as the creators, depending on the tree. I own legally purchased Botanical trees and all show Kriss Lehmann as the creator.Several members of the Lucky Kitty Crew and I filed abuse reports and almost immediately after I sent my second, Colton Linden contacted me to say that nothing could be done without filing a DCMA (What's this? See here.) Not being the creator I felt it best to contact Botanical staff for further action and did so.
If you haven't noticed, I care passionately about resident and creator rights, but I have to admit I was at a loss for knowing what was within my role as a resident when I suspected a creator's rights had been violated. What would you have done? What could I have done differently?
2 comments:
I happen to know Kriss so I would have sent him an email to make sure he actually gets it. Recently I encountered counterfeit Akeyo shoes on SLX and sent their designer an IM as well.
However I don't know how many counterfeit products I bought and simply did not know. The basic rule of thumb "If it is too good to be true, it probably is not" applies in many cases. Exceptional quality exceptionally cheap is a telltale sign. But it fails when you think of those Asian sims for example, where incredibly creative designers offer their products for a fraction at what they would sell in a Western sim.
I share your views on the pricing of products in Asian sim. Just the other day I was buying some pose balls and eyeing a new AO at Something Blue.
But nothing beats free, and those trees were set out so anyone could grab a copy. What the heck was the motive behind that? Some folks I've known have done that sort of thing out of spite or pure evilness (Brooklyn Designs was ripped off and the entire line was given out as freebies stating the business was dead, for example).
An avie I used to know actually states in her profile "don't give me your mod rights as I will steal everything you have." She's done it, driving at least one really creative person from SL.
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