Recently it has come to light that Stroker Serpentine of SexGen and Munchflower Zaius of Nomine have filed suit against Linden Research International (also known as Linden Lab) for what they view as their complete mismanagement of the content theft situation, they even go so far as to accuse Linden Lab of profiting off of it. And they are absolutely correct. For those of you who wish to read the official complaint you can find it here.
In the complaint the Plaintiffs state that Linden Lab has directly and secondarily infringed on the trademarks and copyrights of both Eros and Nomine and that it freely allows other Second Life users to do so and that it even gives the tools to Second Life users to do so.
Let’s address this first shall we? It’s true. Linden Lab has long tradition of looking the other way when it comes to the financial issues of it’s customers. Were they not then bots would not exist. Their continual allowance of things like CopyBot to exist speaks volumes about their concern for issues like trademarks and copyrights. Content theft has in fact become so widespread in Second Life that frankly a good deal of the users do not even care anymore. Don’t believe me? Go to any blog article anywhere that points out content theft and look at the comments.
Also, in the complaint the Plaintiffs make the statement that Linden Lab profits off of the rampant content theft that is happening within it’s servers. This is true. Especially after the acquisition of Second Life Exchange by Linden Lab turning it into XStreet. Content thief uploads stolen content to the grid? Profit. Content thief sells stolen goods on XStreet? Thanks to that completely retarded cut that the Lab still takes out of sales…Profit. Let’s face it Lindens, your hand has been caught in the virtual cookie jar.
The complaint also states that Linden Lab already has tools available to deal with the content theft situation but refuses to do so on the account they make too much money off of it. Where are the MAC Bans Linden Lab? We know you can do them. Do you use them? Only when griefer groups directly challenge you. Otherwise you let content thieves make alt account after alt account after alt account. You have the power to remove items from inventories based on UUID…you do not however. Hand in the cookie jar? You betcha.
Stroker and Munchflower are filing this for two reasons according the complaint. 1: They want Linden Lab to grow a set of manberries and actually do something about the content theft instead of the usual “Awww shucks, file a DMCA and maybe we’ll do something” routine and 2: They want their pound of flesh. Stores as popular as Nomine and SexGen have been seriously damaged by Linden Lab’s refusal to deal with the issue. Money has indeed been lost by the two parties and they feel that Linden Lab should cough up the dough.
So let us look into the future. Let us say that Stroker and Munchflower win their suit against Linden Lab. What is going to happen? Here are some possibilities
- Linden Lab realizes that the content theft is a problem and deals with it in a smart, rational, well implemented manner (Read: Yeah fucking right)
- Stroker and Munchflower are removed from Second Life (Sour Grapes? I would not put it past Linden Lab to pull this shit off)
- As somebody who was possibly huffing paint suggested Linden Lab could simply disallow building. (Yes, because sometimes big companies just totally want to go out of business)
- The Lab creates a staff of draconian copyright nazis who scour the grid constantly and lay down the banhammer without so much as a “By your leave” (If they use this option, it will be done half assed, it will not be effective, and it will just turn people off of Second Life)
There are many other options for the result of this lawsuit to be honest. None of them actually look good. What should have happened was that Linden Lab should have addressed this from the very beginning instead of being such complete wusses about it. This is no longer some type of Virtual Hippie Commune. This is a business and Linden Lab needs to start acting like it. And they actually are. In all the bad ways. If you look at the TOS they have actually added shit saying you can’t sue them. Basically this screams out “Hey Customer, Fuck you! We’re going to do what we want when we want how we want and you don’t get a say about it”.
Linden Lab, would it better if a bigger corporation came hunting for you? Tell you what….around Christmas time you should have Disney come into Second Life to check out all their ripped off shit (Touch of Ireland…I am looking at you….you too Ramos). Maybe Marvel and DC could come down and you can explain to them your hands off policy concerning trademarks and copyrights when they see all the superhero avatars people in Second Life have made. Shit, we could get any major motion picture studio down into the grid and then maybe your whole stance will change.
This lawsuit by two Second Life users? Could be the best thing that ever happened to you.
There is actually a pretty healthy discussion of this lawsuit over on Second Citizen
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