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Originally Posted by Ten  Actually it was always PC as a group, not anyone in particular. If you want to go ahead and re-read my article, please do, where I do research, cite sources, the whole nine yards of how this RL> SL thing could be a possible problem: Second Life Herald: SL Fashion - Copying or Inspiration? |
That was a good article, Ten. You had your facts straight about copyrights relative to clothing (there aren't any, except for textile patterns), and design patents. I honestly don't think that a lawsuit where a real world clothing company sued an
SL photosourcer would hold up in court. It's definitely an ethical gray area but it's not cut and dried. If the test is being able to tell the difference between the original and the knockoff (as far as a design patent is concerned), there's a rather obvious difference between an article of clothing and a texture on an avatar. It isn't actually clothing so can't possibly be mistaken for anything other than what it is - a representation of it in an entirely different medium. They aren't in any way competition to the original article because, obviously, they aren't clothing. I'm rather surprised that LL removed those items from inworld if they weren't using the real world brand name, but I guess money talks.
For that argument to hold water, that a virtual replica of a real world piece of clothing, is a violation of something that has extremely limited copyright protection even in the real world, then if you took a photograph of someone wearing brand name clothing and sold the photograph, you'd be just as much in violation. At that point you've reached the level of the absurd.