Roscko Cobalt

Came across this place that sells marvel comic avatars and was wondering if this would be considered copyright infringement?

Here is a snapshot of some of the items....
some not shown in picture, like 2011 Spiderman (name of item).



Would like to hear peoples thoughts on this.

Also I found this interesting post already stated about Marvel comics and SL.

Marvel Comics Goes After Second Life Vendors | Krypton Radio

Forgot, heres the place in question..
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Yeol/151/15/1051

Attached Thumbnails

 

Joshua Nightshade

Trademark infringement.

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Aliselia Aeon

Yup. Maybe someone should inform Marvel and see if they care?

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Pandorah Ashdene

Considering the snapshot I would say "no".
The characters pictured are DC

Aliselia Aeon

I wouldn't know one publisher from another. I still wonder if someone should notify whoever they belong to in RL.

Eliza Wrigglesworth

Maybe try an AR first? I know the whole process is a joke, but there's always a chance. If the Lab doesn't take it down, then you could try contacting DC Comics.

Aribeth Zelin

I -know- Marvel cares, even more now they are owned by Disney, but even back in the day... They sued Cryptic over players making Marvel characters in CoH. DC? I don't know how they'd feel.

PS Spiderman is Marvel, not DC.

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Void

look like a bit of both copyright and trademark infringement, of multiple labels, Marvel, DC, Microsoft (masterchief), and maybe a few others.

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Myf

Someone will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that the Lab explicitly cannot takedown without a DMCA challenge from the copyright/trademark holder. That their safe harbour status relies, at least in part, on them maintaining a hands off approach.

I mean, we sitting here, don't actually know if the person behind those vendors is violating trademark or not. It's extremely unlikely, but those could be licensed avatars that person is selling. You, I and Linden Lab don't know, the best we can do is contact the trademark/copyright holders, it's up to them to issue takedowns.

Tyche Shepherd

No - There is another clause (512(c)) in the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (the Safe Harbour part of the DMCA) which removes safe harbour status from an organisation which knows of infringing material (or material which meets a subjective "Red Flag" test) and doesn't remove it regardless of Copyright owner notification. It's harder to prove in court but its still part of the DMCA process.

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Eliza Wrigglesworth

I know I keep having to say my memory is really bad, and it is, but I seem to remember in '08, or maybe even '07 that that some comic or another did file the take-down with LL. I thought they were removing those comic characters any time they were reported. OR, I'm confusticated. I think I may have learned about it from the Boxed Heroes group?

Damn you 1980's and all the marijuana goodness I partook of!!!! Now, where'd I leave my coffee cup?

Adeon Writer

DC never seems to have a problem with people drawing fanart and selling prints, I wonder, would avatars really be that different?

And yes, reporting them is useless. Only DC could report them and do anything meaningful.

Void

while this is true in general, in specific, certain copyright holders are known to be litiginous and to NEVER grant license... Disney is one... Microsoft another... both meet the "Red Flag" test.... it's why Avatar stuff gets removed when reported to, since Cameron is another.

Roscko Cobalt

Thank you all for the replies cheers! Update: I filled a AR on "other" possible copyright/trademark infringement. Used the Spiderman object as one of proof and a screenshot. I'm not sure if it will even see the light of day.

On an other note, I know Marvel had SL take down content earlier this year.
I'm wondering how Linden Lab will handle it once it was brought to their attention, even though I'm not the trademark owner.

Trasee Darkwatch

The Mouse has big expensive lawyers. I'm sure if someone were to inform Marvel, things would happen pretty quickly.

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Ceka Cianci

i'm curious..would this outfit i am wearing fall under it? it looks pretty much as close as you could get to a rogue outfit hehehe
i didn't make it but i did buy it because i wanted to make fun of the justice league hehehe
the sl version of them i mean.. i guess i wasn't really thinking about much else but them at the time i bought it from the MP..

Darien Caldwell

You'll get varying answers. *Usually* it's okay to make items that are similar as long as they don't proport to be the trademarked item.

i.e. Spider guy suit, not Spiderman suit. This is the generally accepted way things are in the real world. However a trademark holder can still try to sue for damages if they feel it's too close. Great example was the Christian Louboutin suit recently, where he sued another shoe maker for using red soles. He lost. But he still tried.

The image you superimposed yourself is in fact a good example of this, they 'resemble' the real characters but don't actually represent themselves as being the actual characters (in this case for parody).

*However*, Second Life's 'Copyright Quiz' for mesh is even more stringent than RL, as they seem to prohibit even things that 'resemble' RL items. Of course as we know from the "Mesh Police" thread here at SLU, they don't seem to follow what they preach too closely though.

(nice pics by the way, you look awesome )

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Ceka Cianci

thank you ..i just don't want to get into trouble when i am just goofing around with things like this..
the suit itself does have the X's on the belt and breast.i just changed the top one in photoshop to a C for Ceka and the bottom one to a G for greenzone lol..
the top one i used a lot over at the sl forums..it was my bot puncher picture for when bots spam over there.it helps me know i was already there in that thread..because the spam comes really fast there and a lot of it..plus some get a kick out of the picture..which that makes me smile some hehehe

i haven't seen it on the market place the last time i looked..i hope it's still there though because i think it's fun for pictures..but it may be ip replaced for all i know..i haven't looked for it in awhile since i made these..

and also thank you for the compliment..i think the hair was the hardest part to find..and i think i had to edit the hair to get more streaks to get that close..
i like doing things like this with my avatar..i just don't want to get in trouble for having fun is all..and don't want to disrespect creators either..i love them too much cause they make so many cool things that keep me latched onto sl hehehe =)