Monday, July 6, 2009

Content Theft, Copying and the Next Step: ES and Glitterati

Update on the recent posemaker case:

Glitterati & ES. Now renamed ES vs Glitterati


A Glitterati customer says there is an ES pose like one of yours.
Glitterati responds with 'they must have copied the Glitterati pose" - and shares this publicly despite clear evidence to the contrary.

This action was not only unreasonable and proved to be lacking in fact but marked the beginning of the corner into which Glitterati had placed themselves.

The poses in question were in fact clearly evidenced as having been developed and up-loaded to SL by ES prior to not only Glitterati's, but also prior to the Glitterati pictures placed on their Flickr site. It is hard to copy something someone made AFTER your creation!!

The latter fact still seems not to have permeated the minds behind Glitterati.

Perhaps Glitterati is a little confused and thinks that ES really means ESP?

Now the reasonable person would would engage the brain rather than the mouth at this stage, but not katy. In what could only be considered either a desperate face-saving exercise or an adolescent temper tanty, she embarks on a very public ES witchunt to the extent of calling on others to join her in this flaming and bullying of ES. This is rather like the yell of 'fight' or 'rumble' behind the bike sheds at school - you all know the type. The crowd forms, the bully blusters but sometimes, the 'reasonable' kid has had enough and bites back.

When this katy-led witchunt evolved into defamation and libel and republication of such on several sites on the world wide web. ES has no option but to defend its reputation.

Being reasonable people ES undertook this through the procedures set in place for dispute resolution.

Recent update:

Katy of Glitterati has not yet responded in a counter claim on the poses that Glitterati ( note: NOT ES!) was asked to decommission. The decommissioning was based on a Linden Labs (LL) investigation in which it was claimed that the Glitterati poses in question were in fact produced AFTER the ES poses. Glitterati claims that they did not defend in the appropriate manner as they wanted to continue to hide their 'real' identities - presumably from legal action arising from their actions.

However, katy and Glitterati did lodge their own claim with LL citing that 10 ES poses were copies of Glitterati's. This claim was also taken seriously by ES and LL. The poses subject to this claim were decommissioned as the claim was investigated, The cited poses were compared, found not to be copied and ES owners lodged a counter-claim, citing evidence to counter the Glitterati claims in accordance with proper procedures

Notice the difference in behaviours here. One party hides behind an avatar name and uses the web and the false sense of anonymity to mischievously flame, harass and defame in a baseless manner.

The party subjected to this behaviour takes appropriate action using proper grievance resolution procedures.

At this point the status is as follows:

ES has:
  1. Provided evidence to LL in response to the mischievous Glitterati claims,
  2. ES has filed a counter suit in response to the mischievous Glitterati claims (NOTE: no hiding behind false identities here!),
  3. ES has engaged legal representation to undertake the counter suit.

One wonders when katy and her 'family' at Glitterati will work out that far from teen high jinx, their behaviour has stepped firmly into the realm of law. No wonder they seek to hide their 'real' identities. A writ served may well cause some questions around the dinner table.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Content Theft on a Virtual Grid, Defamation, Libel on the Internet.

An example of the processes and responses in a current SL content theft/copy situation. Reproduced with permission of the author. Original content at http://tinypaste.com/36976.

This is reproduced to highlight the issues, the steps required and indeed taken by the complainant business, ES poses to respond to what they state is inaccurate and defamatory statements made by Glitterati publicly - both in SL and on various web pages.

>>>>>>>>>>>>

In light of the NC being distributed by Glitterati further accusing *ES* of copying 22 poses we feel it necessary to respond to the libelous accusations that are baseless and amount to a fishing expedition in their hopes to further defame *ES*:

The glitterati pose is presented first followed by the*ES* pose they say we used to copy them followed by applicable fact/truth or source *ES* used.


(Glitt. - April 12th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/suticapalini/3437042096/
(ES - May 19th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3549629986/

*ES* Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2498105&id=83086041929


2. (Glitt. May 4th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/glitteratiphotos/3502555882/
(ES - June 5th)http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3599542966/
(the reference the bottom 2 people on the pose as the copied pose)

*ES* Source:http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2498106&id=83086041929
I just added the moms over her little girl for a creative difference and arm movement showing a butterfly


3. (Glitt. Feb 11th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/glitteratiphotos/3277280671/
(ES May 21st) http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3572974666/

*ES*Source:http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2498108&id=83086041929


4. (Glitt. April 3rd)http://www.flickr.com/photos/glitteratiphotos/3408653001/
(ES - June 5th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3599543014/

The poses truly are different. Yet we are accused of copying? I used these pictures for inspiration:

*ES*Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2498100&id=83086041929

*ES*Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wild_curl/2931766875/in/photostream/
swapped out a father for a mom put her arm around her instead of on the side and the song “ Butterfly Kisses” as a personal inspiration for the name.

5. (Glitt.The Eye - April 27th)http://www.flickr.com/photos/glitteratiphotos/3477850587/
(ES - May 28th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3576590441/

*ES*Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2498107&id=83086041929
They want to say we copied the “eye” of their Eye Heart you pose.

6. (Glitt. March 19th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/suticapalini/3367418251/
(ES - March 31st) http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3407639370/

*ES* Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2498175&id=83086041929

7. (Glitt. Feb 10th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/suticapalini/3271039648/
(ES: reverse it - Feb 25th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3388839793/

Our Friend and colleague Blink Pinion created this pose. He created it before he joined Essential Soul. http://www.flickr.com/photos/blinkpinionphoto/3309978315/ . Blink has been out of world for a few months and just returned. If you truly want to stretch your imagination and believe the poses are the same by all means go ahead. But you stand to insult every posemaker by trying to say these poses are the same. Once Blink is available we will let him know and he will provide a source if requested.

8. (Glitt. - March 10th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/glitteratiphotos/3345615708/
(ES - March 26th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3389651022/

*ES* Source: http://honorgirl.deviantart.com/art/Even-though-I-should-93614862

Watch the opening music sequence to the movie Adventures in Babysitting I got the idea to shoot the pose on a bed while making the pose because the lead actress flips herself onto her bed backwards. I think the only thing I am guilty of is watching a 80’s classic movie & sourcing my pose idea.

9. (Glitt. - March 16th) * (not uploaded to flickr)- Glitterati Rock Stars
(ES March 27th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3388839943/

ES Sources: http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3323653541/in/set-72157611915610418/

*ES* Rawk Star

Glitterati came to ES first on March 30, 2009 to say that we had copied their pose just because the name was similar...and apparently the pose? The poses themselves are completely different . Please visit their store to check it out as I do not have a hyper link to that pose. Up to this point we had never heard of Glitterati.

Rawk Star was Created using 2 poses created in fat pack her [Catwalk] using *ES* Framed (right part of pose *ES* Pause (left part of pose) that was released Feb. 28th 2009. The pose was used for an Ad shoot March 18, 2009 for Essential Soul when I put the 2 poses together. During the shoot and I came up with the name when we were playing gestures during the shoot. And a super star rock star gesture was played. The Ad was Due to Maggie Mahoney of Runway Magazine March 20, 2009 and given to her March 18, 2009. Glitterati did a release of their pose through SL Poser: March 20, 2009. Again due to RL did not release until a few days after Glitterati

UL date of *ES* Pause: Feb 28th 2009

UL date of *ES* Framed: Feb 28th 2009

10. (Glitt. - Feb 4th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/glitteratiphotos/3259332950/
(ES - Feb 10th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3295031474/

Apparently this pose is the same? This pose was created again by our Colleague Blink Pinion whom many of you know already know from Flickr,…who also joined the *ES* team. Blink worked on this pose for a better part of half a month on and off since mid Janurary 2009 until his final upload date (date in which animation was uploaded in SL) with corrections February 4, 2009. And for them to suggest then that it was created to copy their pose the day Glitterati released their pose? Not even remotely likely. Upon his return in SL he will provide a source for the picture.

11. (Glitt. April 10th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/glitteratiphotos/3429405963/
(ES - April 28th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3484075991/

*ES* Wedding Crew ULD (date in which the animation was created in sl through an upload from an animation program) also known as acquired:

ULD of wedding Crew: March 9 07:08:07 2009

Glitterati Weddings Upload Date: Friday April 10th 2009

And if you’d like to check the dates Please go to our store right click on the pose ball for the pose and touch create. Then select the properties on the animation inside. Do the same for the above Glitterati pose and you will find our pose was created in SL first by a whole month. We did not release right away as when we created it because we were making a whole wedding series to release together. We will not apologize for a pose created before theirs. Its just circumstantial it was released after theirs.

12. (Glitt. January 23rd) * (not uploaded to flickr)
(ES - May 17th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3541303401/

CouCou ChouChou ES source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2498101&id=83086041929

The pose even pictures the couple on a log like the picture. Steven just put the 2 together. Easy enough to see and all that needs to be said.

13.(Glitt. April 20th) * (not uploaded to flickr)
(ES - June 13th) * (new pose released and not uploaded yet) (we released a few that day)

With a pose they do not name or show it is impossible for them to say we copied. We cannot comment on nothing shown to us or what pose they are referring to.

14. (Suti - April 21st) http://www.flickr.com/photos/suticapalini/3464573546/

Please make note this is one of the poses asked by LL to Glitterati to remove from their store
(ES - April 28th) http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3484926764/ (heartbroken)

Yet Glitterati comes back to say we copied a pose from Pretty Boy set? So we copied a pose LL asked them to remove because LL found them to have copied it from us? Not to mention what they are pointing out is completely diff.

Poses Glitterati says *ES* took from other stores and only leaves the reader to guess which stores. No problem we don't know either because we got them from the following sources, and if any pose store has issues with any of our poses feel free to IM us inworld or contact us via flickr mail:

Pose:http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3477285156/

Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2498102&id=83086041929


Pose: http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3572982104/

source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2498109&id=83086041929


Pose: http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3577373440/

Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2498424&id=83086041929


Pose: http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3599609561/

Source:http: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2498431&id=83086041929


Pose: http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3388839837/

Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2498104&id=83086041929

Pose: http://www.flickr.com/photos/essentialsoul/3305606163/

Blink Pinion a creator for *ES* upon his return will provide a source if any pose store comes to us with an issue regarding this pose.


Glitterati after this comments 11 more poses they retired, can't show or won't show, but want you to believe we copied? Sorry I think the dispelling of their false allegations above prove We haven't COPIED anything.

We find it self indulgent that Glitterati feels its the only store capable of having customers that want to see poses made. Amongst our own customer base many have asked us to create poses encompassing many lifestlyes such Gay, Lesbian and Family. We dont make apologies for creating poses people come to us for or genres they want to see. Because *ES* finds the need to expand upon a genre does not make them copiers LOL. Its called free enterprise, competition, not to mention loyalty to customers who ask us for the genre poses.


To answer the issue surrounding the claims of our wedding poses in *ES* being “inspired” by Glitterati's release of a wedding set:

*ES* created a set of 4 wedding poses: They are listed here with upload dates into SL:

*ES* Wedding Crew: ULD Mon Mar 9 2009

*ES* Wedding Toast: ULD Mon. March 9 2009

*ES* Wedding Proposal: ULD Wed Jan 28 2009

*ES* A Piece of Cake: Thu April 16 2009 final ULD after we received the knife for the final positioning for the pose from a creator in SL.

The Glitterati set of poses Upload dates of the animations into SL:

Glitterati-Weddings

ULD Friday Apr 10 2009

Glitterati-Groomsmen & Best men

ULD Friday April 10

Glitterati Poses - Bridesmaids

ULD Friday April 10

Glitterati Poses - Catch the bouquest

ULD Fri April 10

Glitterati Poses - Yours forever

ULD Fri April 10 12:57

Glitterati - So proud

ULD Fri April 10

Glitterati - Our big day

ULD Fri April 10

Glitterati-Flower Girls

ULD Friday April 10

You may go to our store and right click the poseballs, select create and then under contents right click the animation. You should do the same for the Glitterati poses to verify the Upload Dates of the animations should you feel the need. What does this mean? It means *ES* created the sets a month or more before Glitterati even uploaded their animations. And yes we did release the poses themselves in our store after Glitterati released. *ES* waited for glasses and a knife to be created not to mention RL being busy to photograph some of the larger poses and releasing of the sets together. *ES* makes no apologies in creating animations that were done before Glitterati's and does not attribute any inspiration from Glitterati's set. But because of RL and creation of items for the poses they were released at a later date altogether As a set.

We ask that those interested view the information and you find the allegations put against *ES* as baseless and the notecard circulated libel. They claim to have open minds and to say we could come to them at anytime? I believe their history of actions, these above actions and this Posted March 31, 2009 ;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glitteratiphotos/3403203118/

prove otherwise. None of their actions have made it apparent that we would be received well or that they would act in any business fashion in resolving issues.

We would also like to dispell this notion that we copyrighted poses. Perhaps they need to reread what the DMCA completely encompasses. LL finds any content created in SL as falling under the DMCA as a process. This is what skin designers do, clothing designers do when someone has ripped of their content or creation. None of these are Copyrighted! The DMCA act encompasses many procedures outlined for content creation in SL.


Also they claim LL will tell us their RL identity?..news flash it is against the Law for LL to divulge that information, so again their attempt to say thats why amounts to baseless and unfactual knowledge of LL policies and procedures.

No worries we have forwarded on to LL and all the information of the poses they tried to say we copied and the UUID of the circulated Notecard.

The only inspiration Glitterati has given *ES* is to see that they Glitterati and those involved are held completely responsible for their libelous actions and harrassment. Not to mention defamation of our business and avi's reputations.The inspiration ends there. As you can see by their attempt to show far fetched correlations between the poses above they accuse us of copying only strengthens the case they put against themselves, and discredit them as being truthful.

We will openly admit to ejecting the Glitterati owner Katey from our Store and SIM. She has never shown or acted in any business like fashion or conducted herself in manner as to make herself welcomed in our store.And it wasn't to avoid the above list they felt so compelling to put together as the poses we copied. We think their list only strengthens the case against themselves.

Glitterati has never been nor will ever be an inspiration to what Steven or I create. We owe all that to our loyal customers, RL media depictions and creative ideas we have on our own. No other pose store ever has approached us in having any issues with us, so we only have to say that Glitterati's claims there are other pose stores, is baseless as well.

Final word: Neither Steven Nor I have ever in any point or time Told Either owner of SLPosers they were paid off. All we ever did was defend our reputation and provide evidence we did nothing wrong.It fell upon deaf ears and biased points of view.


Thank you very much to those who care to see the truth, care to listen and don't settle for what someone wants to lie, and try to say is true when all clear and convincing evidence shows other wise. Much love and respect to our continued customers and fellow photographers alike who support us greatly.


Maeve & Steven

Friday, June 12, 2009

Content Theft #2: Outcomes

When alleging content theft it is imperative that clear evidence is provided to substantiate the claim. Content theft is a serious matter and allegations have may have a significant impact on a number of levels for the accused.

Without substantial evidence to back up such claim, the allegations become baseless, defamatory and could quite reasonably be regarded as a cynical attempt to create a widespread public perception to the detriment of a rival business so accused.

In a recent SL case involving posemakers/animators one levelled very public claims of copying against another. The accused, Essential Soul (ES), priding themselves on originality and specific key positioning in their poses and well as taking seriously the reputation of their business, naturally looked into these claims. They found that not only had ES's own poses apparently been copied by their accuser, but other elements of their business also. They responded in the proper manner and through the proper channels to restore their business reputation.

To this end, ES lodged a DMCA Complaint with Linden Labs (LL). Subsequent investigation by LL considered all considerable and compelling evidence provided by ES, including design, origin and upload and release dates found that ES's poses had apparently been copied by the 'accuser' and ordered the copied poses be removed.

Did the accuser deal with being caught out in a proper manner? Did they apologise for their behaviour? No. Astonishingly they [again] publicly put pictures up of the poses they were found to have copied on their Flickr with the heading:

'sniff sniff'
and the statement:
" Discontinued because the people at Essential Soul are a bunch of money-grubbing assholes".*

They further claim that only revealing r/l information to Linden Labs stops them from lodging a counter-claim against ES - yet LL already holds r/l information from the registration details required from all individuals prior to being granted access to the LL SL grid. It is difficult to see how revealing to LL what LL already holds, is a barrier to lodging a counter claim.

Astonishingly now, and in a complete turn-around to their public statements made against ES, the accuser now claims that poses cannot be copied or copywritten!

The petulant tirade finishes with a promise that people will 'see some shit'.

Charming.

So, to recap, these people actively, publicly and with no evidence defamed the reputation of a rival business. They were found to have copied the poses they have been ordered to remove. They sold and presumably enjoyed unjust enrichment and yet they accuse the business they copied as being the 'money-grubber' - and so continues their pattern of defamation, libel, and self-interest.

Lodging a DMCA with LL is only one step in the DMCA grievance process. That merely seeks investigation and remedy on the LL owned grid.

There are further remedies open to ES and other businesses that have been subjected to defamatory and baseless claims.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Content Theft, Misrepresentation, Fraud & Libel On The Internet

Content theft is a serious matter and is subject to a range of international and domestic legal remedies. Quite rightly. The monetarism of 'virtual' worlds and 'virtual' property has been addressed in recent court cases in the USA, China and Europe where such 'virtual' property and civil and criminal crimes associated with such property have been subject to legal proceedings and remedies.

Bearing this in mind, a recent event in SL has caught my particular attention. In this instance, despite all clear evidence to the contrary, one business owner has used their group and blog to accuse another of 'copying'.

The business person so accused has ample clear evidence to show that to the contrary that their accuser developed their product AFTER the accused. This evidence indicates strongly that the accusations are not only baseless but have no standing in fact.

Of course there are people who believe that making unfounded accusations, 'getting in first' will draw attention from the actual reality of their own actions. All it does is draw more attention to the facts of the case. The question asked is - prove the accusation. It will be interesting to see how LL deals with this particular case.

However, in the course of making unfounded accusations, another series of elements have been engaged by the accuser. In terms of business these may be considered to be more serious than the actual copying, which it seems on the basis of evidence provided by the accused, that the accuser may have quite possibly committed themselves.

To many, originality and reputation is significant. To have reputation and integrity compromised has the potential to cause damage, personally and in business. When this is undertaken with intent and without foundation the defense of 'fact' or 'truth' does not apply.

To reiterate:

LIBEL:

    1. A false publication, as in writing, print, signs, or pictures, that damages a person's reputation.
    2. The act of presenting such material to the public

  1. DEFAMATION - An act of communication that causes someone to be shamed, ridiculed, held in contempt, lowered in the estimation of the community, or to lose employment, status or earnings or otherwise suffer a damaged reputation. Such defamation is couched in 'defamatory language'. Libel and slander are defamation.
As time goes on, recent cases are addressing many of the legal issues that have caused some furrowed brows in the legal community in the past. Perhaps it is time for people participating in virtual worlds to fully understood that their actions may in fact, be subject to real life legal remedies and not merely TOS of a grid or site owner.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Governance, Law and Virtual Worlds


The development and establishment of legal remedies that govern r/l legal breaches committed in virtual space need to be addressed as soon as possible.


One can't help the feeling that there is a place for both international and domestic court presence for hearings to take place in virtual space.


I mean. It's the only logical way of dealing with issues that cross international boundaries. To expect a plaintiff to track down a person against whom they have a complaint, to lodge appropriate papers, to even try to discover which country writs should be served is both prohibitively expensive and given the nature and location of the crime, patently absurd. There needs to be a governance system in place to lodge and conduct hearings in virtual space.

It has been discussed and explored endlessly by the legal profession. Law students have also examined the issues involved and there are few that would not have been identified by now.

So now is the time to resolve. To work through the issues and obstacles and to come up with workable models.

Perhaps a start is to look at secure servers to ensure ownership of confidential information.

I would welcome some positive thoughts on this.. not the usual 'can't do because'....

but let's try something different...

a can do approach...








Monday, April 27, 2009

Facebook Etiquette


Amusing yet with some sound points:


Commercial Presence On Social Network Sites


I am now totally beyond the 'constantly amazed' response when I read of 'failures' of commercial and known brand ventures in SecondLife.


I do not dispute that there are many sims developed by and for 'real life' organisations that are empty of all but the metaphorical tumbleweed. Neither do I dispute that many of these grid-based ghost towns give the impression of having been developed by an enthusiatic corporate employee with little ongoing organisational support to develop and maintain the project.

What I do dispute is the reasons for 'failure' of these ventures.

Social Networking Sites do not include the word social as an afterthought in the description.

*pauses for the gasps of surprise*

Think about that...........