[Opensim-users] Copyright in the Fashion Industry

[Karen Palen]

Yes LaeMing I agree with you.

FWIW the Tshirts etc. that I am making with your images (and more with my
own images BTW) will also be freely licensed and distributed, my only
concern is that they NOT be imported or used in Second Life! Mostly because
I am sure that would stir up accusations of copying, however baseless.

With my background in IP law I tend to a formal BSD style license, but the
essential thing is to have some statement that users and distributors can
rely on.

We often seem to lose sight of the fact that the entire justification for
all IP laws worldwide is to increase creativity and innovation.

In fact the very first IP law was made by King James of England who declared
"Anyone may have exclusive use of an invention, for a time, provided the
teach an Englishman the art."

His motivation was to break the stranglehold that the European Guilds
(mostly Dutch and French) held over virtually all English production of the
day.

Very similar to the present day situation in many ways.

One reason that virtual world fashions tend to be much fancier than real
life though is that virtual clothes don't get dirty or tangled in things!
Anyone who has raised children (both boys AND girls) knows exactly what I
mean. :-)

Karen

On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 12:37 AM, LaeMing <laeming at exemail.com.au> wrote:

> Thanks greatly for that link, Karen. It was a very interesting watch!
>
> Nice contrast to the IP hysterics I sometimes observe in the 'wild'
> (stroppy
> bugger this one! says I poking it with a stick.) from people who seem to
> think
> that every allusion to any idea to ever waft erratically through the back
> of
> their minds is theirs and theirs alone by right of their having been the
> first
> being in existence to ever fire two neurons at more-or-less the same time.
> :-P
>
> The attitude of the fashion industry is more-or-less the one I have with my
> clothing in SL. I won't rip someone else's work directly via texture
> grabbing.
> But I may recreate a very like piece from scratch if I like it but cannot
> use
> the one provided for some reason (usually because I don't like some
> particular
> detail -- so the remake is inherently not an exact copy anyway). Obviously,
> I
> avoid copying trademarks or other independently copyrighted graphics.
>
> Also it is why I am releasing a lot of my own clothing creations under very
> permissive licensing (public domain for the first round). I just don't feel
> IP
> should apply to such basic stuff.
>
> Hugely complex prim-ballgowns and the like are an entirely different
> matter,
> but I don't have the patience to make (or the inclination to want to wear)
> such things, so I haven't had to think too hard about that, but I would be
> inclined to view them as art rather than utilitarian. Not so much the basic
> ballgown shape/style but it is the frills and extra bits that make it art
> and
> likely shouldn't be copied too closely.
>
> Regards,
> Lae
>
> PS: My mum tells a story of how as teenagers, she and a group of friends
> would
> catch a train into the city for a day and sit outside the big stores
> sketching
> the season displays until the shopkeeper came out and chased them off with
> a
> broom, then they would go back home and sew their own.
>
>
> On Tuesday June 1 2010 01:07:21 Karen Palen wrote:
>
> snip
>
> > I would remind everyone that the purpose of IP laws is NOT to ensure that
> > large "content Creators" get rich, but to encourage and reward
> innovation.
> >
> >
> http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/05/25/2222207/The-Fashion-Industry-As-a-M
> > odel-For-IP-Reform
> >
> > No one can argue that the RL fashion industry is not creative and hugely
> > profitable if you get the formula right!
> >
>
> snip
>
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