Saturday, September 5, 2009
São Paulo Fashion Week Passion- Paixão
By Anna Avalanche, Gisa Miles and Luiz Speedwell
Photography credit for - Agencia Fotosite (http://www.agenciafotosite.com.br/)
This was our latest article publish at déjà vu Magazine. Touch here to read my new article
São Paulo Fashion Week (SPFW) is considered the most stylish Latin American fashion show. Held at Oscar Niemeyer's Bienal building in Ibirapuera Park, SPFW presented six days of showcasing the latest collections of 40 Brazilian brands. In its 27ª edition the theme was “Passion- Paixão”. It’s also the Year of France in Brazil, so tributes to the world's fashion capital were also exhibited.
For this article, because there are many brands and it is difficult to resume in a few words all designers’ trends, we choose the most relevant and the best photography that could represent the fashion trends for spring-summer 2009-2010. The idea is to present Déjà vu readers with concepts and different styles form real Life Brazilian designers showed at São Paulo Fashion Week. Hope you all enjoy our big effort to bring the best from more than forty designers and brands ideas. As you will see most of the designers got the inspiration from people, music, dancer, movie, technology and even architecture. They try to create and represent in clothes several concepts.
The Animale griffe showed strong colors and fabric technology, investing in a sexy woman. Pieces with cuttings and transparency, and gusset of latex, cover and discovered the body, like a game of seduction. The modeling came with a lot of technology. The fabric looks wrinkled and has cotton applied with resin that looks like greaseproof paper and fibers with thermo pigments, which change color with the body temperature. The architectural neck, clippings and overlaps appeared in almost all pieces even in the very short dresses. The mixture of fabrics with leather gave volumes and the suggestion of more strength and wild instinct woman.
We had also very romantic dresses from Lino Villaventura in opposite from Animale. Contrasting the lightness of butterfly women imposed by the presence of men hunters Lino gained the whole attention of audience. The designer showed dresses based on the twenties and were so light that seemed to make the models fly. Parts made of organza, crepe, silk tulle and gauze. The luxury look came from embroidered with Swarovski crystals and pearls. The skirts were lined with armed tulles at the knee, full of embroidery and transparencies.
In contrast André Lima collection presented fabulous colorful geometric prints with intercalations of colors like black and white that refers to psychedelic. His sumptuous short dresses, with neckline or with strapless, showed asymmetry and cuttings with many points in the bust which explore people sexy side, such as shoulders and legs almost entirely shown.
Samuel Cirnansck’s catwalk show was perfect! He showed the strong and attractive women image. Samuel was inspired in Cuban women of the 40s, especially in the society lady from Havana Aleida Averhoff de la Riva, which represents the powerful and independent woman. The stylist exaggerated the mixture with male clothes pieces marked in the shoulders; high waist colorful pantaloons, very charming organza party dresses and skirts with many layers of drapes and frills. To complete the look models wear bodice and small leather belts which marked the waist.
The trend Maria Garcia likes to travel in mysterious and imaginary places. It presented a collection inspired by a mix of Tim Burton and Tim Walker photography. The inspiration gained a fashion shape with boudoir dresses made from multiple layers of satin silk similar to a summer baby doll for outdoor use that guarantee freshness and sensual clothes with lightness due to the transparency of organza. The shorts made with silk were embroidered with spangle and plume detail.
The collections of Isabela Capeto are always inspired in cultural expressions. This time, Isabela inspired herself in the artistic work by Robert Rauschenberg. She reused fabrics. Some marked waist dresses with large belt and roses or flowers prints. Odalisque trousers combined with twinset jackets. There is a hint of recycling in models structured from braid Haco labels. Dresses and skirts have details such as back side ties. The silhouette is evasive - well marked neck band in different nuances and with some frill.
Like Isabela Capeto, Erika Ikezili immersed in the world of arts for an inspiration source. Like a clothe architect, Erika’s collection seems dancing in the catwalk shows with the delicacy of a ballerina. Her design was based in the dance of Sylvie Guillen, and the paintings of Edgar Degas, the French impressionist painter. The collection is delicate and feminine and receives the name Evidentia, which refers to a video dance by Sylvie. The looks are romantic and feminine with a delicate transparency and glossy shine on some pieces with knitting aspect. She also used frills in oppose to the heavier gabardine fabric giving a counterbalance to her collection.
Wilson Ranieri used the moulage technique in which an outfit is built directly on a mannequin. This enables the construction of large and free clothes pieces. One of the main elements in his collection is the knots on handkerchief, bandana and belts giving charm for the waist. He’s concept looks for a fluid shape showing the legs and back for an informal and bereft women but still elegant.
Sophisticated and heroic women create the fashion universe by Fausen Haten. For summer 2010 the designer resolved to back in Nudes and soft tones. But he still had some excess creating asymmetrical dresses and using metallic fringes, sparkles and many frills. The folds were used to create layers in the sleeves of jacket and frills, ties and fringes gave a broader dimension for his creations. Silver embroidered appear applied throughout the length of dresses, skirts and blouses giving a very nice look.
The Ellus brand brought to the catwalks the world of motorcycle. The designer Adriana Bozon created smooth and clear looks, giving emphasis, the whole time in the white. With a collection based in street wear segment, her suggestion for women is shorts and street wear trousers always accompanied by male style waistcoat and jackets. The main idea was joining tank top with big armhole and hips volume trousers that are tapering and becoming increasingly tight when it comes to the ankles with reverse cuffs.
Colcci Summer of 2010 also brought the street wear style, stripped and sensual. The collection looks like "detonated and tattered" in jeans with ravel cuffs, as in coats and knit, with large holes. According to stylist Jessica Lengyel, the inspiration came from a Beach Diary and also from 90s in California - USA. For her, female fashion comes with very short shorts, dresses with fluted cuffs, “évasé” cutting which brings the idea of movement and shorts or low-rise jeans showing the belly button. Of course we can’t forget that Gisele Bündchen is Colcci exclusive catwalk model for the SPFW and she was there beautiful as always.
The stylist Priscilla Darolt got inspiration in an Iranian movie to her summer 2010 trends based on flowers model shape. Seeking the simplicity of everyday life as the most important and inspired by the movie's filmmaker Majid Majidi, “The Color of Paradise". Her inspirational idea speech of the day to day life in a poetic and practical way suggesting short dresses with fluted effects which better shape that show the female silhouette.
For the brand UMA and Raquel Davidowicz the summer 2010 is basically a volume study. In terms of colors and feelings she goes from the delicate to lugubrious as a transition from the dry and dark South American winter to the color clean and light summer. The gowns were above the knee with geometric neck and sometimes having purposeful hips with sides’ drapes or kind of moorings lashing. Holes and tissue less appear to balance the amount of fabric as well as the belts which hold the fine movement blouses. Her neckline and straps dresses also gave more visual lightness leaving everything sexier. Rachel was inspired in the geometry of concretism sculptor José de Oliveira Macaparana to play with lines and circles, both in prints and in forms. There is also a subtle presence in futuristic application of silks resins, metal and silicon wire.
If you liked these clothes you might find one next to you. But if you don’t find, maybe we can help you get one. Anyway just having a fashion idea on the Brazilian next summer trends may inspire you. Have fun!
This article has been sponsored by AA Trade Company, Cleary (128,128,0)
For more pictures and information see:
Portuguese blog
Flickr
Fallow me on twitter
Photography credit for - Agencia Fotosite (http://www.agenciafotosite.com.br/)
This was our latest article publish at déjà vu Magazine. Touch here to read my new article
São Paulo Fashion Week (SPFW) is considered the most stylish Latin American fashion show. Held at Oscar Niemeyer's Bienal building in Ibirapuera Park, SPFW presented six days of showcasing the latest collections of 40 Brazilian brands. In its 27ª edition the theme was “Passion- Paixão”. It’s also the Year of France in Brazil, so tributes to the world's fashion capital were also exhibited.
For this article, because there are many brands and it is difficult to resume in a few words all designers’ trends, we choose the most relevant and the best photography that could represent the fashion trends for spring-summer 2009-2010. The idea is to present Déjà vu readers with concepts and different styles form real Life Brazilian designers showed at São Paulo Fashion Week. Hope you all enjoy our big effort to bring the best from more than forty designers and brands ideas. As you will see most of the designers got the inspiration from people, music, dancer, movie, technology and even architecture. They try to create and represent in clothes several concepts.
The Animale griffe showed strong colors and fabric technology, investing in a sexy woman. Pieces with cuttings and transparency, and gusset of latex, cover and discovered the body, like a game of seduction. The modeling came with a lot of technology. The fabric looks wrinkled and has cotton applied with resin that looks like greaseproof paper and fibers with thermo pigments, which change color with the body temperature. The architectural neck, clippings and overlaps appeared in almost all pieces even in the very short dresses. The mixture of fabrics with leather gave volumes and the suggestion of more strength and wild instinct woman.
We had also very romantic dresses from Lino Villaventura in opposite from Animale. Contrasting the lightness of butterfly women imposed by the presence of men hunters Lino gained the whole attention of audience. The designer showed dresses based on the twenties and were so light that seemed to make the models fly. Parts made of organza, crepe, silk tulle and gauze. The luxury look came from embroidered with Swarovski crystals and pearls. The skirts were lined with armed tulles at the knee, full of embroidery and transparencies.
In contrast André Lima collection presented fabulous colorful geometric prints with intercalations of colors like black and white that refers to psychedelic. His sumptuous short dresses, with neckline or with strapless, showed asymmetry and cuttings with many points in the bust which explore people sexy side, such as shoulders and legs almost entirely shown.
Samuel Cirnansck’s catwalk show was perfect! He showed the strong and attractive women image. Samuel was inspired in Cuban women of the 40s, especially in the society lady from Havana Aleida Averhoff de la Riva, which represents the powerful and independent woman. The stylist exaggerated the mixture with male clothes pieces marked in the shoulders; high waist colorful pantaloons, very charming organza party dresses and skirts with many layers of drapes and frills. To complete the look models wear bodice and small leather belts which marked the waist.
The trend Maria Garcia likes to travel in mysterious and imaginary places. It presented a collection inspired by a mix of Tim Burton and Tim Walker photography. The inspiration gained a fashion shape with boudoir dresses made from multiple layers of satin silk similar to a summer baby doll for outdoor use that guarantee freshness and sensual clothes with lightness due to the transparency of organza. The shorts made with silk were embroidered with spangle and plume detail.
The collections of Isabela Capeto are always inspired in cultural expressions. This time, Isabela inspired herself in the artistic work by Robert Rauschenberg. She reused fabrics. Some marked waist dresses with large belt and roses or flowers prints. Odalisque trousers combined with twinset jackets. There is a hint of recycling in models structured from braid Haco labels. Dresses and skirts have details such as back side ties. The silhouette is evasive - well marked neck band in different nuances and with some frill.
Like Isabela Capeto, Erika Ikezili immersed in the world of arts for an inspiration source. Like a clothe architect, Erika’s collection seems dancing in the catwalk shows with the delicacy of a ballerina. Her design was based in the dance of Sylvie Guillen, and the paintings of Edgar Degas, the French impressionist painter. The collection is delicate and feminine and receives the name Evidentia, which refers to a video dance by Sylvie. The looks are romantic and feminine with a delicate transparency and glossy shine on some pieces with knitting aspect. She also used frills in oppose to the heavier gabardine fabric giving a counterbalance to her collection.
Wilson Ranieri used the moulage technique in which an outfit is built directly on a mannequin. This enables the construction of large and free clothes pieces. One of the main elements in his collection is the knots on handkerchief, bandana and belts giving charm for the waist. He’s concept looks for a fluid shape showing the legs and back for an informal and bereft women but still elegant.
Sophisticated and heroic women create the fashion universe by Fausen Haten. For summer 2010 the designer resolved to back in Nudes and soft tones. But he still had some excess creating asymmetrical dresses and using metallic fringes, sparkles and many frills. The folds were used to create layers in the sleeves of jacket and frills, ties and fringes gave a broader dimension for his creations. Silver embroidered appear applied throughout the length of dresses, skirts and blouses giving a very nice look.
The Ellus brand brought to the catwalks the world of motorcycle. The designer Adriana Bozon created smooth and clear looks, giving emphasis, the whole time in the white. With a collection based in street wear segment, her suggestion for women is shorts and street wear trousers always accompanied by male style waistcoat and jackets. The main idea was joining tank top with big armhole and hips volume trousers that are tapering and becoming increasingly tight when it comes to the ankles with reverse cuffs.
Colcci Summer of 2010 also brought the street wear style, stripped and sensual. The collection looks like "detonated and tattered" in jeans with ravel cuffs, as in coats and knit, with large holes. According to stylist Jessica Lengyel, the inspiration came from a Beach Diary and also from 90s in California - USA. For her, female fashion comes with very short shorts, dresses with fluted cuffs, “évasé” cutting which brings the idea of movement and shorts or low-rise jeans showing the belly button. Of course we can’t forget that Gisele Bündchen is Colcci exclusive catwalk model for the SPFW and she was there beautiful as always.
The stylist Priscilla Darolt got inspiration in an Iranian movie to her summer 2010 trends based on flowers model shape. Seeking the simplicity of everyday life as the most important and inspired by the movie's filmmaker Majid Majidi, “The Color of Paradise". Her inspirational idea speech of the day to day life in a poetic and practical way suggesting short dresses with fluted effects which better shape that show the female silhouette.
For the brand UMA and Raquel Davidowicz the summer 2010 is basically a volume study. In terms of colors and feelings she goes from the delicate to lugubrious as a transition from the dry and dark South American winter to the color clean and light summer. The gowns were above the knee with geometric neck and sometimes having purposeful hips with sides’ drapes or kind of moorings lashing. Holes and tissue less appear to balance the amount of fabric as well as the belts which hold the fine movement blouses. Her neckline and straps dresses also gave more visual lightness leaving everything sexier. Rachel was inspired in the geometry of concretism sculptor José de Oliveira Macaparana to play with lines and circles, both in prints and in forms. There is also a subtle presence in futuristic application of silks resins, metal and silicon wire.
If you liked these clothes you might find one next to you. But if you don’t find, maybe we can help you get one. Anyway just having a fashion idea on the Brazilian next summer trends may inspire you. Have fun!
This article has been sponsored by AA Trade Company, Cleary (128,128,0)
For more pictures and information see:
Portuguese blog
Flickr
Fallow me on twitter
Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
SLCC 2009: Odd Ball Party
Today Tuna oddfellow did one of his famous Odd Ball events... partying inworld and at the SLCC. Here are some photos of the inworld event:
Friday, August 14, 2009
Linden Lab announces the end of piracy inside SL
There comes good news, I hope, for SL. Below is a clipping of the Linden Lab recently post on the measures taken to end the piracy in SL. Touch here to read the original post
Improvements to Our Intellectual Property Complaint Process
In the past year, we've committed additional staff and resources to our intellectual property complaint process, which many Residents know as our DMCA process (meaning the Digital Millennium Copyright Act).
The complaint process facilitates cooperation between Linden Lab and intellectual property owners. If owners identify particular uses of their content that they believe to infringe, they may send us a notification requesting removal of the uses.
In cases of severe or repeat infringement, we terminate the accounts of the infringer.
In response to Resident feedback about the time and effort involved in submitting notifications to us, we've been developing an improved process. In the not-too-distant future, intellectual property owners will be able to submit complaints to us electronically through an online form. The form will make it easier for intellectual property owners to submit complaints, and it will help us expedite their processing.
With the online form, intellectual property owners will be able to request that we search for and remove all copies of an identified item created by a particular Resident. Resident content creators have asked us for this capability, and we are working hard at developing tools to provide it. This is one of the most technologically complicated tasks we've ever undertaken because the tools must identify the content at issue in the complaint, search for instances of it inworld and in inventories, notify those with copies of it of the intellectual property complaint submitted, remove or disable access to those instances, and in the event of a copyright counter-notification, restore access to the content specified in the counter-notification.
We're excited about the progress made so far, and we're dedicated to making these tools a success, but as always with cutting-edge technologies, there's no guarantee that these tools will work for all situations or complaints. However, we are committed to developing sustainable and scalable solutions that empower content creators to better protect their intellectual property.
We expect to launch our improved intellectual property complaint process and tools later this year. As we get closer to launch, we will have additional information for you. We welcome your feedback and thoughts in the forums, which we will be reviewing and responding to as we can.
New Features for Content Licensing
As we move towards a future where virtual worlds are interoperable, Second Life needs new features to help Resident content creators better indicate how they allow their content to be used.
Second Life has technological restrictions known as the “permissions system” that can be set to impose certain limits on how content can be used within Second Life. However, the permissions system was never intended for and does not grant any legal permission to use content outside of Second Life. Furthermore, content creators may want more flexibility to allow their content to be used in ways that the permissions system does not readily accommodate, for example, the ability to permit non-commercial distribution but prohibit resale. To better indicate their legal permissions, some Residents currently post license terms in their inworld stores or in notecards distributed with their content.
As we develop our stand-alone, behind-the-firewall Second Life solution, we're aware of the opportunity it presents for talented and entrepreneurial content creators to reach more customers in a broad inter-connected 3D marketplace. To help facilitate this marketplace, we are developing the ability to attach “sticky licenses” to content sold to enterprise customers running a stand-alone version of Second Life. Content with these “sticky licenses” will have additional metadata such that the license information can “stick” to the content as it is distributed to the enterprise customer's server, and users of the server solution can review the license terms through the Second Life viewer.
Expect further announcements from us on our marketplace plans later this year. In the meanwhile, please comment in the forums on the licensing terms you'd like to see as well as any other thoughts you have.
Standard Industry Practices for Copying Tools
The flip side of indicating how content can be used is respecting the terms that have been indicated in licenses and under intellectual property law. This is where copying tools come into play. Recently Residents have asked us for our thoughts on tools that facilitate the copying of content from the Second Life virtual world. We believe that standard industry practices must be developed for copying tools to protect against intellectual property infringement.
As we've said before, copying tools do have legitimate uses. For example, intellectual property owners may wish to back up their own content or copy it from our hosted Second Life virtual world to a stand-alone, behind-the-firewall Second Life solution. However, copying tools can also facilitate infringement, and the devil is in the details.
To those developing copying tools, we urge the simultaneous development of standard industry practices that protect against intellectual property infringement. For example, consider the following standard practices for tools copying content from Second Life:
1. Check that the user of the tool is the Second Life “creator” of the content;
2. Do not facilitate the export of an entire Second Life inventory; and
3. Preserve the Second Life “creator” name and information that the content was originally created in the Second Life virtual world.
As we've discussed above, the Second Life “permissions system” does not grant any legal permission to use content outside of Second Life. Even content that is “full permissions” may only be used within Second Life absent a specific license agreement from the intellectual property owner(s) authorizing the content's use outside of Second Life. Thus, a check that the user is the Second Life “creator” of the content helps protect intellectual property because the “creator” is potentially the intellectual property owner of the content, while a user who is merely the Second Life “owner” of the content is not likely to have permission to use the content outside of Second Life.
A check against exporting an entire Second Life inventory helps protect intellectual property because most of us are not the intellectual property owners of all content in our inventory, but rather simply the Second Life “owners” of that content, meaning we only have permission to use it within Second Life.
Finally, preserving the “creator” name in content copied from Second Life as well as information that Second Life was the virtual world in which the content was originally created helps ensure attribution for content creators. It also potentially helps them identify and take steps to remedy content improperly copied to other virtual worlds.
We don't profess to have all the answers, but we believe in the wisdom of the community to develop sensible standard practices. We also believe that ultimately licensing solutions must be developed to allow content creators to better indicate their intentions regarding use of their intellectual property outside of Second Life, and copying tools must work with these licensing solutions to help protect against intellectual property infringement.
We are paying close attention to the issues around copying of content from the Second Life world. The advent of copying tools that allow mass copying of content for use outside of Second Life is of great concern to Linden Lab, as it is to you. In the paragraphs above, we have recommended several actions that developers of these tools can take to protect against intellectual property infringement. It is very important that standard industry practices are developed and implemented in copying tools, and we are reaching out to copying tool developers to discuss this further.
Intellectual property infringement is a serious matter, and we trust that those developing copying tools will view it that way. The penalties for copyright infringement under U.S. law include damages in amounts up to $30,000.00 USD per work and in cases of willful infringement up to $150,000.00 USD per work.
While we hope that cooler heads will prevail, and that copying tool developers will work in conjunction with the community on sensible industry standards for intellectual property protection, we will also act as necessary to protect the Second Life virtual world that our community has worked so hard to create. We will take a range of actions depending on the specific threat to our world or community. As we have said in the past, the use of CopyBot or similar copying tools to infringe others' intellectual property is a violation of our Terms of Service and may result in suspension or banning of infringers' Second Life accounts, including any alternate accounts. In the face of greater threats, our actions will be bolder. If we face a situation in which users or developers of copying tools are engaged in or inducing wide-spread infringement, we reserve our right to pursue necessary means to stop this activity, including technological blocking measures as well as legal action to protect against unauthorized use of Second Life.
Let's take proactive steps now and develop appropriate practices to avoid any situation like those described above. We encourage you to weigh in on this subject in the forums and propose standard practices and solutions for copying tools. We are looking for thoughtful ways to balance the tools' usefulness for intellectual property owners against the potentially bad purposes that they may be put to. We will be listening, watching, and reaching out to members of the community.
A Content Seller Program for Better Content Purchasing Experiences
As our community grows, Second Life needs a content seller program to help the community trade content safely and trust one another. By “content seller program,” we mean a program that sellers may participate in if they meet certain eligibility standards intended to show a level of trustworthiness and quality of content. For example, we currently offer the Gold Solution Provider Program for Solution Providers with a demonstrated track record of successful Second Life projects and client satisfaction.
At some point we will offer a program specific to content sellers with criteria devised to indicate a level of aptitude in Second Life content transactions. Sellers' participation in the program will then be publicly indicated to potential buyers.
A seller program benefits both content buyers and sellers alike because it helps provide greater transparency in the content purchasing experience. Many Resident content sellers have built successful brands and reputations within Second Life, but this may not be readily apparent to buyers when they are shopping for or purchasing content. Giving buyers more information about sellers not only helps protect buyers against the inadvertent purchase of potentially infringing content, it helps keep Second Life a safe, well-lit place to trade in virtual content. By encouraging open, honest, and accountable content transactions, a seller program helps attract more content buyers and consequently helps create more opportunities for content sellers.
We are starting the process of planning a content seller program, and we would like your input on possible program criteria. At a minimum, participation in the program will require that the selling Resident:
1. have identity and payment information on file with Linden Lab;
2. be in good standing and not have been suspended for any violation of the Second Life Terms of Service;
3. meet a minimum threshold for content transactions; and
4. affirm that all necessary intellectual property rights and licenses have been obtained for all content that the Resident has for sale.
Join the discussion in the forums and tell us what other criteria you believe should be in a content seller program. We are in the early stages of planning such a program, and we would like your feedback on possible criteria in advance of our planning and implementation.
Improved Policies and Educational Outreach To Promote Awareness of Intellectual Property
We are committed to clarifying and updating our policies to promote awareness of intellectual property and protect against infringement. We believe that informative and educational policies often help people do the right thing.
We have provided general background information on the Second Life Wiki about intellectual property, including copyright, trademark, trade dress, and the celebrity right of publicity.
In the near future, we will be updating the Listing Guidelines for the Xstreet SL marketplace to help clarify permissible uses of brand names and branded items in listings. It has always been the firm policy of Second Life and the Xstreet SL marketplace that Residents may not infringe others' intellectual property. The goal of the updated Listing Guidelines is to provide clear guidance on listing practices that are not allowed because they can be misleading and can lead to intellectual property infringement. When we launch the updated Listing Guidelines, Residents will have thirty days to make any necessary adjustments to their listings and content to bring them into compliance. We will have more information for you on this shortly.
We will also be updating some of our existing “help” material on our policies to help clarify the significance of the permissions system and issues around copying content outside of Second Life. We expect that over time we will build a library of “help” material on intellectual property, including useful tips and resources and possibly a video tutorial from Torley Linden on the subject.
Improvements to Our Intellectual Property Complaint Process
In the past year, we've committed additional staff and resources to our intellectual property complaint process, which many Residents know as our DMCA process (meaning the Digital Millennium Copyright Act).
The complaint process facilitates cooperation between Linden Lab and intellectual property owners. If owners identify particular uses of their content that they believe to infringe, they may send us a notification requesting removal of the uses.
In cases of severe or repeat infringement, we terminate the accounts of the infringer.
In response to Resident feedback about the time and effort involved in submitting notifications to us, we've been developing an improved process. In the not-too-distant future, intellectual property owners will be able to submit complaints to us electronically through an online form. The form will make it easier for intellectual property owners to submit complaints, and it will help us expedite their processing.
With the online form, intellectual property owners will be able to request that we search for and remove all copies of an identified item created by a particular Resident. Resident content creators have asked us for this capability, and we are working hard at developing tools to provide it. This is one of the most technologically complicated tasks we've ever undertaken because the tools must identify the content at issue in the complaint, search for instances of it inworld and in inventories, notify those with copies of it of the intellectual property complaint submitted, remove or disable access to those instances, and in the event of a copyright counter-notification, restore access to the content specified in the counter-notification.
We're excited about the progress made so far, and we're dedicated to making these tools a success, but as always with cutting-edge technologies, there's no guarantee that these tools will work for all situations or complaints. However, we are committed to developing sustainable and scalable solutions that empower content creators to better protect their intellectual property.
We expect to launch our improved intellectual property complaint process and tools later this year. As we get closer to launch, we will have additional information for you. We welcome your feedback and thoughts in the forums, which we will be reviewing and responding to as we can.
New Features for Content Licensing
As we move towards a future where virtual worlds are interoperable, Second Life needs new features to help Resident content creators better indicate how they allow their content to be used.
Second Life has technological restrictions known as the “permissions system” that can be set to impose certain limits on how content can be used within Second Life. However, the permissions system was never intended for and does not grant any legal permission to use content outside of Second Life. Furthermore, content creators may want more flexibility to allow their content to be used in ways that the permissions system does not readily accommodate, for example, the ability to permit non-commercial distribution but prohibit resale. To better indicate their legal permissions, some Residents currently post license terms in their inworld stores or in notecards distributed with their content.
As we develop our stand-alone, behind-the-firewall Second Life solution, we're aware of the opportunity it presents for talented and entrepreneurial content creators to reach more customers in a broad inter-connected 3D marketplace. To help facilitate this marketplace, we are developing the ability to attach “sticky licenses” to content sold to enterprise customers running a stand-alone version of Second Life. Content with these “sticky licenses” will have additional metadata such that the license information can “stick” to the content as it is distributed to the enterprise customer's server, and users of the server solution can review the license terms through the Second Life viewer.
Expect further announcements from us on our marketplace plans later this year. In the meanwhile, please comment in the forums on the licensing terms you'd like to see as well as any other thoughts you have.
Standard Industry Practices for Copying Tools
The flip side of indicating how content can be used is respecting the terms that have been indicated in licenses and under intellectual property law. This is where copying tools come into play. Recently Residents have asked us for our thoughts on tools that facilitate the copying of content from the Second Life virtual world. We believe that standard industry practices must be developed for copying tools to protect against intellectual property infringement.
As we've said before, copying tools do have legitimate uses. For example, intellectual property owners may wish to back up their own content or copy it from our hosted Second Life virtual world to a stand-alone, behind-the-firewall Second Life solution. However, copying tools can also facilitate infringement, and the devil is in the details.
To those developing copying tools, we urge the simultaneous development of standard industry practices that protect against intellectual property infringement. For example, consider the following standard practices for tools copying content from Second Life:
1. Check that the user of the tool is the Second Life “creator” of the content;
2. Do not facilitate the export of an entire Second Life inventory; and
3. Preserve the Second Life “creator” name and information that the content was originally created in the Second Life virtual world.
As we've discussed above, the Second Life “permissions system” does not grant any legal permission to use content outside of Second Life. Even content that is “full permissions” may only be used within Second Life absent a specific license agreement from the intellectual property owner(s) authorizing the content's use outside of Second Life. Thus, a check that the user is the Second Life “creator” of the content helps protect intellectual property because the “creator” is potentially the intellectual property owner of the content, while a user who is merely the Second Life “owner” of the content is not likely to have permission to use the content outside of Second Life.
A check against exporting an entire Second Life inventory helps protect intellectual property because most of us are not the intellectual property owners of all content in our inventory, but rather simply the Second Life “owners” of that content, meaning we only have permission to use it within Second Life.
Finally, preserving the “creator” name in content copied from Second Life as well as information that Second Life was the virtual world in which the content was originally created helps ensure attribution for content creators. It also potentially helps them identify and take steps to remedy content improperly copied to other virtual worlds.
We don't profess to have all the answers, but we believe in the wisdom of the community to develop sensible standard practices. We also believe that ultimately licensing solutions must be developed to allow content creators to better indicate their intentions regarding use of their intellectual property outside of Second Life, and copying tools must work with these licensing solutions to help protect against intellectual property infringement.
We are paying close attention to the issues around copying of content from the Second Life world. The advent of copying tools that allow mass copying of content for use outside of Second Life is of great concern to Linden Lab, as it is to you. In the paragraphs above, we have recommended several actions that developers of these tools can take to protect against intellectual property infringement. It is very important that standard industry practices are developed and implemented in copying tools, and we are reaching out to copying tool developers to discuss this further.
Intellectual property infringement is a serious matter, and we trust that those developing copying tools will view it that way. The penalties for copyright infringement under U.S. law include damages in amounts up to $30,000.00 USD per work and in cases of willful infringement up to $150,000.00 USD per work.
While we hope that cooler heads will prevail, and that copying tool developers will work in conjunction with the community on sensible industry standards for intellectual property protection, we will also act as necessary to protect the Second Life virtual world that our community has worked so hard to create. We will take a range of actions depending on the specific threat to our world or community. As we have said in the past, the use of CopyBot or similar copying tools to infringe others' intellectual property is a violation of our Terms of Service and may result in suspension or banning of infringers' Second Life accounts, including any alternate accounts. In the face of greater threats, our actions will be bolder. If we face a situation in which users or developers of copying tools are engaged in or inducing wide-spread infringement, we reserve our right to pursue necessary means to stop this activity, including technological blocking measures as well as legal action to protect against unauthorized use of Second Life.
Let's take proactive steps now and develop appropriate practices to avoid any situation like those described above. We encourage you to weigh in on this subject in the forums and propose standard practices and solutions for copying tools. We are looking for thoughtful ways to balance the tools' usefulness for intellectual property owners against the potentially bad purposes that they may be put to. We will be listening, watching, and reaching out to members of the community.
A Content Seller Program for Better Content Purchasing Experiences
As our community grows, Second Life needs a content seller program to help the community trade content safely and trust one another. By “content seller program,” we mean a program that sellers may participate in if they meet certain eligibility standards intended to show a level of trustworthiness and quality of content. For example, we currently offer the Gold Solution Provider Program for Solution Providers with a demonstrated track record of successful Second Life projects and client satisfaction.
At some point we will offer a program specific to content sellers with criteria devised to indicate a level of aptitude in Second Life content transactions. Sellers' participation in the program will then be publicly indicated to potential buyers.
A seller program benefits both content buyers and sellers alike because it helps provide greater transparency in the content purchasing experience. Many Resident content sellers have built successful brands and reputations within Second Life, but this may not be readily apparent to buyers when they are shopping for or purchasing content. Giving buyers more information about sellers not only helps protect buyers against the inadvertent purchase of potentially infringing content, it helps keep Second Life a safe, well-lit place to trade in virtual content. By encouraging open, honest, and accountable content transactions, a seller program helps attract more content buyers and consequently helps create more opportunities for content sellers.
We are starting the process of planning a content seller program, and we would like your input on possible program criteria. At a minimum, participation in the program will require that the selling Resident:
1. have identity and payment information on file with Linden Lab;
2. be in good standing and not have been suspended for any violation of the Second Life Terms of Service;
3. meet a minimum threshold for content transactions; and
4. affirm that all necessary intellectual property rights and licenses have been obtained for all content that the Resident has for sale.
Join the discussion in the forums and tell us what other criteria you believe should be in a content seller program. We are in the early stages of planning such a program, and we would like your feedback on possible criteria in advance of our planning and implementation.
Improved Policies and Educational Outreach To Promote Awareness of Intellectual Property
We are committed to clarifying and updating our policies to promote awareness of intellectual property and protect against infringement. We believe that informative and educational policies often help people do the right thing.
We have provided general background information on the Second Life Wiki about intellectual property, including copyright, trademark, trade dress, and the celebrity right of publicity.
In the near future, we will be updating the Listing Guidelines for the Xstreet SL marketplace to help clarify permissible uses of brand names and branded items in listings. It has always been the firm policy of Second Life and the Xstreet SL marketplace that Residents may not infringe others' intellectual property. The goal of the updated Listing Guidelines is to provide clear guidance on listing practices that are not allowed because they can be misleading and can lead to intellectual property infringement. When we launch the updated Listing Guidelines, Residents will have thirty days to make any necessary adjustments to their listings and content to bring them into compliance. We will have more information for you on this shortly.
We will also be updating some of our existing “help” material on our policies to help clarify the significance of the permissions system and issues around copying content outside of Second Life. We expect that over time we will build a library of “help” material on intellectual property, including useful tips and resources and possibly a video tutorial from Torley Linden on the subject.
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