Please Reform the DMCA Filing Procedure in Second Life and Protect Creator Rights!

The Issue

Attention and reform needs to be brought to the false DMCA filing attacks on Second Life. Designers are being threatened by the fear of getting their items removed because of unfair attacks and vendettas against them.. Basically, if you are competition for a similar store, do something to tick of another designer, or get too popular, someone can file a false DMCA claim against them and damage their businesses temporarily if not permanently. This has happened to so many good designers who are now fighting to get their rights back and defended. We need stronger accountability for filing false DMCAs and DMCA-filing reform to keep this from happening.

It's the same tactic corrupt companies in real life do to get rid of the competition. They file fake copyright suites to make the others either settle in court or bog them down with legal matters until they go bankrupt. Not only that, other designers are starting to get note of this bad behavior, and think it is okay to do so. It's not okay. This is becoming a chronic problem.

In the least, filing false DMCA's should be a punishable offense in Second Life. If the DMCA-filing is found to be malicious in nature and false, they should be punished, and, or banned from Second Life for causing unfair damage to a competitor's business. This should deter people from filing false DMCA's.

It should not up to the accused to prove themselves innocent; the accuser should be able to prove, by the preponderance, or greater weight, of the evidence that the person they accused is a thief. That is also the rule of law in the United States where Second Life is based in. Just because someone filed a DMCA on someone shouldn't mean immediate removal of the item while they are being investigated. The accusation should be proven before the item is removed. Give the person accused a chance to defend themselves; let the accused face their accuser. Copyright cases have to do the same thing in real life; if we're protecting intellectual copyright laws, then we should be following those laws like we would in real life.

Linden Labs, please reform your DMCA filing procedures to adhere to real-world marketing values and protect creating rights in Second Life with integrity. If these changes are not made, we're going to find more and more good designers departing to other games or other markets because of the fear their rights won't be protected. Even without these attacks, the poor decisions in these false DMCA filings are damaging the faith designers have in the Second Life market. We are losing more and more content creators every day due to this.

Creators should be working with real-world business ethics because real-world money is involved. They should be creating and running their businesses with integrity, not trying to snuff out the competition with lies, deceit, and theft. I want to see creators grow and be successful because they worked hard to create a good product, not see them go down because someone else had a vendetta against them.

Let the proof be the truth, not the rumors or vendettas behind these false DMCA filings. Please reform the DMCA filing procedure and protect genuine creators throughout Second Life.

avatar of the starter
Mariah TemplePetition StarterI just want to leave the world in a better place than where I left it.
This petition had 33 supporters

The Issue

Attention and reform needs to be brought to the false DMCA filing attacks on Second Life. Designers are being threatened by the fear of getting their items removed because of unfair attacks and vendettas against them.. Basically, if you are competition for a similar store, do something to tick of another designer, or get too popular, someone can file a false DMCA claim against them and damage their businesses temporarily if not permanently. This has happened to so many good designers who are now fighting to get their rights back and defended. We need stronger accountability for filing false DMCAs and DMCA-filing reform to keep this from happening.

It's the same tactic corrupt companies in real life do to get rid of the competition. They file fake copyright suites to make the others either settle in court or bog them down with legal matters until they go bankrupt. Not only that, other designers are starting to get note of this bad behavior, and think it is okay to do so. It's not okay. This is becoming a chronic problem.

In the least, filing false DMCA's should be a punishable offense in Second Life. If the DMCA-filing is found to be malicious in nature and false, they should be punished, and, or banned from Second Life for causing unfair damage to a competitor's business. This should deter people from filing false DMCA's.

It should not up to the accused to prove themselves innocent; the accuser should be able to prove, by the preponderance, or greater weight, of the evidence that the person they accused is a thief. That is also the rule of law in the United States where Second Life is based in. Just because someone filed a DMCA on someone shouldn't mean immediate removal of the item while they are being investigated. The accusation should be proven before the item is removed. Give the person accused a chance to defend themselves; let the accused face their accuser. Copyright cases have to do the same thing in real life; if we're protecting intellectual copyright laws, then we should be following those laws like we would in real life.

Linden Labs, please reform your DMCA filing procedures to adhere to real-world marketing values and protect creating rights in Second Life with integrity. If these changes are not made, we're going to find more and more good designers departing to other games or other markets because of the fear their rights won't be protected. Even without these attacks, the poor decisions in these false DMCA filings are damaging the faith designers have in the Second Life market. We are losing more and more content creators every day due to this.

Creators should be working with real-world business ethics because real-world money is involved. They should be creating and running their businesses with integrity, not trying to snuff out the competition with lies, deceit, and theft. I want to see creators grow and be successful because they worked hard to create a good product, not see them go down because someone else had a vendetta against them.

Let the proof be the truth, not the rumors or vendettas behind these false DMCA filings. Please reform the DMCA filing procedure and protect genuine creators throughout Second Life.

avatar of the starter
Mariah TemplePetition StarterI just want to leave the world in a better place than where I left it.

The Decision Makers

Linden Labs
Linden Labs
945 Battery St, San Francisco, CA 94111

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Petition created on June 14, 2014