SL Fashion Community Launches One Voice, a Fundraiser to Help Cover Designer's RL Legal Fees in IP Rights Dispute

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of virtual world and MMO fashion

Drop everything, SL fashionistas, because the One Voice fundraiser [click here for the SLurl teleport link] to help cover Gala Phoenix's legal fees in a copyright dispute with another designer is open and needs your support. Dozens and dozens of designers have contributed items to help Gala raise the funds necessary to defend her IP and her brand, Curio, in court. Hamlet wrote about this situation last week, even quoting my unflinching personal stance on the issue. This event is the perfect opportunity for me, you, and everyone to put our money where our mouth is and support this talented designer at a crucial moment.

The event is running from now until July 22nd, and every participating vendor is set to donate either 50% or 100% of their earnings to Gala Phoenix's legal costs. If you'd prefer to donate directly, donation kiosks are also set up around the sim, or you can visit Gala's personal IndieGogo fundraising page (Hat Tip: Vaki Zenovka). But, of course, I'm a total sucker for gorgeous fashion with a great cause behind it. Here are my four favourite finds from this fabulous fundraiser:

• Wasabi Pills makes some of my favourite mesh hairstyles, period. They're flowy, playful, and have some truly vivid colour options, just like Teeloh which you can pick up in this Teal/Chocolate split style, or in a beautifully bubbly Blonde/Pink mix.
• I'm also a huge fan of LAQ skins, so this skin named Elena was a must-buy for me. It has wonderfully full lips and fits on my shape similarly to one of my all-time favourite releases from LAQ, Mima, so I'm sure I'll be rwearing this one for awhile. It comes with a plain and a freckled version, although it doesn't come with the usual array of makeups that you find in most LAQ bundles. This might have bothered me... if the item wasn't for charity, and for an event that came together with relatively short notice for the busy participating designers. So regardless, it's a gorgeous skin at a good price.
• Blah's My Macramé Suit caught my eye immediately, because heaven knows I can't resist anything made of lace. It's available in tons of beautiful colours, but I was drawn to the simple, neutral nude version to play off the boldness of my hairstyle.
• This event has items spanning just about every segment of content creation in SL, including vehicles, furniture, and poses. dfo! poses by Willa Whybrow are always a great find, and this set called Gala is no exception. They always feel relaxed and natural, but with a charming sense of fun and spirit. These poses are wonderfully neutral as well, perfect for bloggers and photographers alike.

Before I bring this post to a close, I have some strong words for the people who don't believe that this fundraiser should be happening at all...

Some complain that it isn't their responsibility to support someone who has made a poor financial choice by relying on SL as their primary source of income, some don't wish to pick sides in this issue, and some simply believe that fundraisers to benefit individuals are tacky. But here's the thing: This isn't just an issue of one person needing money. It's not a broken laptop or a sick dog or anything like that, it's something that affects every single creator in Second Life just as much as it does Gala herself. If the situation is as it appears, it's an abuse of the system that sets an incredibly dangerous precedent -- unless Gala, and by extension the community, can stand their ground. If you don't see even an ounce of the merit in that, then I don't know if you truly belong in this community at all.

Be sure to visit One Voice before it ends, and keep an eye on Gala's blog for updates! [Teleport to One Voice in MESH]

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Iris Ophelia (Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Times and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and with pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.

Comments

[Sunny]

The last part: Very well said !!!

[sirhc desantis]

Also agreed. OK so not actually shopping for me ( =^^= )dropped by briefly and donated anyway.

[Masami Kuramoto]

Probably my last comment in the official SL forum before I get banned:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Merchants/How-to-deal-with-persone-who-is-uploading-and-selling-mesh/m-p/1598109#M25095

[foneco zuzu]

Quoting:
It's an abuse of the system that sets an incredibly dangerous precedent unless Gala, and by extension the community, can stand their ground. If you don't see even an ounce of the merit in that, then I don't know if you truly belong in this community at all.
Unquote:
So true and that's why I'm still in shock with Linden Lab silence around this, is like they are saying, We don't give a damn!
But one wanted to make internet a place of profit, now any has to deal with that!
Long gone the times of all free and shared!

[Nalates Urriah]

We let this law with its propensity to encourage abuse get made into law. I was too young to be politically active at the time. If we are not politically active in RL we will continue to suffer under more and more abusive laws made by ignorant or self-serving politicians. So, help Gala and take time to write your national representatives and tell them about how this law is being abused.

It is less than 120 days to elections in the USA.

[Masami Kuramoto]

Censored again. For the record, this is what I wrote:

"Dear Tara Undercroft,
thank you for censoring my post. However, I disagree with your opinion that it was off topic. This discussion is about possible ways to deal with people allegedly selling ripped content. I was merely pointing out how the Lab is currently dealing with them:

# promote their business in the destination guide
# crush the business of their victims

Yes, my post was slightly sarcastic and maybe a bit too short, but certainly not off topic. Currently the worst violator of community standards is the Lab itself. Shame on them. Now go ahead and ban me if you like. Cloud Party is only one mouseclick away and looking better by the minute."

[Iris Ophelia]

In my opinion it's not LL's place to comment on this or any copyright issue in SL. Their job is only to deal with the DMCA process. Unfortunately that process is not perfect and people can take advantage of it, but it's not a process they created either.

It seems mostly that they're doing exactly what they have to do, no more and no less. If they make exceptions for one person they have to make exceptions for another and another, and it's not clear in every case who the real victim is... So this kind of subjective intervention, while it would help this specific situation, could make many situations far worse. And then of course, we'd all complain about LL messing shit up again, those jerks.

This is why, as much as I personally dislike seeing the store that shall remain nameless in the destination guide, the possible implications of LL intervening to remove it are unsettling.

[stunned by this]

I actually think LL does more and less at the wrong place.
Reading through this summery of events: http://salomesays.com/blog/2012/07/curious/

"3. Linden Lab has possibly violated their own guidelines by accepting an international court filing. If Gala filed a DMCA first and the other vendor filed a counter, Linden Lab’s own DMCA page states the counter-claimant must:
State that you consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which you reside (or San Francisco, California if your address is outside of the United States).

So, if Gala filed first and the other vendor countered, wherein the other vendor agreed to US Federal jurisdiction, why has a Canadian court document been honored by Linden Lab in this case? Granted, this pertains to DMCA (which is my understanding always handled in US Federal jurisdiction) and not necessarily to IP civil issues. But Linden Lab’s own TOS also says:
13.1 Second Life is a United States-based service.
Linden Lab makes no representation that any aspect of the Service is appropriate or available for use outside of the United States."

So they did more than they have to cover their ass and less to fix their anticipatory obedience again.

[Tali]

@Iris: I agree with you that LL should stay entirely passive in this, and only react as the law requires. It is the only thing they can and should do.
And I also think that the destination showcases are probably queued up in advance and just running their course automatically.

The problem is, however, that frontpage featuring a controversial person looks a lot like *not* staying neutral. I think somebody should have had the savvy to postpone this particular feature until things were sorted out, no matter which side is in the right.

[Vaki]

Iris,

You may want to mention that Gala has set up an IndieGoGo site for those who would rather donate directly instead of going in-world. It's at http://www.indiegogo.com/Curio, and she announced it on her blog yesterday.

[Pussycat Catnap]

"but I was drawn to the simple, neutral nude version to play off the boldness of my hairstyle."

So it's dark brown color?

[Masami Kuramoto]

Linden Lab's insistence on doing the wrong thing is keeping me puzzled.

What if the evidence on the Excinerator blog is fabricated, not by Gala but by someone else? How can one even extract the UUIDs of those textures without violating the TOS and using some kind of copybot viewer? We are supposed to trust an anonymous guy who basically ripped the vendor's textures. We don't know the UUIDs of those textures, we don't know the upload dates, we don't know who uploaded them. In fact we don't even know if those textures were uploaded at all. They might as well exist only in Excinerator's Photoshop project folder.

So what if LL looked at the evidence on their asset servers and came to a different conclusion? Could this be the reason why they refuse to pull the vendor from the destination guide? Is it a non-verbal attempt to remind us that we have no clue what's going on?

I would like to hear a plausible explanation for LL's behaviour. Why would they promote a copybotter this way and risk a major PR disaster? It's a known fact that Rodvik reads SLU, so don't tell me they're not aware of public opinion. The vendor in the destination guide is a major indicator that LL disagrees with our judgement. And since no one currently has a better insight than they do, maybe we should consider that our judgement might be wrong, because we don't see the whole picture yet.

I know this is not a popular opinion, so if you have a better explanation for LL's behaviour, I want to hear it. Convince me.

[Isadora Fiddlesticks]

I agree with you 100% Iris.

I think at this economic crisis people really shouldn't be judging how someone makes money, whether it in SL or through a "real" job. It's hard enough to get a job as it is in RL, and even if those people think it's a "poor choice" to use SL as an RL income, at least people like Gala Phoenix aren't sitting on their asses. Phoenix and people like her are just making the most of the current situation.

As long as she uses her talents and what she knows and makes a good living, its commendable. I salute Gala Phoenix for daring the current situation and turn something most people would scoff at to something that is significant for her.

Her next option is to probably branch out to other games as well. She can be the next Anshe Chung of skins...:)

I just wish I have more money so I could help.

[Pep]

Masami said: "Linden Lab's insistence on doing the wrong thing is keeping me puzzled." Pep (Isn't; why should they break the habit of a corporate lifetime.) PS LL can do whatever they want about the vendor; it's in the ToS - they can ban them without explanation, justification or notification. PPS Ask me how I know . . .

[Arcadia Codesmith]

LL is in CYA mode. Don't expect any comment on or off the record, and don't read too much into their actions -- what's right and wrong is less significant to them at this point than what's going to keep this indigestible little bit of Canadian bacon (if the oink fits, dearheart) from siccing her legal weasels them as well.

I'd be surprised if the theif only ripped off one person. Find the other targets and increase the pressure.

[foneco zuzu]

http://slfashionpassion.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/the-masquerade/#comment-7956
After reading this i even feel more sad!