The owner of Ozimals, an extremely popular brand of breedable virtual bunnies and other pets for Second Life which once partnered with Linden Lab itself, is about to go defunct due to a real life cease and desist order:
At 8:00 am on Monday, May 15, 2017, I received a Cease and Desist letter from legal counsel representing [redacted]. This letter demands that I cease all use of Ozimals intellectual property. I don’t personally agree with this claim, but I do not have the means to fight this in court, therefore I have no choice but to comply.
Back in 2011, Ozimals was embroiled in a virtual animal copyright suit with another company, a dispute which wound up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. This new legal dispute, however, seems to be the killing blow -- not just for Ozimals the company, but likely thousands of virtual bunnies currently hopping about in Second Life:
Any bunny who is Everlasting will continue to function, as he or she does now: without cost.Any bunny who is not Everlasting will be unable to eat and will hibernate within 72 hours.This really fucking sucks, and I’m sorry. It was never my intention for the time we’ve all spent with the bunnies and the Pufflings to end like this. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the support this community has given me over the last seven years. I wish there was more I could say.
She might be better to start over on an alt, maybe doing something else leaving this sad chapter behind, often enough bad things by bad people happen to good honest residents unfairly.
A suggestion is to close with dignity and grace as she has, then turn around providing the ammo to help a thousand new competitors emerge to help suck the funding out of her villains pockets.
(1) Make all the scripts & API full perm
(2) Provide a guide with clear documentation for all skill levels
(3) Provide Ideas for products
(4} Troubleshooting Guide with pictures would help
(5) Full perm examples if possible
(6) Provide a detailed note reason with 'why you have given away your life's work' with who helped bring your fall with all info regarding them to make sure 'a thousand new competitors emerge'
(7) Make sure to package it all in a zip file, online, while letting everyone from all the major build groups, like builders brewery to the full perm get a crack at it, letting everyone know by passing out links everywhere, from the main forum to sluniverse then beyond, making sure the info it out there, with it being unavoidable while permanent!
One thing I can tell you, if the right people got the chance to make breedables, this assh*le might end up running into someone bigger and badder in both worlds.
Posted by: The Proctologist | Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at 05:39 PM
Added: nix the sluniverse idea, considering NeoBokrug Elytis, the grid bully and aggressor is one of top dogs over at SLU.
Funny how he is so happy to have his community, while killing someone else's community, bringing pain with hardship for thousands of residents throughout the grid. all the often while he shamelessly is still using your brand to build his up..how pathetic with a wasteland for ethics for certain.
http://www.desolatestudios.com/portfolio/
Posted by: The Proctologist | Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at 05:52 PM
Do we know this has anything to do with IP infringement. Akimeta Metaverse Development Services website says Ozimals was a "...collaborative efforts of Akimeta, Desolate Studios and Ozimals house staff." Maybe it was some kind of business dispute between partners?
Here is the link. http://www.akimeta.com/blog/?p=789
Posted by: Amanda Dallin | Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at 07:07 PM
The Proctologist:
I would advise against advocating such a scorched earth policy without knowing the exact circumstances of the case that led to this debacle. This move, if clearly made with the knowledge and assistance of Ozimals staffers, could potentially open them to more damages: to what extent does the licensing of properties used within Ozimals' coding allow for open-sourcing of the code in question?
Maiden Firelight @ Ozimas:
With regards to the death of all servers and functionality required to keep Ozimals alive, perhaps a case could be made for one last transmission to force all currently rezzed pufflings and bunnies into "Everlasting" Mode, prior to the death of the server. While still a harsh pill, neutering of all Ozimals may sit slightly better with Ozimal parents than, say, actual permadeath. Could this be done without owner involvement using only the servers? Just a thought.
And a third thought: A wise man doesn't plan to go under a bus. He plans on what should be done if he winds up doing so.
Let this be a warning to the creators of any breedable system that they need to have a plan in place where the continued existence (even if non-breeding) of their breedables is not contingent on their continued existence as a operating entity. Worst case scenario, this may cause people to question their continued interest in breedables and chop another reason off the much-shortened list of reasons to stay in SL. Anything from not requring mandatory feed items, to keeping 'immortality shots' on a deadman's switch on the managing servers, should be up for consideration.
Posted by: Patchouli Woollahra | Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at 07:46 PM
Added to clarify: if you're reading this right now and it's not too late, go to the Ozimals store and grab a everlasting timepiece - Ozimals has made them available free-of-charge as a farewell gift.
Posted by: Patchouli Woollahra | Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at 08:17 PM
Ozimals wanted to take the virtual horses to court and then karma eventually stepped in.
We pulled out and left our breedable fairies to someone else. Granted it was due to SL's ToS changes and the fact that LL wouldn't up our cash-out limit to get at money we were earning.
Karma will eventually get around to SL too, though. Glad to be out of that particular loop of madness to produce games in the real world without thsse whacky goings-on.
Posted by: Dartagan Shepherd | Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 04:14 AM
I don't understand why Ozimals even closed their blog website so fast.
They should have atleast kept some info online, for people to read.
People who don't know what's going on will be wondering now what happened.
Posted by: Mike Kalber | Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 11:33 AM
They were ordered to.
Posted by: Savannah Edge | Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 10:39 PM
A Cease and Desist letter can always be fought. I think the owner just had no balls to go to court and fight it out. He'd rather just trash his whole business after 7 years. How sad.
Posted by: Mike Kalber | Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 09:29 PM