how do i check on a copyright with some one?

[Ishtara Rothschild]

Checking for somebody's copright is a bit of a problem. It's not as easy as with trademarks. Copyrights don't need to be registered, since all original artistic work is protected from the moment of its creation. That includes all objects and builds in Second Life, supposing they are sufficiently original and not just a slightly modified plywood cube.

So you can just go ahead and assume that all work in SL is copyrighted. But don't worry: If your own work is completely original and you didn't steal anybody else's textures, scripts, animations, sounds, or prim work, it does not violate another person's copyright, even if it serves the same purpose as another product. You cannot copyright ideas (other than patenting them of course).

It could still be judged to be a copyright violation if your work looked 100% identical to that of another person, due to some freak coincidence. If the similarity is so great that it might as well have been ripped or copybotted, it makes no difference how the apparent copy came to be. But that is pretty unlikely if you did all the work yourself, I would think. Don't let anybody tell you that you violate their copyright just by marketing a similar product.

 

[Ishtara Rothschild]

Checking for somebody's copright is a bit of a problem. It's not as easy as with trademarks. Copyrights don't need to be registered, since all original artistic work is protected from the moment of its creation. That includes all objects and builds in Second Life, supposing they are sufficiently original and not just a slightly modified plywood cube.

So you can just go ahead and assume that all work in SL is copyrighted. But don't worry: If your own work is completely original and you didn't steal anybody else's textures, scripts, animations, sounds, or prim work, it does not violate another person's copyright, even if it serves the same purpose as another product. You cannot copyright ideas (other than patenting them of course).

It could still be judged to be a copyright violation if your work looked 100% identical to that of another person, due to some freak coincidence. If the similarity is so great that it might as well have been ripped or copybotted, it makes no difference how the apparent copy came to be. But that is pretty unlikely if you did all the work yourself, I would think. Don't let anybody tell you that you violate their copyright just by marketing a similar product.

 

[Dilbert Dilweg]

If somone created a item. And you create an item later that is the same. And if you have a question about the item being a direct copy then you can search registered trademark database or Maybe you should converse with the creator of the other item in question or consult a lawyer.

Like Ishtara says it does not have to be registered to be copry protected

To help you understand more about intelectual property read this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property

[Irene Muni]

Dilbert wrote: "If somone created a item. And you create an item later that is the same. Then it would be safe to say that the copied item is against policies.".

I'm not sure of that. If someone create a tower with four cilinder prims with windows created hollowing the prim ans set the color to black, I can create the same "work" and that is not against the policies As Ishtara says, the creation must be sufficiently original.