Brown Suede Boots With EULA
by Alphaville Herald on 18/10/09 at 2:59 pm
A license to wear boots
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
you can't read the license terms until after the purchase
I probably should not have been surprised to see that the L$650 pair of ZHAO brown suede boots I bought yesterday came with an End User License Agreement – but no word on refunds should the buyer disagree with the license terms – and no way to read the license until after the purchase. Sion Chickens started us down this path, so why not continue with virtual clothes?
Soon, residents will need to bring a lawyer along when shopping for pixel clothes as a thousand flowers bloom, a thousand schools of thought contend, and a thousand unique EULAs grace Second Life content creators' wares.
I'm looking forward to seeing Second Life Bar Association president Stephen Wu accompanying Gorean slave girls on shopping sprees for silks, bazi tea sets, and scripted collars. Or perhaps the Second Life Bar Association could help the content creators adopt some standard terms and agreements? While they are at it, would a vendor that displays the text of the EULA before purchase too much to ask? That might help establish the idea that both parties willingly entered into an agreement.
boots with a HUD, bling, animation, and a volume control
ZHAO SHOES END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
This End-User License Agreement (EULA) applies to any and all materials, including but not limited to, items, objects, and folders, created by or on behalf of Zhao Shoes (“Content.”) This Agreement includes, but is not limited to, the Content that Melanie Zhao or Zhao Shoes has available for sale through any other third-party retailers or websites, and boxed products available in various retail outlets.
By downloading, installing, copying, or otherwise accessing or using the Content, you agree to be bound by the terms of this EULA. If you do not agree to these terms, do not use or access the Content
License
The Content is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. The Content is licensed by Zhao Shoes for limited use in Second Life®, by the avatar that purchased or otherwise obtained the Content. Ownership in or rights to the Content is not sold or given away.
You will NOT modify, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise reverse engineer any part or component of the Content. You will NOT distribute the Content for sale or profit, or make the Content public, without the express, written permission of Melanie Zhao. You MAY make ONE copy of the Content for archival purposes.
The Content and any related documentation is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. In no event shall Melanie Zhao or Zhao Shoes be liable for any damages whatsoever arising out of the use of or inability to use the Content.
All rights not expressly granted in this EULA are reserved by Melanie Zhao. All copyrights, and other intellectual property rights to the Content are exclusively owned by Melanie Zhao.
Lili
Oct 18th, 2009
Considering how hideous they are, noobie bling, ridiculous sound effects and all, I think she’s pretty safe already. Can’t really imagine anyone buying them, much less stealing them.
Little hint to retailers; you make your prim clothing no modify and your customers are likely not going to buy anything else from you, if they were dumb enough to in the first place.
I for one, don’t change my avatar shape to wear someones clothing.
Miss Jay
Oct 18th, 2009
Yeah I don’t care nor bother reading these stupid user agreements. I WILL modify/dissemble them if I am 1. Able to modify them 2. Need to take them apart if I want a more customized product. Zhao/ Sion/ whomever …. They CAN blow me.
Ann Otoole
Oct 18th, 2009
The answer to that is simple. Notecard giver when you enter the store. I hear AITUI has a license giver at the landing.
It is sad that it comes to this when in reality the SL TOS already pretty much covers everything and no you are not licensed to carry anything out of SL without permission regardless of what a lawyer avatar with a cracker jack prize degree thinks. Technically you can’t even use second inventory to make a personal SL use only backup but that sort of pushes the limit of be reasonable logic. I.e.; your license to be in SL applies only to being in SL and all content in SL is licensed for use in SL only.
Of course the day interop (legitimate intergrid teleport with attachments) becomes reality all this will change.
Bunny Brickworks
Oct 18th, 2009
If stuff is mod, I’ll sure as hell mod it to my heart’s content and no EULA will keep me from doing it. I’d love to see Armani tell me I’m not allowed to alter a jacket and add different buttons to it in RL. Can content creators get any more pathetic than that?
And btw, why would anyone pay 650 spacebux on a pair of boots that look like the worst escort style I’ve seen in a while.
Scree Raymaker
Oct 18th, 2009
It’s my understanding that any license agreement you can’t see until after you purchase the product is not legally binding. I believe Microsoft had some trouble with this in the past.
Jovin
Oct 18th, 2009
End user agreements and T&C’s aren’t worth the virtual paper they’re written on unless the buyer had access to a copy before purchase. It would be the first question a lawyer would ask and any legal case would collapse if the answer was no. Melanie’s wasting her time…
DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL
Oct 18th, 2009
Bunny Brickworks said – “If stuff is mod, I’ll sure as hell mod it to my heart’s content and no EULA will keep me from doing it. I’d love to see Armani tell me I’m not allowed to alter a jacket and add different buttons to it in RL. Can content creators get any more pathetic than that?”
QFT
I’ll never buy another thing ever again in SL.
And those boots are nasty beyond belief, especially that white pair.
Just out of interest, has anyone considered some kind of protest against the content creators? In RL we might walk up and down outside the stores with banners and leaflets or whatever to attract the attention of potential customers and alert them to the business practices of a company. Any thoughts on doing the same thing (or the equivalent) to content creators who try to pull shit like this?
Skye D.
Oct 18th, 2009
I…really like those boots. Minus the bling, that is.
That said, I agree with Bunny and the others. I won’t buy anything if it’s not modifiable. My figure in SL is WAY curvier than your normal stick figure, and nothing pisses me off more than to find that I can’t mod a garment to fit. Content creators who don’t allow modify don’t get my business, and can kiss my ample butt.
Holydust
Oct 18th, 2009
Do people really still wear ugly knee-high stiletto boots with ten buckles on them?
Really? Wow.
brandon Misfit
Oct 18th, 2009
you said: Do people really still wear ugly knee-high stiletto boots with ten buckles on them?
Really? Wow.:
I say yes, I have noticed a trend back toward some oldschool lately. Tall almost crotch level boots and bling. Not everywhere but its out there.
Myself I like my girl in trashy white knee highs as I plow her to earths end. Its what they are made for.
Poe Zepp
Oct 18th, 2009
650Ls for ONE pair of boots-with BLING? Ugh seriously bling? Wow somebody really took a page out of Stiletto Moody’s book. Please creators get over yourselves. We are not fooled into thinking high price mean high value.
Customers service and treatment is everything. And if you got a chip on your shoulder in thinking every one of your customers is waiting in line to steal from you I’ll happily give my Ls to a creator that is far less paranoid and full of themselves.
If you don’t want your stuff ripped off start organizing so seek legal actions against Linden Labs and not your customers! And if you can’t take the possibility of someone stealing from you I suggest you don’t build at all. Because nothing will stop a very determined person from getting what the really-really want. It happens in rl and surprise-surprise it happens in sl too!
And QFT to Lili, I too refuse to change my shape to fit into an outfit, hair, skin ect… If it looks like crap on me then I generally assume it’s poorly made.
Ranma Tardis
Oct 19th, 2009
Another good reason to buy as little as possible of content. Better yet learn to make your own. Wonders when the content will be sold for a limited time then it no longer works or auto disables. Oh, those are some UGLY boots!
...
Oct 19th, 2009
Seriously shit like that makes me tempted to buy a pair just so i can decompile and copy them JUST to put them up on xstreets for 1L$
Ari Blackthorne
Oct 19th, 2009
I have an EULA on all my stuff, too. But it’s a much easier read:
“You had better damned well be satisfied or I’ll give you your money back.”
Done.
Orion Shamroy
Oct 19th, 2009
Gee, aren’t those just mods of those same fugly ass full perm resale boots that have been floating around the grid for years now?
Ajax
Oct 19th, 2009
Lots of misinformation here. Every single piece of commercial software DOES HAVE a EULA and none are printed on the outside box covers — partly because they wouldn’t fit. It is perfectly legal to have a EULA you cannot see until after the purchase, as in every single Microsoft, Adobe, Symantec, EA Games, Oracle, (et al) product in existence — but if you disagree there has to be a method of returning to manufacturer for refund. (And good luck with that) It seems so petty to disparage the product because of something so common that you forgot they are there. These product EULAs are going to be totally unenforceable without some serious assistance from LL, and as we all know, assistance is not in their vocabulary.
Lili
Oct 19th, 2009
I think the all the recent attention to theft has just created a witch-hunt atmosphere. I don’t really believe there is that much theft in SL. I think a lot of the creators problems are like the one in this story. Your stuff is old and out-classed, so it’s not selling. You’re not losing sales because someone is stealing and selling your stuff; you’re losing sales because no one wants it.
Even if that wasn’t the case, I think theft in SL is mostly talk. Every creator thinks their things is the greatest. So, if they are not selling, must be some other problem. Then again, if you pretend your stuff is selling huge amounts and that you are getting copy-botted, you get people to look at your stuff. Hoping people will think, wow they are being stolen from, must be good stuff, I want it too.
I know there is theft in SL, I just don’t think it is as big as people are saying.
If LL would make it possible to share things between alts, I think a lot of theft would go away.
wakeup
Oct 19th, 2009
they are cartoon boots for cartoon people. wake up.
Star Fairymeadow
Oct 19th, 2009
Oh, theft is real alright. Just ask people like Rebel Hope who had entire sims copybotted and reproduced. Just because it hasn’t happened to you, doesn’t mean it isn’t real. It breaks my heart to hear people talk about protesting the content creators here. Have you ever thought about how much time and effort goes in to creating? How would you feel if you spent blood, sweat and tears on something only to have someone else rip it off? It may be cartoon boats for cartoon people, but theft is still theft. Just because something is digital doesn’t mean it’s up for grabs, people.
LittleLostLinden
Oct 19th, 2009
Blue Mars is DOWN!
Blue Mars is DOWN!
Patch supposed to take couple hours has taken all day and still DOWN!!!
Blue Mars is DOWN!!!!!
Iona Bukkit
Oct 20th, 2009
@ Star Fairymeadow
You know what Star, I understand that content creators put a lot of time and effort into the activity. And yes, they deserve recognition of that. But just like in real life, the customers have rights too. You know what, I’m sick of hearing how content creators are being ripped off and how the universe owes them a living (Stroker) and how they get ripped off. Well when content creators start respecting the rights and reasonable expectations of usage held by the everyday user then maybe I’ll feel sorry for you.
Now, having said that, I also see a time coming where the digital mashup will be the norm and that everything will be pulled apart and reassembled according to the whims of each user (the “Liquid Book” concept). But that means that original and quality content will simply fade away and be replaced by thousands of people creating their own content which won’t be of very high quality.
In that sense, what we need is a compromise between the rights and fair expectations of the customer and to reward the decent content creators for their efforts so that they’ll keep producing that content. But right now all we seem to hear is the whining of the content creators who ignore their customers.
I mean literally just this morning, my copy of the new Wolverine DVD arrived by mail. The usual DVD and a digital copy on top of that. If 20th Century Fox can recognise that the needs of the customers are changing, it’s about time that SL content creators got off their arses and came to the same realisations. No mod clothes that mean I can’t adjust them to fit my avatar or that force me to adjust my shape to fit the clothes? Scripts that mean an object becomes disabled after a certain amount of time? Inability to create backup copies to protect our purchases? Inability to give things we’ve legitimately paid for to other people? You’re destroying your own markets, can’t you see that?
It’s time the customers stood up to the content creators and demanded what is reasonable instead of being punished for the actions of others. Personally, I won’t be putting another single penny into the pockets of SL’s businesses until they start to give me reasonable usage of the things I’ve bought.
Prof. Archie Lukas
Oct 20th, 2009
Its not binding as there was no pre-agreement or the right to decline.
to sum up:
“It ain’t worth the paper its written on.”
Sam Goldwyn
(and so apt now too)
Edna
Oct 20th, 2009
Oh brother. You bought it, you own it. End of story, ignore those silly restrictions. Content creators – if you don’t want people to own stuff you’ve made, don’t sell it. Pretty simple, you can’t have it both ways. Don’t take my hard earned money and then turn around and say you aren’t giving me what I paid for.
“Boo Hoo if paying customers are meanies and say they want they pay for us content creators won’t make new stuff”. Guess what? Who cares? You don’t think SL already has enough boots, dresses, shirts, houses, and other junk already? I’ve worn the same hair, clothes, and shoes in SL since 2006. Not changing my outfit has never once caused me to have less enjoyment or stopped me from doing what I want in SL. Once I took the freebie outfit Mercedes Benz was giving out at their sim. How many times have I worn it? Never, not a once. Grow the hell up. This ain’t real life. You don’t need to change you clothes in SL, and you sure as hell don’t need “sex beds”. If you get off watching avatars (aka cartoons) making repetitive movements resembling sex acts, maybe you need to take a very serious look look at your mental health. As far as the damn chickens, I bought some and let them starve. I already paid for them and see no need to give more money to that silly alien to keep them “alive”. When they died from starvation, I dropped them right into Sion’s inventory with a note telling him what he could do with them.
We
Oct 20th, 2009
The only way this is legally binding is if it drops a notecard on you and forces you to accept or decline the notecard before you’re allowed to enter the store; If you decline, you’re never allowed to enter the store.
Putting a notecard that’s only readable after you purchase it, is most definitely not a legally binding agreement at all. Just the same as all those people who put the little “legal notices” in their profiles that if you IM them, that means you agree to let them share your IM conversations with anyone they chose, not legally binding at all, since there’s no guarantee I’ll even look at your profile before IMing.
I dislike anyone who sells attachments no mod, it’s pointless, harmful to the customer, and a rather dick move.
LittleLostLinden
Oct 20th, 2009
I agree with the people stating IP rights have gone too far. It’s getting ridiculous. Like the mother who d/led 23 songs or however many and was asked to pay over 2 million dollars. That is just wrong no matter how you look at it. The music isn’t worth that kind of steep fine, and neither is anything in SL. I can just see it now. Someone copied a piece of clothing in SL and gets sued for $3 million US dollars. Give me a break. When will if end?
NotAnotherPenny
Oct 21st, 2009
I for one have had it with certain people in SL (not even content creators necessarily) trying to up their “exposure” by crying out burn the content thiefs while dressed in their straight from the runway copy of a RL dress translated to SL. Call it what it is…a witch hunt designed to remove as many people who create anything in SL so that they or their “friends” will benefit. As someone who has been in SL for almost 4 years (and has spent a great deal of lindens), I will NEVER purchase another thing in SL. I refuse to put another penny into the pockets of the whinny, hypocrites who could give a shit about what’s being “stolen” but only want to promote their own agenda.
Tristesse
Oct 21st, 2009
All rights not expressly granted in this EULA are reserved by Melanie Zhao. All copyrights, and other intellectual property rights to the Content are exclusively owned by Melanie Zhao.
Are you allowed to hold rights of ownership by law under a pseudonym? I will respect copyright ownership when I see a registered business name and contact information. Until then, you can put whatever you like in the notecard i never read, and I will do what I please with the boots I bought.
Coke Supply
Oct 22nd, 2009
Hmmm…. If I buy the boots, do I have the right to disagree to the EULA if I can’t read it till after the purchase?
What I mean is… if I want to keep the boots but didn’t get the chance to read the EULA until after the purchase, can I just tell Melanie to shove the EULA up her arse and carry on wearing the boots?
I’m off to her store to find out
Coke Supply
Oct 22nd, 2009
I just sent this message to Melanie in a notecard;
Dear Melanie,
I bought some new boots from you but was unable to read the EULA until after I purchased the boots. Therefore I didn’t and couldn’t agree to the EULA at the point of sale. However, I love the boots and I am keeping them.
Regards,
Coke Supply
NotAnotherPenny
Oct 22nd, 2009
Also, those are the FUGLIEST boots I have ever seen. She using an SL design circa 2006 or something? Egh!
PocoLoco
Oct 24th, 2009
I’m not about to take sides on this issue. I do take exception with some statements on both sides. We’ve been hearing for far too long the complaints of so called content creators with regards to their dwindling sales and how that is directly related to abuse of IP (intellectual property) rights. Sounds to me like y’all had a wake up call back in ’06. This is neither a stable and reliable platform nor is it safe and secure. This completely leaves aside the notion of even asking in the first place if this could and if so how could this be a sustainable market for “commodities.”
Now onto the disingenuous posts here about not having had a chance to read any EULA before purchase. This false notion is debunked within the grafx of the article itself. A clear screencap of auditing the content of a vendor BEFORE purchase. Clearly labeled and with perms to allow reading before purchase is an “End User License Agreement.” What more do you insufferable avatars want?
While I do agree that in the current environment such a License is for all intents and purposes completely unenforceable, it IS available for review PRIOR to purchase. Kudos to the creator for at least allowing such a review of content. There are prim vendors that do not allow such a perusal of content and their owners deserve all the lost sales such a vendor will inevitably generate.
Senban Babii
Oct 24th, 2009
PocoLoco said – “This false notion is debunked within the grafx of the article itself. A clear screencap of auditing the content of a vendor BEFORE purchase. Clearly labeled and with perms to allow reading before purchase is an “End User License Agreement.” What more do you insufferable avatars want?”
Umm, no. I think that’s what they call a fail?
Firstly, while the content of the vendor shown in the image shows that there *is* an EULA, that doesn’t mean it’s available to be read before purchase (because it isn’t).
However, being all curious I just went to have a look at these boots. The EULA seems to have vanished from inside the vendor for these particular boots. However I did notice that not every item of footwear in the store shows the vendor contents before purchase. Many have the fast pay option only (and I wasn’t prepared to waste money to find out). Further mooching around showed that a few of the other objects in the store still have EULAs inside the vendor though. It’s possible that a few have simply been overlooked and they’ll be removed before long.
Just A Boy
Oct 28th, 2009
Wow, A LOT of misinformation and buyer haughtiness going on here.
Someone wrote:
“You bought it, you own it. End of story, ignore those silly restrictions. Content creators – if you don’t want people to own stuff you’ve made, don’t sell it.”
Youre wrong. Have you ever purchased stock images from a stock website? When you buy the license to use a stock image, you do not own the image. If are only granted a license to use that image. There is no transferring of IP rights going on. Same thing inside of SL. If there were indeed transferring of IP rights, then you would be able to change perms on the item, resell them, do whatever you please. But youre not, unless the specified creator has given you to be the new copyright holder.
I will say, this girls license is asking too much. If her shoes are sold with copy permissions, she has no ground to tell buyers to only make one copy.
However, people getting all upset over it and screaming “I bought it its mine!” is sorely mistaken. We are dealing with digital content. And much like stock photos – upon purchase, you do not become the copyright holder.
If you dont like it, dont buy it!
Star Fairymeadow
Dec 9th, 2009
I love how it’s become a witch hunt and people lump all merchants into one category. Not everyone is an attention monger and we aren’t all out “to get you” and “rip off your money”. I think my customers are well taken care of and I try to do what’s right by them. No where in my post above did I say anything about mod items, but I some how got a response talking about mod items. Personally, I like that people can take what I’ve made and make it their own. It makes them unique and I’ve seen some pretty cool things happen with stuff that I’ve made. What I WAS replying to is the fact that content theft is real whether you all want to believe that or not. No where in my post did I imply that modding an item was stealing it.