Typepad Threatens Takedown of Herald Justice League Unlimited Exposé
by Alphaville Herald on 29/01/10 at 6:09 am
Will role-play superheros' copyright claims trump free speech?
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affair desk
Typepad administrator Jen has given Herald a deadline of January 29th to gut our coverage of the Second Life Justice League Unlimited's wiki, citing a Typepad Terms of Service violation for "displaying copyrighted text and images without permission". The Herald has declined to remove the disputed materials, setting the stage for a new media showdown between the press and an embarrassed group of Second Life avatars brandishing copyright claims.
At issue is the Herald's exposé of the JLU, a group which has run a multi-year surveillance program on members of the Second Life community and compiled 1700 pages of files on other players – files containing often false and potentially libelous information.
To bring the excesses of the JLU to the public's attention, the Herald has quoted from the leaked JLU wiki under the doctrine of fair use. Meanwhile, the JLU has been running a vigorous program of copyright complaints, in hopes that site administrators will not notice the JLU is a group of avatars who wear super hero costumes that infringe on others' intellectual property.
Is Typepad aware of how ridiculous they will appear if they follow through on the threatened take downs [text after the jump] based on a frivolous copyright complaint from virtual spandex clad Second Life avatars? We may find out in the next few days, unless there is an outbreak of common sense at SixApart.
From: Jen Beeghly-Hills [elided]
Date: January 27, 2010 6:02:17 PM PST
To: [elided]
Subject: [Six Apart] Re: TypePad Terms of Service Violation
DearSir or Ma-am-
We apologize for the need to contact you, but it has been brought to our attention that content attached to your blog at http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/slh/ is currently in violation of TypePad's Terms of Service. You can view TypePad's Terms of Service at: http://www.typepad.com/legal/terms-of-service.html
Specifically, you are displaying copyrighted text and images withoutpermission. Because of this, we must ask that you remove the followingcontent as soon as possible and that you not repost this material, evenpartially. Here is the list of content which needs to be removed:
From the post:
http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2010/01/jlu-wiki-reindexed-and-republished.html
* the image: http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/.a/6a00d8341bf70253ef0128771a194c970c-320pi
From the post:
http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2010/01/justice-league-unlimited-secret-wiki-unmasked-by-the-wrong-hands.html
* the image: http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/.a/6a00d8341bf70253ef012876c304a7970c-popup
* the text:
"[18:49] Heinrich Arun: There is a Jewcamp
[18:49] Heinrich Arun: on Sl
[18:49] Gaara Sandalwood: Oh gawd seriously?
[18:49] Heinrich Arun: Zeide Camp
[18:49] Heinrich Arun: Yes
[18:49] KFCMan Nexen: so where are we trollin
[18:49] Gaara Sandalwood: Okay screw these fail plans KFC's been doign I'm
checkign that out
[18:54] Leebra Mai: backup
[18:59] Gaara Sandalwood: JLU faggot right here
[18:59] Gaara Sandalwood: In the zeide kamp sim
[18:59] Heinrich Arun: Oh man
[19:00] Heinrich Arun: On mein way
[19:00] Gaara Sandalwood: WHOOOO
[19:01] Heinrich Arun: Hey, shit getting hot down here
[19:01] Heinrich Arun: Requesting /b/ack up
[19:02] Gaara Sandalwood: Two JLU here
[19:02] Gaara Sandalwood: Everyone fail plannign gtf here
[19:02] Atheron Alter: Where are the JLU?
[19:03] Heinrich Arun: Zeide Kamp
[19:03] Heinrich Arun: Jew town
[19:08] Leebra Mai: and being drunk
[19:08] Lyra Gravois: I JUST ADDED
[19:08] Leebra Mai: please join us at WU
[19:08] Lyra Gravois: COBY TO THE EQUATION
[19:08] Lyra Gravois: lololol
[19:08] Leebra Mai: oh shit"
From the post:
http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2010/01/jlu-wiki-leak-plexus-linden-gives-superman-copyright-tap-dance-lessons.html
* the text starting with:
"Meeting of October 07, 2007 morning
[9:40] Plexus Linden: Ok…just for clarifications sake
[9:41] Kalel Venkman: Yes?"
through the last line of the post:
"[10:03] Kalel Venkman: [20:25] Barbara Onomatopoeia: may i share that
with kalel
venkman and other members of the group?
[10:03] Kalel Venkman: [20:25] Plexus Linden: Certainly 
"
From the post:
http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2010/01/jlu-wiki-leak-second-life-abuse-report-frenzy.html
* the image: http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/.a/6a00d8341bf70253ef0120a7e8d490970b-pi
* the entire table which starts with the item:
IR# Subject Filer Date Filed Reported From Report Text
4384 phils ghost Superman Magneto 2010-01-06 14:57:21 SandboxGoguen Phils was spotted copybotting a car wearing clothes that he usedcopybot to aquire
and continues through the end of the post.
From the post:
http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2010/01/linden-gteam-and-jlu-improper-conduct.html
* the image: http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/.a/6a00d8341bf70253ef012876cabc0e970c-pi
* the text which starts with:
"Not the leader of the Linden Labs Governance and Response Team, but
certainly one of its more influential members. Of the G-Team, Plexus is
the most conversational and responsive, and is currently listed in the
Brainiac database as an external operative. This gives him access to our
communications system, and the ability to wear and use the avatar key
logger in the commlink (which he uses in full knowledge of what it does)
and the ability to use the Brainiac Mini terminal he now wears on his
right shoulder."
through the last line of the post:
"[9:24] Samantha Lowell: I suggest, for the time being, we keep a very
low profile in the field"
Additionally, any of the copyrighted content which is reproduced inthe comments of your blog is your responsibility and thus needs to beremoved.
Please remove this material as soon as possible and contact us tolet us know of your compliance. If we have not heard back from youwithin two business days, specifically by January 29, 2010, we willremove the disputed content.
Sincerely,
Jen
TypePad One
Six Apart Ltd
Emerald Fox
Jan 29th, 2010
Holy s##t can this be real? Who the frak gave these clowns so much power that they can evade the copyright law themselves and yet scream copyright abuse at anyone they choose? Thieve got to much bloody power in second life and if they aint taken down a peg which is what the sl hearld is doing and i applaud them for doing theyll police sl so much that they’ll scare away customers and potential users. Heck its getting so that you cant even sneeze in sl without these clowns screaming abuse report
Tuomy Boa
Jan 29th, 2010
How is discussing JLU breaking Linden ToS by quoting other SL users illegally a copyright violation?
Also, the wiki system as whole is GPLed and unless the people who has access to Brainiac wiki had to sign NDA, they are free to disclose the contents of the wiki for their hearts content.
There was no copyright infridgement other than JLU claiming to own copyrights to GPLed material and public information…well, atleast they claim they’re not guilty of invasion of privacy by gathering personal information of other players and sharing them among themselves.
Senban Babii
Jan 29th, 2010
*Does Mexican wave in honour of Pix’s stand*
Any chance we can see something official to say that the JLU has full copyright ownership of these materials? See, I’m not so sure that’s true based on what I’ve been hearing and while I’m sure we can trust the JLU implicitly, I think we’d all sleep safer in our blogs knowing that their DMCA requests were based on accurate facts. Of course if any concerned citizen out there would like to step in and add to that…well, I’m sure they’re reading this
The JLU is simply using half-truths and scare tactics in order to hide their activities. But those activities are out in public now. Everyone and their neighbour’s kitteh has copies. You’re trying to shut the barn door after the horse has bolted. Let it go, accept that you got busted and move on. The more you keep up this nonsense, the longer this story will run and run and keep spreading.
The JLU stories are already on the first page of a Google search for the term “JLU”. Keep raising that profile for yourselves and soon enough, real people are going to start noticing and asking questions.
Rather than hide behind potentially false DMCA requests, you’d be better off making a public apology and giving us all assurances that such things will not happen again. But you won’t, because that would spoil your little fantasy roleplaying game.
Observant readers are probably already noticing how the JLU are diverting attention from their activities by attempting to cast themselves as the victims in all this instead of atoning for their actions.
It’s also worth pointing out that even if the JLU succeed, there’s nothing they can do about the stories waiting in the wings which aren’t based on the contents of their wiki. Isn’t this fun?
GreenLantern Excelsior
Jan 29th, 2010
I like the Herald. I’ve enjoyed discussing topics here for several years. I will be sad if TypePad shuts it down.
Gaara Sandalwood
Jan 29th, 2010
“[18:49] Heinrich Arun: There is a Jewcamp
[18:49] Heinrich Arun: on Sl
[18:49] Gaara Sandalwood: Oh gawd seriously?
[18:49] Heinrich Arun: Zeide Camp
[18:49] Heinrich Arun: Yes
[18:49] KFCMan Nexen: so where are we trollin
[18:49] Gaara Sandalwood: Okay screw these fail plans KFC’s been doign I’m
checkign that out
[18:54] Leebra Mai: backup
[18:59] Gaara Sandalwood: JLU faggot right here
[18:59] Gaara Sandalwood: In the zeide kamp sim
[18:59] Heinrich Arun: Oh man
[19:00] Heinrich Arun: On mein way
[19:00] Gaara Sandalwood: WHOOOO
[19:01] Heinrich Arun: Hey, shit getting hot down here
[19:01] Heinrich Arun: Requesting /b/ack up
[19:02] Gaara Sandalwood: Two JLU here
[19:02] Gaara Sandalwood: Everyone fail plannign gtf here
[19:02] Atheron Alter: Where are the JLU?
[19:03] Heinrich Arun: Zeide Kamp
[19:03] Heinrich Arun: Jew town
[19:08] Leebra Mai: and being drunk
[19:08] Lyra Gravois: I JUST ADDED
[19:08] Leebra Mai: please join us at WU
[19:08] Lyra Gravois: COBY TO THE EQUATION
[19:08] Lyra Gravois: lololol
[19:08] Leebra Mai: oh shit”
lol. Guess I can’t reveal anything I say to the public anymore. It’s all copyrighted by the ‘friendly’ local superman.
marilyn murphy
Jan 29th, 2010
is there some way to file a counter to the jlu claim?
having had some dealings with real world copyright infringement between my family and a large box store we all know, i learned that copyright disputes take years in court and many lawyers. so now these guys can scream they have copyright to something, with no legal precedent or standing, and get action?? wow.
good for you pix, hang in there.
DagnyT Dagger
Jan 29th, 2010
Meh, typical fascist do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do behavior. Buncha asshats if you ask me, and the Lindens just stroke their ego about it all. I wonder if Warner Bros. knows how they are degrading the image of Superman, et. al. with their antics.
At0m0 Beerbaum
Jan 29th, 2010
I fail to see how any of that can be seen as copywritten.
more like scathing to the JLU.
the JLU is claiming copyright over chatlogs.
yeeeah no.
Neo Citizen
Jan 29th, 2010
Ummmmm, no.
Blogging isn’t covered by Fair Use, and neither is journalism (whether the Herald is journalism or not notwithstanding.) If Fair Use applied to the news, then any news provider could just use any copyrighted image from anywhere without penalty, and that’s obviously not what happens in the real world.
No, I think they’re airtight.
Neo Citizen
Jan 29th, 2010
Eh – well it’s covered by Fair Use sometimes – but not the way the Herald did it. They’re basically boned.
Nice one Neo
Jan 29th, 2010
What part of criticism and parody do you not understand? The JLU have their arses hanging out the window on this one.
It almost makes me want to alt up and grief them myself.
Darien Caldwell
Jan 29th, 2010
You can’t copyright a chatlog, that’s ridiculous. And a photo is copyright of the person who took it. As in SL-Herald took pics of the website page. So they belong to the SL Herald. I would definitely fight this.
Alyx Stoklitsky
Jan 29th, 2010
You can copyright other people’s text? Anything I say is owned by Kalel Venkman if he hears it? I think not.
Kalel has no ownership of this atall, and the more he pretends he does, the more he draws attention to the fact that he doesn’t want people know about his little power-plays with corruptible Lindens.
He can cry to have them taken down all he wants, for it won’t matter even if they are. We all have the rar file downloaded by now, it can be uploaded in a hundred different places in a matter of minutes.
Tuomy Boa
Jan 29th, 2010
@Neo
Also gathering personal information, screenshots and logs about people without their permission isnt covered by fair use.
Im still amazed Tizzer hasnt called cops on Kalel for releasing his RL info in public.
masa
Jan 29th, 2010
The Herald getting shut down and the JLU carrying on is awfully ironic.
Neo Citizen
Jan 29th, 2010
He’d have to call the cops on himself, then, because from reading all this crap, it looks like he was behind the whole thing in the first place. Like I’ve posted before, this mess is his fault. And if the Herald goes down because he talked them into publishing all this, then that’s his fault too, as far as my opinion goes.
Of course opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.
LOL
Jan 29th, 2010
So the JLU is claiming to own copywrites… thats a fucking joke.. but I guess the Herald and it’s readers can fight back.
Here is a URL for the Marvel Comics home page. this particualr link is for reporting copywrite infringements..
http://marvel.com/company/index.htm?sub=user_help.php
Now here is the DC Comics website, this page lists all the copywrites, trademarks and brands owned by DC Comics.
http://www.dccomics.com/dccomics/legal/?action=copyrights
If readers so wish to contact DC Comics about JLU unlawful use of Logos, chracters, brands, names.. feel free to contact the Sr, VP of Brand Management at DC Comics, her info is:
Cheryl Rubin, Sr. VP-Brand Management DC Comics
Rights & Permissions FAX # (212) 636-5595
that covers DC and Marvel press… the 2 major comic book presses that the JLU has stolen thier Ideas, concepts, and logos from.
this informantion took about me 5 min to find on google…. if even 1\2 of the Herald supporter took 5 min to send a copywrite notice off to 1 of these presses the JLU will be shut down and most likely, face criminal charges for copywrite violations.
Lets see how the JLU likes it when REAL COPYWRITE holders start sending LL a slew of DMCA Takedowns, written on a company letterhead and backed up my a team a lawyers who sole job is to protect superman’s tights for DC comics.
Baloo Uriza
Jan 29th, 2010
Could always pull your server in-house on something like Slashcode or WordPress…
Robble Rubble
Jan 29th, 2010
The idea of Kalel holding copyrights to other people’s chatlogs is idiotic. I will continue sending copies of your blog to anyone when they ask me. Have fun trying to find my personal info you gigantic manchild. :V
lawyer up
Jan 29th, 2010
the Herald is going to need to get a high power media lawyer who will in turn get a judge to issue an injunction against typepad taking the material down, pending another suit which would be filed against Kalel and Greenlantern and the rest of the JLU for damages for filing false dmca claims over content that they werent the “clean hands” holders of. that should do it
icallbullshit
Jan 29th, 2010
now this is starting to get real good!
Bubblesort Triskaidekaphobia
Jan 29th, 2010
Time to lawyer up and make Kalel pay for what is, in my opinion, his illegal abuse of the DMCA. He raised the stakes, so it’s his own fault he’s in a situation like this. I don’t know how much the herald makes off the banner ads, but I’m sure the EFF would probably help you guys out. I hear penalties for false DMCA are pretty stiff, add to that the lost revenue from the site being down and Kalel would probably have to pay out a lot of money if he looses in court.
I’d go on about the clean hands doctrine and ownership of chat logs and things like that, but there’s really no point. Go get a real lawyer, pixie.
As for me, I’m going to send an email to the DC Comics licencing department. Hopefully they will DMCA on the JLU and Green Lantern Corps and all their cronies. Maybe they’ll sue LL for turning a blind eye, like tazer did, then LL can shut down the JLU and company. It’s time to step back and let the suits do their suit thing, I think.
If anybody else wants to tell DC what’s going on with their intellectual property the right department is probably their video game licencing department. On the DC web site that address is listed as videogames@dccomics.com
This whole thing reminds me of the venomfangx debacle on YouTube a while back. Oughtta make for good, wholesome entertainment for all those not involved directly.
/me fires off an email and makes some popcorn.
Excelsior, Pixeleen!
bob
Jan 29th, 2010
Seems a perfect example of fair use to me:
Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:
* The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
* The nature of the copyrighted work
* The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
* The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work
The distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission.
________________________________________________
(b) In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship
extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept,
principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained,
illustrated, or embodied in such work.
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
In summary:
I would think that the person who leaked the files could be on the hook for some legal action, but as a long established blog that reports the news from virtual worlds, The Herald has the protection of the US of A’s awesome constitution.
Just Sayin.
icallbullshit
Jan 29th, 2010
“If anybody else wants to tell DC what’s going on with their intellectual property the right department is probably their video game licencing department. On the DC web site that address is listed as videogames@dccomics.com”
This comment right there just goes to show how lame your brain really is. Right department. WTH? LOL! You’re an idiot. And I bet you watch the Food Network to get your local weather too.. Enjoy your jiffy pop their einstein. Don’t burn yourself in the process..kai?
Bubblesort Triskaidekaphobia
Jan 29th, 2010
@ icallbullshit: I’m just looking at the DC contact page here: http://www.dccomics.com/dccomics/about/?action=contact
If the video game licencing department isn’t the right department, then what is? I’m open to suggestions. I don’t know a thing about DC’s internal bureaucracy, so I just picked a contact that I’m guessing would probably know where to send the info I give them on the JLU.
Maybe I should give them a call and see where the secretary directs me. Their physical contact info and phone number are listed here: http://www.jigsaw.com/id26554/dc_comics_inc_company.xhtml
Ari Blackthorne
Jan 29th, 2010
The Herald is not part of the Fourth estate. Bastard estate maybe.
If the Herald goes poof, why would that be a bad thing?
It’s always bad news when a so-called news reporting entity is the news. LOL
/me sits back, plops feet up and starts munching the slimy-buttered popcorn looking forward to a highly entertaining show.
Ari Blackthorne
Jan 29th, 2010
Oh and by the way: TypePad has to takedown on “copyright violation” accusation *by law*. So now it is up to the Herald to file a counter-claim – and can sue the so-called JLU for a false claim – it that’s what it is.
So unless Herald complies – bye, bye. TypePad is only doing what the law compels them to do.
/me conues stuffing mouth full of popcorn with a shit-eating grin on his face.
Cheenpoko Blogger
Jan 29th, 2010
This is why I advise everyone to just download the wiki, and host it on their own servers if they can. We must continue to show the truth about these abusers and to show Linden Labs that they are NOT the “Good guys” they try to portray. They are in my opinion FAR worse than any PN, V5, W-hat, Woodbury or Interweb Gangstas.
Hell I was even targeted by these clowns, and I did absolutely nothing wrong. Yet somehow they got me banned on a public nudity violation (my guess is someone just toggled off a few in-game features to show my avatar nude, and took a snap of it).
Then again maybe I might be in over my head here, because the word on the grid is, they’re all in bed with the Lindens anyways.
I try to take rumors like that with a grain of salt. But I’m starting to actually believe some of it now.
Jessica Holyoke
Jan 29th, 2010
@Cheenpoko
Honestly, it has been reported repeatedly that there can be problems with the Linden asset server so that while you appear clothed on your client, you appear without clothing layers on other people’s viewers.
@Ari,
I suppose its a good thing for a group of people engaged in copyright infringement and strong arm tactics to force anyone to only do or say what they want by cloaking themselves in “protecting copyrights.”
icallbullshit
Jan 29th, 2010
Anyone interested in “alerting” DC Comics of copyright infringement or defamation of copyrighted material should contact DC Entertainment, a newly formed company and subsidiary of Warner Bros. If you’re really into stirring the pot, contact the individuals noted at the bottom of this story link, or just get a hold of the receptionist and ask for the Legal Dept. ..you may very well be redirected back to the corporate offices of Warner Bros.
http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1921297,00.html
Engaging the Legal Department is the best first step, not the game licensing department.
Robble Rubble
Jan 29th, 2010
@ icallbullshit
I think you would do better contacting Warner Brother’s Legal offices for the DC copyrights.
4000 Warner Boulevard
Burbank, California 91522
818-954-1426
Marvel Comics is owned by Disney, you can contact their legal department at: (407) 828-1750
icallbullshit
Jan 29th, 2010
I think you would do better contacting Warner Brother’s Legal offices for the DC copyrights.
4000 Warner Boulevard
Burbank, California 91522
818-954-1426
- – - – - – - – - – - – -
Robble, perhaps, but that’s a top down approach and it’s unclear if the bigger umbrella of the WB Legal Dept reigns supreme in this particular case or will even be bothered with it; with the newly formed DC Entertainment Inc. entity (as of September ’09), working with them first and being directed back upward to the mothership – if that ends up being the case – serves more than one purpose, as there are obviously more than just a few “commenters” here wanting to stir it up and draw attention to the issue.
Thanks for the info though, it adds to the focus for sure…
Kiddoh
Jan 29th, 2010
I heard Disney has a lot of Sue-happy Ogres.
Ssieth Anabuki
Jan 29th, 2010
Interesting to say the least and nice to see the Herald taking the right stance here. There’s an interesting set of legal interpretations to say the least – but that’s what you get for feeding the trolls I guess…
Well – if the Herald need help finding new hosts (I’m pretty sure they won’t) then I’m sure I can help them sort something out. There’s still plenty of the world that doesn’t take this sort of thing seriously enough to bother even dignifying the sort of action attempted by the JLU goons with a response let along bowing to their pressure. Damn – there was at least one split infinitive in there.. meh.. like I really care
Ho hum.. I guess we’ll see if Six Apart have any real balls or legal expertise in the next few hours… will be watching this space with curiosity… nah.. who am I kidding? I’ll maybe remember to check back tomorrow or the day after
Senban Babii
Jan 29th, 2010
You know, I was talking to a landowner just earlier and we were discussing the JLU issue. And you know what? This landowner got so fed up of the JLU turning up on his land all the time that he had to keep ejecting and banning them. So that’s yet another landowner who is fed up of the JLU vigilante group poking their noses where they are not wanted.
However, I think he was wrong! And as such I’ve turned over a new leaf and decided to join the JLU! I have my costume ready as you can see and have even built a fort in the garden for us to use as our cardboard box fort of solitude (my mom put milk and cookies inside for us). But we can only play superheroes for a little while because it’s a school night and I haven’t had my bath or done my homework yet 8D
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whenitchanged/4314218281/sizes/l/
We
Jan 29th, 2010
@GreenLantern Excelsior
You seem like a reasonable person, you better tell Kalel to calm down with this stuff, he’s making a lot of outright lies in his claim, like owning copyright to second life public chat logs, one of which from non-JLU members? Each one of these baseless threats he throws around in your name makes you guys look worse and worse.
At the very least, if you guys are going to be uppity about copyrights you don’t have, you should stop abusing other copyrights you don’t have, like the name “Justice League Unlimited” or “Green Lantern Corps” or the other DC and Marvel infringements. Basically the impression I’m (and I would say most people are) getting out of the JLU, whether they had an opinion before, is that they’ll threaten people with lies to get their way and they’re huge hypocrites by making such a big deal about copyright infringement while massively infringing on the copyrights of others themselves.
And the fact that Typepad and others are reacting to the threats is not proof they’re legitimate, these people have likely never been in Second Life, never heard of the JLU or it’s wiki (outside of the proper copyright of Justice League Unlimited perhaps), and don’t particularly care how it goes one way or another. For them it’s quicker to send out some pre-written e-mail and be done with it then to challenge the legitimacy of the claim in the first place.
They wouldn’t take the Herald down over this, they’d just come in and remove the “copyrighted” material. But I hope the Herald challenges this successfully, it’s a shame Kalel is getting away with these false claims.
Ironically, I’ve had more trouble dealing with the JLU than I ever have with griefers.
Orion
Jan 29th, 2010
Interesting. A quick search on copyright.gov (http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First) shows no results for JLU or Brainiac Wiki. However Justice League does instead show a crap load of results leading to Marvel Comics and WB. If this stuff really is copyrighted then where exactly is it registered?
Kalel, since you seem to be ever so versed in this stuff would you care to comment with proof that you hold the copyright to his content? At a bare minimum I would at least think that each page of your wiki would have a (c)opyright marker as well at least some mention in the Copyright Office’s database if it were indeed legitimate.
At0m0 Beerbaum
Jan 30th, 2010
@Neo
Just go by “Kalel” it’s painfully obvious it’s you.
Also, after reviewing much of the anti-griefing sentiment towards various individuals, namely tizzers (there is a sick obsession with tizzers in the JLU) I can say most of your group doesn’t even know who they are hating, let alone, why they hate them. It reeks of the two minute hate bullshit from 1984. It’s sort of pathetic how you guys do this shit, then claim to be doing the superhero thing for fun. Well, from what your ilk accuses many others of doing, that counts as griefing. All you do is spend your days stalking people, talking about how you’d like to torture them, kill them, and feed them to various carnivorous animals. What, do you think the people you are so aligned against feel the same about you? I see much more compassion and kindness from “griefers” than I see from those who claim to be doing everyone justice.
You break the rules, you go around imposing fear one anyone who disagrees with your views, you have orbiters (in fact, one was used on me by Kara Timtam when I was at an infohub once, for just standing there. I bet I had at least 100 ARs filed against me too for all sorts of offenses in various regions after the fact too) and you harass people. By that definition you run a griefing group, the only difference is, you do it out of sheer malice, and you bug the lindens to do the bidding you wish you had. In reality, you just want justification for your existence, which is why you make big bogeymen out of people, in all honesty, I’ve never seen Tizzers actually mastermind shit, other than a halloween prank and running a group that doesn’t govern its members like a fascist regime, which probably infuriates groups like yours who demand control and submission at every turn.
One more note to this already long post, After reading the wiki entries, it’s amazing how far off base and misinformed most of you, and how much of the disinformation is trumped up to make people seem like hardcore comic book villains that are deeply entrenched in a supposed corruption of the grid, how anyone who pisses you off is automatically the alt of tizzers or someone else you have deemed as the enemy of the state.
Oh and stop roleplaying as DC characters, Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman, Supergirl, and all the other dc characters you like to pretend you represent deserve much better. I can say that your portrayal has actually somewhat ruined my perception of the DC franchise. Now when I watch or read something having to do with superman, I’m reminded of the JLU’s rampant faggotry.
Just rename yourselves the “Let’s Kill Tizzers club” or the “We hate Tizzers club” because the majority of your anti-griefer sentiment is directed at them.
Spoilers: even if Tizz left SL permanently, shit would still be happening, and if not, it would increase considering how many people who would otherwise resort to destructive means focus on making things instead at our sandbox.
Also, more spoilers: we arent the PN, nor do we house the PN, we really never have.
Even more spoilers: You have never contacted anyone in charge about any problems with members like you claim to have in your articles against woodbury, you just jump to conclusions instead. Just like how you claim now that Tizzers was behind the whole wiki leak. Actually, it was someone who I will leave unnamed who did it because they thought it would be funny and were sick of your stupid shit. You let them in, they got access to your dirty laundry, now you scream about how wrong and evil that was. If you were legit you wouldn’t have to hide such secrets. On the other hand, Woodbury is pretty much out in the open about everything.
Oh and one more thing, if Tizzers was this malevolent force, and was insidious and as evil as you preached, You wouldn’t be able to go around calling yourself the JLU due to copyright issues, Tizz is in Burbank, and used to live not very far from the WB legal department, and according to your assumptions, tizz could have chummed it up with them and taken you out.
Time for the big spoiler: The JLU is a group of paranoid hatemongering sheep, whose shepherd is an aging man who leads a mediocre life, makes subpar art, and has little control over the world around him, and is hardly a leader. That’s why he wants to be superman, and be dictator of the grid.
All I have to say is take your insecurities and shove them up your collective asses, you arent special, neither are the people you like to make out as evil bad guys. Go back to roleplaying with each other, the rest of us don’t want part in your fantasy world.
Jumpman Lane
Jan 30th, 2010
yup jlu cannot pursue any sort of copywright infringement claims in a court. thier hands are most certainly unclean. demand that typepad looks closely at this and not just some sap part-time telemarketer handling customer service. Somebody needs to get DC Comics to get Linden Research to slap the shit outta the JLU.
A little birdie
Jan 30th, 2010
It seems like it would be beneficial to submit both a counter-DMCA to typepad and a Freedom of Information request to the JLU for their entire internal wiki so that others who have been illegally stalked can file abuse reports and possible RL criminal or civil charges.
Chatlogs cannot be copyrighted, as they are not supposed to be posted without consent of all parties involved.
The other material of the wiki (except possibly the banlink thing designs) are copyright of other companies.
These DMCA requests cite materials that have not been copyrighted and cannot be copyrighted. I implore the Alpha Herald “staff” to counterfile a DMCA.
The JLU’s abusive behavior must be stopped at all costs.
just remember...
Jan 30th, 2010
I have heard that Venkman has started a new JLU wiki. Everyone who read his JLU docs and clicked on one of the non-converted links that took you back to his webserver is now in his list. And he is cracking in to those IP addresses and computers any way he can to gleen information about you. He has taken his illegal stalking now to a whole new broader level. This is occuring right now. Be warned.
FrizzleFry
Jan 30th, 2010
@just remember…
It’s impossible for him to do that he doesn’t have a powerglove.
Anonymous
Jan 30th, 2010
@just remember:
I’m sorry, but this guy is a downright criminal and needs to be stopped. He’s invaded the privacy of how many of SL’s users and now he’s planning on hunting down and going after anyone who’s even pinged his website? Not only does Linden need to ban him and all who were involved in this group but he too needs to be brought to trial.
Neo Citizen
Jan 30th, 2010
More e-lawyering. It never ends.
The Freedom of Information Act only applies to the United States Government. Look it up.
Chatlogs can certainly be copyrighted as part of a larger work. Look it up.
Counter-filing only works if you can prove the material is yours or that the copyright on the entire body of work belongs to somebody else. Look it up.
But most importantly, if Venkman throws the switch on this, you have to lawyer up. Checked the prices on copyright lawyers lately? Three thousand bucks a day. No kidding. It’s all well and good to say, “knock ‘em down” when it’s not your money. I can think of a lot of better scenarios than “I lost my house and my job and my career because I stole somebody’s stuff and posted it on my blog.”
Oh, and “Just Remember”, he probably is looking at those IP addresses to see where his stuff is spreading to. Wouldn’t you? I would. Characterizing that as illegal when what it came from is probably illegal in the first place is a pretty thin statement. Makes you look like an asshat.
Neo Citizen
Jan 30th, 2010
I just don’t wanna see what is otherwise a decent rag go down for something really stupid like this. I can’t imagine why the JLU does all this shit, but jeebus, is this all worth it? Really? I’m not Venkman, but I do know him. And I know he’s got more up his sleeve than he’s ever told me.
GreenLantern Excelsior
Jan 30th, 2010
@ Senban
“You know, I was talking to a landowner just earlier and we were discussing the JLU issue. And you know what? This landowner got so fed up of the JLU turning up on his land all the time that he had to keep ejecting and banning them.”
You know, I have to call BS on this. If any of us were ever ejected and banned from someone’s parcel, that fact would be publicized instantly to the group, and none of us would ever return to that land. For that reason, your story about multiple ejections is bogus. In other words, names and locations or it didn’t happen.
@ We
“You seem like a reasonable person…”
Why thank you!
“…you better tell Kalel to calm down with this stuff, he’s making a lot of outright lies in his claim, like owning copyright to second life public chat logs, one of which from non-JLU members?”
I’m not the copyright expert, so I haven’t been doing any of the DMCA notifications. The way I understand copyright is that if you write something, you have an automatic copyright. I don’t think you have to run to a copyright office and register every line of text to show that you wrote it. From what I understand, JLU meeting logs would be most definitely copyrighted by the JLU, because the members are the only ones who wrote them, so to speak. I don’t understand the JLU copyright on the Heinrich and Gaara “Jewtown” chat log, but I haven’t studied this stuff so I don’t know all the nuances. I suspect that whoever issued the DMCA notification has a justification for each item, but I don’t know what it is in that case.
“At the very least, if you guys are going to be uppity about copyrights you don’t have, you should stop abusing other copyrights you don’t have…”
I agree with you here, at least in part. My avatar in SL is a member of the Green Lantern Corps. He is dressed in a green uniform, he wears the DC Comics Green Lantern symbol on his chest, and he wields a Green Lantern power ring (the most powerful weapon in the universe!). The difference between me and the Herald is that the copyright owner has not asked me to stop using their material. In fact, when Warner Brothers started several Gossip Girl sims and JLU was providing security, we specifically notified them that we were using superhero characters from DC comics in Second Life. Their response was something like “I think that’s pretty cool.” The Green Lantern Core got pretty much the same response when they sent an inquiry letter to DC some time ago. So DC and Warner Brothers don’t really care that their superheroes are alive in Second Life. In fact, they’re happy about it. If I received a letter from them directing me to stop using their copyrighted material, I would comply.
@ At0m0
Thank you for taking the time to write that long post. IMHO, although your tone is somewhat antagonistic, you have made several valid points. There’s room for improvement in any group, present company not excepted.
@ A little birdie
“It seems like it would be beneficial to submit both a counter-DMCA to typepad…”
What is a “counter-DMCA?” Have you submitted one before?
“…and a Freedom of Information request to the JLU for their entire internal wiki so that others who have been illegally stalked can file abuse reports and possible RL criminal or civil charges.”
The Freedom of Information Act applies only to unreleased information and documents controlled by the US government.
@ just remember
“I have heard that Venkman has started a new JLU wiki. Everyone who read his JLU docs and clicked on one of the non-converted links that took you back to his webserver is now in his list. And he is cracking in to those IP addresses and computers any way he can to gleen information about you.”
Ah yes, the really leet haxxors use the “cracking in” technique to glean all of your personal information from your IP address. I saw it on the Internet so it must be true.
Robble Rubble
Jan 30th, 2010
@GLE
Your reply to Senban is complete bullshit because even though members of your group have been repeatedly ejected and banned from Woodbury they just alt up and come back. Woodbury is not included on the list of sims that people from the group are not allowed to go to in your patrol document even though it has been proven time and time again we don’t want you coming there.
Ask Maverick and Kalel about “commielover” and “Pat”
deadlycodec
Jan 31st, 2010
where to start…where to start…ah yes! Kalol..*ahem*..I mean, Neo Citizen – heya there buddy!
@just remember
I hardly consider him a credible hacker threat. Additionally, often breaking into a specific target individual’s computer is incredibly tricky (as opposed to a corporate network comprised of tens or hundreds if not more) as it relies in some way on social engineering or dns cache poisoning, or some type of MiTM attack (for which we’d usually have to be close by)or by embedding some malicious kodez on a (hacked) website that the target is known to visit,etc,etc. Kalolz has like seven of my ip addresses in his logs, some of them dynamic, some not. My servers are behind a router, with a computer with iptables and ipforwarding set to forward certain traffic to other computers behind this “router”, with firewalls and pretty advanced filtering, chrooted servers running as an unprivileged user account, mysql databases with all sensitive information encrypted with SHA-1 at the very least and db servers not accepting connections from the internet (though they accept connections from specific hosts on the internal network).
Hey kalol, I just want you to know that I also have copies of this wiki, and I AM giving them to a few of my closest friends. Don’t forget to sue me too lol!
“The way I understand copyright is that if you write something, you have an automatic copyright. I don’t think you have to run to a copyright office and register every line of text to show that you wrote it.”
And that’s what everyone who consults the internet instead of a real attorney thinks. The poor-man’s copyright is a myth dude. And you have to have your property registered with the copyright office to prove ownership in a court of law. If you can’t prove it, you lose the case, hence, this means you asshats don’t have copyright, mmkay? Ask a copyright lawyer. You can bullshit until you’re blue in the face, but in the end, fact is fact. God this thing is going to be sooo funny.
We
Jan 31st, 2010
@GreenLantern Excelsior
“I’m not the copyright expert, so I haven’t been doing any of the DMCA notifications. The way I understand copyright is that if you write something, you have an automatic copyright. I don’t think you have to run to a copyright office and register every line of text to show that you wrote it. From what I understand, JLU meeting logs would be most definitely copyrighted by the JLU, because the members are the only ones who wrote them, so to speak. I don’t understand the JLU copyright on the Heinrich and Gaara “Jewtown” chat log, but I haven’t studied this stuff so I don’t know all the nuances”
I wasn’t necessarily referring to the meeting logs on, those you could probably make some claim of copyright on, I was referring specifically to the Gaara and such log in which no JLU member took place, and I would imagine it was obtained without the knowledge of any person involved, passing out other’s chat logs is against the SL ToS, so I can’t imagine they can claim copyright on something that was obtained illicitly by the SL Terms of Service and was in no way their creation.
I don’t think any DMCAs HAVE been submitted here. I think Kalel or whoever is sending these e-mails just goes to the site and says “I own copyright take it down”, the site managers don’t really care one way or another, these are mostly free hosting sites, they won’t lose business if they take down some content, and probably 90% of the time they receive a take down request, it’s a legitimate claim. If it’s not the owner can challenge it and they can go from there.
“In fact, when Warner Brothers started several Gossip Girl sims and JLU was providing security, we specifically notified them that we were using superhero characters from DC comics in Second Life. Their response was something like “I think that’s pretty cool.”"
Well, I kinda doubt that any person from Warner Bros operating a Second Life sim (especially for Gossip Girl) is in any position to say whether copyright usage on a completely different section of their corporate umbrella is okay or not.
“The Green Lantern Core got pretty much the same response when they sent an inquiry letter to DC some time ago. So DC and Warner Brothers don’t really care that their superheroes are alive in Second Life. In fact, they’re happy about it. If I received a letter from them directing me to stop using their copyrighted material, I would comply.”
I would have to wonder what the letter said (both the one sent and the response), and who it exactly went too in DC, because as I understand copyright (and by all means, I may be wrong), a company has to defend their copyright, if another group starts using copyrighted things like names or costumes from DC comics and DC Comics doesn’t challenge it, they basically start losing control over the copyright. Technically by this law all fan-art, fan-fiction, etc. is a violation of copyright, companies get by this by willfully ignoring it’s existence, so that they could get through a loop-hole of “Well we were never aware of it”, however this means that if someone contacts them and forces them to be aware with it, they would be legally obligated to take it down or lose the copyright. So it seems to me, for your group to contact DC and say “We’re using your copyright” and they say “Okay”, that means they just lost control of the copyright to your group, which sounds unlikely unless you had contacted (as in the case of the Gossip Girl sims) someone who wasn’t really in the authority to make that sort of decision, or the response was worded quite differently and not necessarily allowing usage.
I wonder, more over, why use copyrighted existing heroes at all? Why not create your own? I can’t imagine you’ll get any more or less respect showing up as your own creation of a superhero in a sim as you would showing up as someone else’s creation, and from a legal stand point you’d be considerably more sound.
@Neo Citizen
“Chatlogs can certainly be copyrighted as part of a larger work. Look it up.”
Can you suggest a place to look this up? It seems unlikely, referring to the Gaara chatlog, that you could take a piece of conversation from people without their knowledge, stick it in a secret wiki and distribute it, and then claim copyright when someone else distributes it. Perhaps you could claim copyright on the Wiki as a whole in everything in it, but this take down request is the chatlog specifically. As an example, the music industry has “Sampling” which is legal, the new work made out of mixing other people’s music and the artist’s own editing can be considered the artist who did the sampling’s work. However, that artist can’t claim copyright on every song they used to make those works. You could claim copyright for the wiki, but not for the individual chat logs (at least the ones not composed of JLU meetings and such) that the wiki is composed of.
In this case, the Herald had only pasted the log, which as far as you know, may have been given to them by Gaara and the others who actually wrote it. Say Gaara and them had put up a website and posted that log there, could the JLU come and claim copyright because they copy-pasted it to their wiki? No, that’s absurd.
Additionally, this would go both ways, wouldn’t the Second Life Herald be considered a “larger work” that could be copyrighted, and use these chat logs?
“But most importantly, if Venkman throws the switch on this, you have to lawyer up. Checked the prices on copyright lawyers lately? Three thousand bucks a day. No kidding. It’s all well and good to say, “knock ‘em down” when it’s not your money. I can think of a lot of better scenarios than “I lost my house and my job and my career because I stole somebody’s stuff and posted it on my blog.”"
This goes both ways however, is “your friend” Venkman willing to lawyer up himself to defend his false copyright claims? And furthermore is it really worth it? Would Venkman be really willing to take someone’s house, job, and career away (and risk it himself) over this minor-annoyance of griefing in Second Life? And what kind of person could he be, to claim the moral high ground while being ready to ruin someone’s life over something so silly as this?
We
Jan 31st, 2010
Incidentally, the take-down letter from Typepad says they’ll take down the disputed content in two days (January 29th), as it’s currently the 31st of January and the stuff is still up, apparently the Herald has given TypePad pause.