NBC/Universal this week has agreed to let Battlestar Galactica-themed roleplay sims continue in Second Life. Previously they had issued a DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) order against Linden Lab, parent company of Second Life, to cease and desist any activity pertaining to BSG in SL. That incuded sales of IP (Intellectual Property) content, images, and any RP sims that used the BSG theme, even to the extent of certain words, such as 'Battlestar.'
This forced the closing of several BSG sims due to members leaving, and content being confiscated by LL as part of the DMCA. There seemed to be no middle ground, and BSG was doomed in SL.
But concerted efforts on many fronts resulted in a dialogue with Universal on what exactly BSG RP in SL was. It is pure fan adoration, like any Con you go to dressed as your favorite Stormtrooper or alien. While there were sales of IP items going on, which is a violation of the DMCA, for the most part it was just fans paying homage to their favorite show.
Anthony Haslage, (Ntanel Swordthain in SL), representing the International Federation of Trekkers (IFT), and Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) Second Life Chapter President, acted as liason between the SL BSG community, and NBC/Universal's IP licensing office, to strike an agreement to let BSG RP continue. This constant, one-on-one resulted in the following statement being released by Universal this Friday:
Anthony,
Thank you for your patience. After some internal discussion regarding Second Life BSG and the use of our owned intellectual property, we are happy to inform you that users may continue to create and interact with each other as BSG fans, so long as such interaction does not include the creation and sales of unlicensed of real-life or virtual items featuring our intellectual property.
We hope BSG fans will continue to enjoy the franchise in all its iterations, including Second Life.
Thank you,
Chris L.
On Friday at 4 p.m. SLT Chris called Ntanel, and he asked for some clarification. He said, you may re-create BSG items under the fair use act. Owners of any re-created items sold and or purchased will be approached by the company's lawyers and handled accordingly. Linden Lab will be informed of this decision next week at the soonest.
So a victory for BSG fans in SL means the remaining BSG sims can continue to play on. Unfortunately, several were forced to close during this time, casualties of war. Mercury Roleplay, and Battlestar Exodus, are 2 of the survivors. We will be reviewing both their RP sims in upcoming episodes.
Lillystar Parx, of BSG Exodus, comments on the resolution. "We are not allowed to create any BSG related items for sale under the fair use act. This doesn't affect the process or day to day management of our sim (Exodus) as none of our bsg visuals or items were sold. We plan to continue on as we were prior to the original issue of the now void DCMA's.
"If an item is not IP protected, IE all of the original, non trademarked/IP associated content individual vendors in the mall; it is not of any concern. We as owners and administrators of Exodus did not and will not charge for an IP protected material."
Lillystar's thoughts on the eventual about-face Universal made on allowing BSG RP to continue: "I believe it was through the efforts of education and communication regarding exactly what role play communities within SL actually do. This effort was spearheaded by Mr. Hasledge of IFT. He became involved in the situation, it is my understanding, after community members approached him. Our primary owner, Shego Caernodw, approached him as well. Additionally, I'm of the belief that the letter campaign launched by various community members as well as publicity was helpful. To what extent I can't say but I don't believe we would have gotten this far without that support.
"Publicity via media outlets such as your news service, posts on syfy sponsered forums and other bsgverse community forums" also contributed to the resolution, says Parx.
yevka Laws, of Mercury RP, is already hard at work on her sim's storyline. A team of writers is developing an original storyline from the basic BSG universe, full of twists and turns that any group of humans face when jammed into a tight space and put under incredible pressure. We will be following her characters' developments closely, and in fact have been invited to join the group as a character. As a journalist, of course. Should make for some enjoyable RP stories, we look forward to it.
Congratulations to all loyal BSG fans. Your hard work and dedication paid off. So Say We All.
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Comments
So Universal basically says they will overlook anything as long as a person does not DIRECTLY sell a BSG item. But please realize that the existence of BSG in Second Life will be a violation of the Fair Use Act.
So while BSG fans claim a victory....in reality it is just Universal bending over and turning a blind eye.
In the end...those that were shut down in July will still be shut down, their items will still have been confiscated by LL and if they create an item again, they will still be punished for it.
Universal will turn a blind eye to the fact that LL is earning $295 a month. Universal will turn a blind eye if SIMs charge people to fly or live in BSG ships. Universal turns a blind eye....but the reality is the "sale" of BSG will continue. It will just be hidden and renamed so it is not a blaring violation.
But be honest...Money will still be made.
Congrats BSG fans....glad someone can claim they "won". I surely didn't.
Actually, the entire resolution from Universal states clearly that BSG can continue as part of the Fair Use Act. So if anyone is turning a blind eye to it, it is Universal themselves. But I do not believe that is the case. it is my OPINION that Universal 1) misunderstood what BSG RP in Second Life really was, and mostly 2) that they expected tens of thousand of dollars of IP content was changing hands every day, money they were rightfully entitled to, not the undervalued Linden amount.
Once all this was made clear, I believe they saw it was simply not worth the bad press for the sake of a couple hundred fans that could and would continue to complain to anyone and everyone that would listen to them.
I was personally involved in the CBS/Jericho 'Nuts' campaign to revive the series after it was cancelled. Fan pressure DOES work!
Doug
Aww look at the first post, Cathiees anoyed!
To Anonymous Poster #2,
For your Information Anonymous Poster #1 was not me. I will display my name unlike you all. I let people know who i am when i say something.
I am glade you all got a some action from universal. I have already expressed my feelings to the people that matter. And you Anonymous poster #2 are not one of them.
I have my own stuff i am doing away from the drama of your BSG
Perhaps you should get over the you must think every negative comment about BSG comes from me.
Congrats to Exodus and Mercury rp you can move on with your goal of creating BSG rp in second life.
It was I (Dollwife Pink) who is the first anonymous. Sadly. When I initially posted, it failed several times, in the process my name was dropped from the post.
And I will say again...BSG in Second Life will continue. It is a battle won. Actually it is a good thing and will set a precident for other Universal products and hopefully other networks/producers/creators. more will probally turn a blind eye and hopefully fan made SIMs will not get squashed.
But if you feel you won a legal battle....you did not. Universal may be acknowledging they will turn a blind eye, but content creators like myself are the real loosers in all of this.
Well and untimately the fans. For in the end, it is they who loose out. No more purchasing a viper to fly around the sand boxes or other flight SIMs. No more getting a cool looking uniform to wear to a scifi party. The only way to get these things now is to become a member and roleplay in one of the BSG SIMs.
BSG SIM owners have won the battle to keep their SIMs, but the fans have not.
Congrats to the SIMs.
No matter how you look at it in such a negative mood, it's still excellent news, and quite surprising!
As for selling IP-protected content... it's not the only way, you know. You could organise yourselves to get some well-earned L$ differently — donation boxes, renting land, having a monthly subscription fee, and so forth. Be creative as you already showed yourselves to be! There is more than one way to make fair money in SL without violating Universal's wishes...
Here is an side note on the the IP issue and making money from it.
Lindens does not consider the actual Linden $L to be real money. Since you can not pay for your Sim in Lindens! you have to exchange the lindens to Real Currency to pay them.
Yes you can pay for things on marketplace with real money but you are purchasing "credits" in a virtual world.
So If a person is selling a "BSG ship" and the "L" is not real money. Are they making anything from the sale of that item that would affect the real world IP of Universal?
Most people who sell things in SL make "L" to continue to support their time in Second Life. Few people actually make any good "L" to exchange out into real currency. Just something to think about.
I mean gasp some one sells a "ship for" 400l whats that get them in real life?
I will agree with Dollwife on this one. Real money is being made in the form of the monthly $295 USD to Linden Labs. It's still profiting from Universal Studios Intellectual Properties. Content creators like Dollwife and myself took a hit. Some of us create much more then just BSG stuff so it wasn't a big deal. For others it was a devestating blow. These sims (Exodus and 21) will most likely charge a membership fee and even though L$ is not a real currency it does indeed have an actual market value on the SL Exchange and thus does count as real money when you look at the big picture. Profits are being made in the name of BSG no matter how you dress it up with words.
TV Shows like Star Trek, StarGate, and BattleStar Galactica should realize they earn money off of selling their videos, and people only want the videos, books, and related content if someone tells them about the shows to begin with! Encouraging fantasy Role Play by fans in the long run continues the 'long tail' of ongoing sales of franchise items, collectables, clothing, etc.
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