[MUD-Dev] Second Life's customers get [copyright?] of their creations

[Amanda Walker]

On Nov 22, 2003, at 12:04 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 21, 2003 at 02:29:40AM -0500, Amanda Walker wrote:
>> On Nov 20, 2003, at 11:00 AM, Crosbie Fitch wrote:

>>> I wonder if recognising a player's copyright (right to control
>>> reproduction) then grants them a right to a copy of their work?

>> I do not think this follows.  [...]

> Your response is a non sequitur, because copyright is *not* the
> right to copy, but the right to restrict or allow others' copying;

It's not a non sequitur in context--in fact, you're making the same
point I was making.  Crosbie wondered if the a player's copyright
gave them a right to possess a usable copy of it (note "to a copy",
not "to copy"), and by extension, any technology necessary to
view/experience it.  See his original note, where he wonders if this
means that the player is entitled to, roughly, an Second Life server
in which to display their work.  That's what I'm arguing doesn't
follow.

> `granting the player the right to reproduce' is granting the
> player *license*, not copyright. The two are very different.

In the case of a copyrighted work, it's the player granting license
to the provider, not vice versa.  If the player owns the IP, and the
provider recognizes it, the provider does not have to grant a
license to the player for the player to be able to reproduce their
own intellectual property.

> Copyright is an agreement between the copyright-holder and the
> government granting the copyright (and, initially, no one
> else). You might just ask who in this situation ought to bear the
> responsibility of maintaining archival copies, and how would we
> get `the Second Life employees' as an answer?  Where do they even
> enter into the matter?

Right, that's my point.  The fact that Second Life recognizes a
player's intellectual property doesn't obligate them to to anything
to preserve, defend, or publish that IP.  That's the author's
problem.

Amanda Walker
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