I’ve got a new gift at the SL Shop & Hop, and news about a copycat that doubled down at the We <3 Roleplay event
I didn’t get accepted for my own booth for the Second Life Shop & Hop sales event happening in world, so I’m sharing space with my good friend Siyu Suen of Illusions, who makes the jewelry and ears I’m wearing here. At the front counter you’ll find a couple gift boxes, the round hat box contains the tattered Teasel Unseelie fairy wings you see here. These are solid rather than transparent so no alpha glitch, and this version features lots of holes & tatters.
I’m also wearing a brand new mesh corset loosely based on historical stays that was made for me by a pro based on my sketches, and an optional skirt. I’m still working on texturing as well as on the Titania 3.0 wings so it’s not out yet, but keep an eye out for it soon!
Fairyzette Sahara strikes again
I’ve posted in my blog about this creator a few months ago already as she’d copied several of my designs, so I was shocked to find she’d gone and released one of them again with minimal changes at the October We <3 Roleplay event.
Below is the PrimFeed posts advertising the costume pack containing the wings, which has now been removed.
One of the big reasons I’m sharing details here is because of the way the situation was handled by the event owners / organizers, and my previous experiences with people who engaged in some form of slander / libel against me in retaliation for expecting them to follow their own rules they claim to enforce.
I didn’t have high confidence that this would be dealt with quickly due to my previous interactions with one of the owners, who admitted to ignoring my message to her about a different infringer because they weren’t selling the thing at her event specifically.
The only reason I did let her know, is because their rules seem to say that those who copy others’ work are not considered for their events, period, and a friend urged me to let them know, assuming they cared about copyright as much as we do.
After not hearing back from her for a couple weeks, my friend made a group chat with me and Voshie, the event owner, thinking she must have been really busy and missed the message.
Her response was “Hey there, I actually have received your message, however I chose not to respond as I feel like this is not WLRP's concern as it was never at our event.”
Considering her lack of concern, I didn’t have a lot of faith I’d get a response for this infringing creator either but I messaged her on Sept. 30th with screenshots of the prior DMCA removals & all my evidence, and sent the co-owner a message in world along with a notecard. I sent Voshie a notecard too, stating the facts of the matter.
I didn’t hear from anyone until late on Oct 1, when the co-owner asked me to send evidence of the DMCA because she ‘isn’t a fan of hear-say’, so I let her know I already sent all that to Voshie on Discord, but that I’d see if there’s anything else I can add.
The messages and notecards screenshots are below, nothing exciting there but if a rumor gets spread that I ‘pressured’ them or did anything else beyond what any copyright holder would do, I want the actual evidence all in one place showing my actual - and fairly polite at that - messages.
She at least had responded, although the “I’m not a fan of hear-say’ felt a bit like an accusation after already being brushed off by Voshie. I gave her the benefit of the doubt tho that maybe she didn’t mean it that way.
I sent Voshie extra screenshots and info, none of it necessary to see that Fairyzette was a repeat infringer as I’d already sent sufficient proof of that. See for yourself below.
And at the end of the day on the 3rd, which was already open to bloggers, and the night before opening day, I asked Arséne if this was still being addressed. She said they were still setting up and it would take some time. I still had hoped that they would take care of it before the event opened and sales started, but that didn’t happen. (screenshot of whole chat log at the bottom)
Her booth was up & ready for business.
Because it seemed the event owners / organizers were not giving this issue the urgency it deserved, I opened the group chat - and saw OTHER complaints of infringement. I learned Neon Sheep was accused of selling copybotted items. Their stall is also gone now, maybe that was a valid claim?
So I mentioned my own copycat issue without even mentioning her name yet, and nearly instantly got chastised for it and locked out of the chat.
Honestly, that wasn’t surprising, but the final response kinda was. I was still holding out hope that they’d make up somehow for taking so long to take care of this or at least have a better explanation why, and in the middle of the night after a full day of possible sales I got a message saying:
”Set up is done & also I do not appreciate that you are pressuring us about this that much. Thats said: We removed her since you provided us with the DMCA & we are hoping this matter will resolve itself for you. Best of luck!”
That was the extent of our communications, the screenshots can speak for themselves.
Should ‘we’re setting up’ still be an acceptable excuse by the time the event opens, sales start, and they could be liable as participants in contributory or vicarious infringement?
Genuinely, I’m curious if this kind of delay is standard in SL for sales events or not, as my only other experience was an organizer who removed the content very quickly and without snark.
The empty space where Fairyzette’s Les Sucreries De Fairy store sat, removed for copyright infringement
At least they did remove her booth, and I appreciate that they finally did what they were legally obligated to do.
I understand I may face backlash or exclusion for speaking out, but letting the public know what actually happened so misinformation doesn’t spread is important to me. I’d rather have the facts laid out here for all our sakes before a twisted version of events ends up on a site like the Virtual Burn Book.
I want honest customers who support artist rights to know when they may be unwittingly buying stolen IP based on my work, I know I would want to be informed.