Amaretto Received a Temporary DMCA Immunity From Linden Lab.

Well I guess LL is not all powerful after all. There has been an ongoing virtual animal copyright dispute regarding breedables in SL, specifically the Amaretto Breedables (horses) I previously blogged about (here: NeedToBreedHere) and Ozimals (bunnies)I've also mentioned. I've tried them both and am ready to move on to a new breedable, as I like the experiences but don't want the "work" or monotony of breeding a pixel animal for profit. At this point any potential new breedable businesses should keep an eye on this dispute which could greatly impact the business and there are many implications for other content creators and Second Life in general as well.

The latest turn of events is that in this virtual animal copyright dispute, Amaretto gained temporary DMCA Immunity From Linden Lab meaning a judge issued a temporary restraining order against Linden Lab fom filing DMCA notices against Amaretto (Linden Lab is the one who carries out any DMCA takedown notice filed against one SL)or otherwise removing its content from Second Life lasting until January 11, when the judge will rule on Amaretto's request for an injunction. Some bigger issues involved include how courts may rule in controlling LL general practices, whether SL should be considered a publisher vs. a host, and in cases of content disputes if LL or the businesses should be the ones the courts should be ordering i.e. does Second Life have the First Amendment right to decide what to publish and what not to publish w/out court involvement? I guess this could be a heads up for all content creators.

My bunnies are hibernating in the inventory abyss. Remington and Char have been given to a friend and 4 baby horse bales, a ton of food, my stable, and a few other items are all packed safely away in inventory. I've visited friends breeding everything from turtles to dragons and breedables have really become big business. (Note: the horses run from $200L like mine up to $80,000L each---seriously!) I'm sure regardless of this current dispute there will be more breedables to come one way or another, but I'm interested to see how the court and LL along with the breedable businesses work this out as it seems this issue is really much bigger than the breedables.

The court order can be viewed here: CourtOrderHere.