Commons:Second Life

English: Second Life is a virtual world created and operated by Linden Lab. The terms of service grant the copyright of work created within Second Life to the user who created it. This means it is possible to obtain freely licensed imagery of Second Life, and this essay explains the conditions under which snapshots and machinima from Second Life may be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.

Summary

The terms of service of Second Life allow snapshots and machinima to be licensed by the person who creates that content. They do not require that the media is licensed under a free license, so this must be granted by the person who created it, as normal. All files uploaded to Commons that contain Second Life content should be tagged with {{Second Life}} and must be tagged with an appropriate free license.

The current terms of service came into effect on April 30, 2010. Media created on, or after, that date may be uploaded to Commons provided that:

• For snapshots: The land owner does not specifically prevent the creation of snapshots.
• For machinima: The land owner permits the creation of machinima, and permission is granted by the owners of all identifiable avatars.

The previous terms of service did not make a distinction between snapshots and machinima. Media created before April 30, 2010 can only be uploaded to Commons provided that:

• For all media: Permission is granted by the creators of all content depicted.

If a media file only depicts the creator's avatar, then in general it can be uploaded without the requirement for any further permission. However, if their appearance includes significant content created by others then their permission is required.

For a more detailed summary of the restrictions, see the appropriate section below.

General restrictions

If a snapshot or machinima contains any of the following, it cannot in general be uploaded to Commons:

1. Any content used within Second Life that was originally created elsewhere, such as copyrighted artwork and music.
2. Any trademarks of Linden Lab, such as the Second Life Eye-in-Hand logo or the text "Second Life®".
3. Elements of the Second Life User Interface.

If any of these elements are included, then specific permission from the copyright holder should be sought and, if obtained, forwarded to OTRS.

Snapshots or machinima made on or after April 30, 2010

Content created by users

In general, a Second Life user retains all intellectual property rights in content uploaded, published or submitted to the Second Life Service: Second Life Terms of Service updated March 31, 2010, clause 7.1; Second Life Residents to Own Digital Creations: Linden Lab Preserves Real World Intellectual Property Rights of Users of its Second Life Online Service. Linden Lab (November 14, 2003). Archived from the original on 2007-10-21. A user also has licenses from Linden Lab, the provider of the Second Life service, to take snapshots and capture machinima of the content created that is displayed in-world ("License to Capture"), and to use the resulting snapshot or machinima within or outside of Second Life in any current or future media ("License to Use"), provided that certain conditions are met. The License to Use is worldwide, sublicensable, and transferable. (A user "uses" content by using, reproducing, distributing, modifying, preparing derivative works of, displaying, and performing the content.) See the Second Life Snapshot and Machinima Policy, clause 1.

Definitions

• Content means any works of authorship, creative works, graphics, images, textures, photos, logos, sounds, music, video, audio, computer programs, applications, animations, gestures, text, objects, primitives, scripts, and interactive features: Terms of Service, clause 4.1.
• Intellectual Property Rights means copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade dress, publicity rights, database rights, patent rights, and other intellectual property rights or proprietary rights recognized by law: Terms of Service, clause 4.1.
• Machinima means a film or computer animation generated using the real-time three-dimensional graphics-rendering engine of Second Life: Snapshot and Machinima Policy, clause 4(e).
• Snapshot means a screen capture, image capture, or photograph of the three-dimensional virtual world environment of Second Life: Second Life Snapshot and Machinima Policy, clause 4(o).
• The Service is the multi-user online service offered by Linden Lab and includes the Websites, Servers, Linden Software, Linden In-World Content, and User Content: Terms of Service, clause 4.1.

Conditions. The conditions that must be satisfied are as follows:

• Land owner consent. If the snapshot or machinima is of content on another user's land, the following conditions apply:
  • Snapshots. If the covenant for the land prohibits snapshots, permission from the land owner is required for the snapshot. If the covenant for the land says nothing about snapshots, or for Mainland or Linden Homes parcels where Linden Lab is the estate owner, no permission is required.
  • Machinima. If the covenant for the land prohibits or says nothing about machinima, permission from the land owner is required for the machinima. Permission is also required from the land owner for Mainland or Linden Homes parcels where Linden Lab is the estate owner: Snapshot and Machinima Policy, clause 2(a).

Definitions

• land owner means the Second Life resident identified as the land owner in the "General" tab under "About Land": Snapshot and Machinima Policy, clause 2(a).

• No infringement of other copyright. The snapshot or machinima must not contain any copyrighted work not belonging to the user (such as images, music or sound recordings, or videos), unless permission has been obtained from the copyright owner for the work to be released into the public domain or licensed to the Wikimedia Commons under the same license chosen or to be chosen by the user when uploading the snapshot or machinima to the Commons, or a freer license: compare the Snapshot and Machinima Policy, clause 2(c).

• Compliance with Linden Lab policies. The user must be in full compliance with the Second Life Terms of Service, Community Standards, Trademark Guidelines, and all other policies of Linden Lab: Snapshot and Machinima Policy, clause 2(d). For example, snapshots and machinima to be uploaded to the Commons cannot contain Linden Lab's trademarks such as Second Life® (both in text and in its distinctive font), Second Life Grid™, SL™, Linden™, LindeX™, Linden Lab®, the Second Life Eye-in-Hand logo, the Second Life Grid logo, the inSL Cube logo, and the Linden Lab Hexagon logo unless written permission from Linden Lab consenting to such use has been sent to the OTRS.

Provided the conditions are satisfied, a user owns the copyright in content that he or she creates and uploads to the Service (for example, an avatar), and may license snapshots and machinima of such content to the Wikimedia Commons.

Content created by third parties

By uploading, publishing or submitting any content through Linden Lab's servers to display in-world in any publicly accessible area of the service, a Second Life user gives permission to other users a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to photograph, capture an image of, film, and record a video of the content, and to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the resulting photograph, image, film, or video in any current or future media, provided that certain conditions are met: Terms and Conditions, clause 7.4.

Definitions

• Publicly accessible areas of the Service means areas that are accessible to other users of Second Life, for example, areas to which access has not been restricted using Virtual Land tools: Terms and Conditions, clause 7.4.

Conditions. In addition to the conditions mentioned in the previous section, the following condition must be satisfied:

• Avatar consent for machinima. For machinima, the consents of all users whose avatars or Second Life names are featured or recognizable in the machinima have been obtained.
  • Consent is required for avatars featured in a shot, avatars whose names are legible, and avatars whose appearance is sufficiently distinctive that they are recognizable by users.
  • Consent is not required if an avatar is not recognizable and is only part of a crowd scene or shown in a fleeting background: Snapshot and Machinima Policy, clause 2(b).

No such consent is required for snapshots.

Provided the applicable conditions are satisfied, a user has the right to make snapshots and machinima of content created by other users, and may upload such content to the Wikimedia Commons.

Snapshots or machinima made before April 30, 2010

Prior to April 30, 2010, the terms of service were more restrictive, the relevant portions are detailed below. The old Terms of Service are available here and also archived on the Internet Archive).

In general, a user owns the copyright to content that he or she creates in Second Life.

When Second Life users submit content they grant to other users a license to use the content only within Second Life, and retain the copyright. Only the creator can release that content under a free license, so their permission is required to make use of their work. Ownership of content in-world does not necessarily mean the user owns the copyright.

However, Linden Lab owns textures and environmental content created or owned by it and displayed in-world, and such content is only licensed to users for their use in creating content in-world, so cannot be used outside of the Second Life environment. Linden Lab also reserves all rights to its trademarks such as "Second Life" and the eye-in-hand logo. These cannot be included in a freely licensed work without permission from Linden Labs.

Therefore, snapshots or machinimas made before April 30, 2010 can be uploaded to Commons if it contains:

• No third party content (for example, an avatar), unless the creator agrees to release their content under a free license.
• No textures or environmental content owned by Linden Lad and no Linden Lab Marks, unless Linden Lab has authorized the use of the content.

If permission is required from Linden Labs or a third party, this needs to be obtained before the file can be uploaded. If an appropriate permission is granted ideally it should be forwarded to OTRS and noted on the image page.