I’ve deleted my Sawode skins review blog entry after learning that Dutch Touch has filed a DMCA against Sawode skins. I’ve known Iki Ikarus for awhile and I respect her decision to do so, so I have removed the blog entry voluntarily. It’s up to the DMCA to decide of course, so if you want to continue purchasing the Sawode skins, do so at your own risk.
I’m really glad that Iki (and a few of you!) notified me of this. I wish more creators would move this swiftly when they believe their skins have been ripped.
( picture courtesy of Iki )
About Post Author
I can’t say anything about this particular case from these pictures, but I wanted to comment on this:
“It’s up to the DMCA to decide”
DMCAs don’t decide anything. When person A files a DMCA against person B, LL will disable access to the cited objects. They make no judgment call. If person B decides to counter-file, the cited objects will be returned by LL. Again, no judgment call is made.
Only if person A decides to press ahead after the counter-filing to take person B to court is any form of decision made. In many cases even legitimate claims of infringement never reach this stage because it costs too much. So having items remove because of a DMCA is no proof of guilt, any more than having items returned after a counter-filing is proof of innocence.
I just feel its dangerous to have that particular misconception spread further, because it can lead to all sorts of incorrect assumptions. 🙂
Looking at this set of pictures i don’t think that they have been ripped. I think looking at them on the same shape will make you believe they are more similar than they are. I don’t see anything the same with these skins except some partial shading which really isn’t ripping seeing as pretty much all skins have similar shading as that’s where shading is on a real body :/ I know that there was a big zip file with tonnes of pictures to compare which i’ve not yet looked at, but this is just my opinion on the set of pictures shown.
I wonder if they purchased from the same sources. If one simply copies, meaning by the sources legitimately but copies another persons style – not ripping per say, is that considered infringement? I think I need to pursue a law degree and specialize in second life lawsuits LOL.
Ah I just looked at Flickr – Iki states hers are for the most part hand drawn. Nevermind LOL.
I personally think that most of the skin designers rip shit from places like renderosity – I would like even one of them to post some screenies of their start to finish “hand drawn” skins. Not that this doesn’t look like a complete ripoff because you’d have to be blind to not think they are, I just don’t think that the skins themselves are obtained legitimately to begin with. Would be nice if people were responsible to put something like that up in their store – I don’t see how it would hurt. Furthermore, I doubt most of these people taking celebrity parts to make skins would have a leg to stand on in court – unless they’d like that lawsuit themselves.
I don’t really think those are stolen to me, they don’t look the same at all. The lips are very different, the body shading, the belly button on the Sawode is more defined same with the lips.
They have some pretty simple differences indeed
Dear Lenora, believe it or not but some people are capable of drawing a skin by hand. It takes a lot of skills, yes, but it boils up to drawing. There are people who can draw a sketch, paint a picture, ot texture 3D model/avatar. Some clothes in SL are photosourced and some drawn by hand, and the same refers to skins.
Dutch Touch released several skin lines over last two (?) years, and comparing the older ones to current releases one can see how the designer worked on them, evolved and improved.
i can’t say if the skins are stolen or not, because it’s hard to say. I mean the person might have been just inspired by the skin like the comment said at the top. We can’t say that the other person directly ripped the skin, But what i would like to know is what happened with the other skin maker that people said it looked like at first. I also thought it had alot of similarty with that skin. Did it get removed cause your friend said that she thought it looked like hers. I don’t know. I was just wondering. I do highly enjoy dutch touch skins, So i hope all of it gets sorted out. ttyl layla
Lenora,
While I agree that there’s clearly misuse of celebrity photos going on, there’s nothing wrong with using merchant resources from Renderosity. They are sold for the purpose of creating things such as skins with them.
For those who can’t see the similiarity, try clicking on the link to Iki’s flickr then select this picture in the original size. The damning evidence is the skin’s graining which was crafted by Iki personally thru photoshop filters. Areas by the temple, under the chin, along neck. It becomes very apparent when the picture is blown up.
Freyja – that’s all fine and good but no credits are being given anywhere … Idk that a skin maker in renderosity would be ok with not being credited for their work, and I hardly think there would be a copyright granted to anyone under these pretenses. As far as dutch touch is concerned, I have no idea – I don’t think NO ONE is capable of drawing a skin – it’s pretty obvious that she’s capable at a multitude of things … the point I’m making here is simply that I don’t see it likely that the majority of these people are designing these skins to begin with – there are exceptions …
Lenora,
Unless the license specifies that credit should be given, its not needed. From previous discussions of the matter, it seems the only limitation on many merchant resources is that you can’t resell the package as-is, you need to transform it in some fashion.
Maybe it would be nice to know the sources used, but its by no means required.
On MistyBlue’s point….shading and definition on a skin are subtle ways of changing a skin slightly to hide similarities. A good while ago i spotted a very obvious rip of a well known skin, the differences were only that the rippers had “smudged” the makeup on the face and toned down the detail slightly. I’m not a skin maker, but i think it can be easy to spot a stolen skin if you are as into skins as most of us are, and appreciate the time and craft that goes into making a really good one.
Is it just me that thinks Sawode = Skandaloose? Skandaloose that got busted for ripping the FNKY skins.
Sawode has been known to be DMCA’d quite a few times, I don’t even know how they STILL exist. It’s really sad because they just don’t realize that true skin designers work their ass off for months and then these assholes come right in, change a couple pieces and shading and sell for fast money. LL needs to do something bout this.
It’s obviously two different skins…
Nipples are totally different, lips are different, lips shine is different, shadows are different (in special on the lower back part), navels are different, eyebrows are different… what the hell are you seeing that is the same?
i think , you are partner to Iki ikarus . two diffrent skin are you see ?