Linden Lab invites reports of viewer license violations
In the last several months, we've had numerous tips from readers that one or another of the available third-party Second Life viewers that are in distribution are in breach of the license agreements under which Linden Lab makes the source-code available. As the sole copyright holder (contributor's copyrights are assigned to Linden Lab via a contribution agreement), Linden Lab is the only party that can do more than apply limited verbal or social pressure for compliance [as it turns out, contributors remain full copyright holders - thanks for clearing that up, Gigs]. We've gotten quite a few readers asking how to report license violations, and if Linden Lab would seriously investigate those reports.
"We take copyright matters seriously," a Linden Lab spokesperson told us yesterday, "and people are welcome to report what they believe to be violations of the GPL terms under which we've made the viewer source code available."
Linden Lab says that it appreciates community action to spot potential violations of the licensing terms, but to in order to preserve the rights and privacies of others won't discuss the details of such reports or actions.
If you believe you have spotted a situation where variations or derivatives of the viewer source code are being made available without full and continuing compliance with the license terms, you should file a report to licensing@lindenlab.com. We, here at Massively, appreciate your sharp eyes and your zeal, but it isn't our place to report potential license violations on your behalf.
You may wish to consult with the GPL violation reporting guide from the Free Software Foundation in order to improve the quality of the reports that you provide to Linden Lab.
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