Strokerz Toyz/Eros LLC Takes Linden Lab to Court in Class Action Lawsuit!!!

Lawsuit seeks injunction against Linden Research to prevent intellectual property rights infringement in Second Life

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Shannon Grei and Kevin Aldermann's Eros LLC have filed a complaint in US District Court in Northern California against Linden Reseach alleging "Linden Lab, with knowing and conscious intent to do so, profits in multiple ways and at multiple stages from the illegal conduct" and asks for an injunction to halt the activity. Eros LLC markets a line of sex animations for the virtual world of Second Life, and has built a successful business - but the accumulated frustrations with the weak enforcement of intellectual property rights on the part of Linden Lab seem to have reached the breaking point.

When the Herald contacted Stroker Serpentine for comment, Mr. Serpentine (Kevin Aldermann in real life) said, "This is not about financial gain. Seldom do class actions result in substantial class settlements. This is about a pattern of ambivelence over six years. We want fundamental change in the regard to the very content and creators that made SL what it is today."

The complaint begins:

"Plaintiffs Eros, LLC (“Eros”) and Shannon Grei, d/b/a Nomine (“Grei”) (collectively, “Plaintiffs”), bring this class action complaint against Defendants Linden Research, Inc. and Linden Research International, Inc. (collectively, “Linden Lab” or “Defendant”), headquartered in San Francisco, California, for its practice of violating the real-world intellectual property rights of proprietors of virtual content within the Second Life virtual world (“Second Life”), which Linden Lab owns and operates."

The illegal conduct alleged includes

"directly and secondarily violated the intellectual property rights of Plaintiffs and other Second Life proprietors.  Linden Lab directly and secondarily infringes the trademark of Plaintiff Eros by using Eros’s mark to sell infringing virtual goods within Second Life and by providing the tools to other infringing Second Life users.  Linden Lab directly and secondarily violates the copyrights of Plaintiff
Grei by reproducing and displaying her copyrighted works within Second Life, and by materially contributing to and supervising the infringing conduct of others within Second Life."

We will have much more on this breaking story once we finished reading the complaint - if Stroker is as successful with this legal action as he has been with legal actions in the past, the Lindens may have their hands full.

Comments

[IntLibber Brautigan]

You realize of course that under Barnes v Yahoo in the 9th circuit (http://web20.nixonpeabody.com/np20/np20blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=5374facc-7ab2-482c-8bea-810457ec74db&ID=333) (assuming they filed in California or similar western points), that the LL Terms of Service obligates LL to enforcing it irrespective of court judgements. For LL to fail to actively enforce its own TOS constitutes a promissory estoppel issue, and leaves the lab wide open to some serious judgements.

[brinda allen]

WOW! This will be interesting to say the least!

[Judge Joker]

Strokers got balls for being able to stand in front of a real world judge and stating he makes virtual world sexual animations and toys.

I wonder who will be able to keep a straight face in that court room.

While Linden Labs appose you in there fine suits as the masters of getting you to do there "dirty" work by making you make all there content for there virtual world, oh and some how being kind enough to let you cash out profit.

A successful business is not located on the Internet were content can be copied, cut, ripped, and distributed were the lawless rains supreme your law suit is doomed to fail.

You own your content, you have the DMCA and make money what more do you want? more sales for throwing out a Class Action Lawsuit.

Did your sales drop so much when Linden Labs made Adult Sims and moved over the xstreet forum? that you need to fabricate some issue or trouble to get noticed!

[Doubledown Tandino]

He's got big balls!

Don't bite the hand that feeds ya.

[All Seeing Eye]

Let the retaliations begin. LL must be pouring over IM logs right this minute to see who knew about this and/or was involved. Expect bannings and content destruction to ensue. As well as accidental loss of bytes from the asset system with no backups because all of the backups got destroyed in a tragic accident. And wtf is this thing someone asked about in answers... some sort of resident content tool or something that supposedly appeared as a support type? wtf is that about suddenly appearing a few days ago with nothing anywhere supporting the reason for it's existence. could that be related?

[Strokerisanidiot]

Way to bite the hand that feeds you.

[Miro Collas]

I think he's just annoyed that his sales have plummeted, and thinks it is all due to people stealing his stuff. He overlooks that there are now MANY superior products, all original, all cheaper. His brand used to be the only game in town, aside from stolen stuff. But not anymore.

A lot of "old" SL are finding themselves in this situation: they used to rule, now they don't, and they haven't tried to keep up, to innovate, and they do not understand why their sales have gone into the toilet.

All IMHO, of course.

[Rick]

Good for Eros and Stroker. LL has played much to freely with the rules of the world they opened up. We see it in their decisions about Adult content, Open Sims, and intelectual property concerns. It's about time someone held them accountable

[John Marks]

Look at the bigger picture here people. There are copybots all over the grid. Creators work hard on their work in sl, hours of work, their vision and creatity goes in to that, and others just copy the thing and set it to sale within minutes. Stroker is doing us all a favour by trying to force LL to protect those that are making SL worth while. Cheers Stroker!

[IntLibber Brautigan]

@Judge Joker:
"A successful business is not located on the Internet were content can be copied, cut, ripped, and distributed were the lawless rains supreme your law suit is doomed to fail."
Sorry you fail at Teh Intertubez 101. Some of the most valuable companies on the planet "is located on the internet": iTunes, Google, etc, where all they offer is digital content.

@Miro:
"He overlooks that there are now MANY superior products, all original, all cheaper"
I dont know of ANY other bed maker producing their own custom animations using motion capture suits. Please let me know if I'm missing someone here. Most all other bed makers are selling beds made with scripts stolen from his products. Please detail who is being original and how.

@All Seeing Eye:
"Let the retaliations begin."
Your legal ignorance is showing. If LL started doing that, Strokerz' judge would rather quickly deliver a summary judgement in favor of Strokerz. Plaintiff intimidation, esp in an environment where everything is recorded, is extremely stupid.

[Johnny alt]

Applauds Mr Serpentine's balls of steel.
It does appear to many that Linden Labs are ambivelent and careless with the Intellectual property of their content creators.
Linden Labs really do need to get their act together in regards to Intellectual Property. The DMCA process is antiquated and inadequate for virtual goods and their failure to ban the thieves and remove the stolen content from the Secondlife database is actually an act of unacceptable negligence. It's very clear that Linden Labs do not show due diligence, the consequence being that they encourage and profit from IP theft and 'unfair competition'.
It is clearly unfair for content creators to have to compete with stolen versions (exact duplicates) of their own copyrighted products.
It beggars belief that Linden Labs have acted so carelessly for so long. Their grid is now so full of stolen, copybotted content that they are surely on very shaky ground

[Just a Boy]

@ Everyone saying, "Way to bite the hand that feeds you" etc.

No, in actuality LL is biting the hands that feed THEM. I truly believe that content creation is a big reason why this world is thriving, whether people do it as a hobby or a full time job; commercially, or personally; it doesnt matter- It all helps to build this world. Thievery affects everyone. Period. Its absurd people are actually saying he has no right to do this and is "biting the hand that feeds him". So hes supposed to sit back, hunched in a corner, being abused, and stolen from even though he makes money here? Thats akin to a woman in RL who has a husband who feeds her, shelters her, and clothes her, but everynight he disregards and beats the shit out of her. You shame her for having thoughts of telling Authority because he helps her survive, "But he shelters you! he clothes you! Dont bite the hand that feeds you!." Give me a break! Law is law. Regardless of what medium or platform. And laws are being broken here by LL, and whether or not LL are the ones enabling us to make money or not, they are NOT above the law. And im glad someone finally has the means to attempt to stand against the blatant disregard LL has for IP rights. Sure, they care about it to an extend, but its on, and has always been on, their back burner.

[Wharrblgarble]

Borrowed from The Cryolife Papers article.

"Today we are in a similar situation in Second Life. You can adjust your business decision calculations based on the threat posed by piracy or you can ignore it, waste energy by blaming Linden Labs for something they cannot control and stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the threat."

Stroker is already making a sizeable profit through his SL businesses, upwards of $1 Million USD I read here. The sooner that he just accepts that content theft is inevitable to a degree, the better. If he's making that much money *despite* the alleged content theft then surely he has to realise that he's on to a good thing? I'm not condoning content theft of course; I'm simply pointing out that he's making a fantastic profit *in spite of it*.

[Madame Maracas]

I have 2 phrases that come to mind

Ethics are not optional
Manners are not optional

Had LL exercised them both previously, respected the valued work of their residents they'd ASKED to provide content for their world, on spec, this would not have had to happen. What happens to Nomine and Eros/SexGen happens to us all, cheapening our SL experience, making us all complicit in thieves' acts.

Who are the thieves?

They're the ones ripping off content & sales from hard working content creators.

That does include Linden Lab, since they take a percentage of transactions in their online market, they take a percentage of Lindens cashed out to USD, and because they get rent/tier from those running black market shops. Every time something ripped off gets sold, and that money moves around, the crime ripples through the grid.

This is not a simple matter.
This effects us all.
This should never have had to get to this point.
Linden Lab chose to stick their head in the sand and hope no one got their stuff together enough to call them to the mat.

It is an ugly business, and I am certain that had the other "tools" available to us all had worked, Stroker and Munchflower wouldn't have taken these steps. Who would want to?

That's my 2L.

[David Crespo]

Love it when people applaud SL residents for taking the Lab to task over their short comings. The hypocrisy is even more ironic, when the same people 'bitch' about RL brands stopping SL designers from ripping off their IP. What is the difference?!

The real issue here? These two so called designers, are out of date. Have you seen how their products have dated and been taken over by new and more original designs? If this isn't a case of sour grapes, I don't know what is.

I DO KNOW THE REAL STORY HERE:

Stroker got a shit load of publicity when he did this last time, he took a class action against an individual. It boosted his sales and notoriety. This is a marketing tactic, he got face time on TV and across a zillion blogs. Stop feeding his sales funnel, by ignoring this obvious publicity stunt.

[Metacam Oh]

Its funny how people here actually think LL feeds them. Feeds them what, a huge ass ponzi scheme and a fake dream? Give me a break. Hats off to Stroker for doing something, and besides this most likely in response to when a Linden employee intentionally from the inside "broke" the sex gen beds all over the grid.

[Eriko]

So did someone steal his scripts? I thought his former business partner was selling his stuff, saying it was co-created or something like that. I don't believe you can steal scripts, at least not yet. And scripts are pretty much this guys business. The prim part of his creations are not all that unique. At this point, the animations and scripts are pretty dated also. I've seen much better ones out there.

[PixPol]

Pixels and Policy just put up some analysis on the issue - great piece by the way!

www.PixelsandPolicy.com

[David Crespo]

Stroker is being fed very well here, he reports to have revenues of $1,000,000USD. As for breaking his beds? Total hogwash, pure speculation and not proven. LL change LSL, which means products have to be updated. This is an environment of change, with the kind of revenue Stroker has in place, he should have a support and upgrade team.

The reality here, if Stroker doesn't like it. He should move on to another platform, it would seem he's had nothing but hardship and is a broken man. Must be very hard to wake up each day knowing that you're going to be making around $2,739?

The ponzi scheme here is the early adopter pyramid, Stroker was one of the first in, therefore he think's LL owe him more on the downstream. The reality is, SL has grown. Which means new down streams of sellers, and new ways to sell products.

The other change? People don't ask for recommendation of sellers/designers anymore. They simply hit Xstreet and search on product description, decisions are made on price and whimsy. New users are actively encouraged to do this, it breaks with the tradition of 'shop browsing' in SL. Therefore, the 'names' in the SL lexicon are finding it harder and harder. The big mistake in XStreet is ignoring the 'designers story' it's just a catalogue of products and names.

If Stroker was serious, he would put his energies into getting more creative on the marketing front. That would be more productive. Or maybe channel that experience into a diversification of product line.

I cannot also help thinking this is also in reaction to Zindra? I wonder if he will file a 'forced eviction by landlord' due to the relocation? The reality is, the sex trade in SL is going to nose dive. Mainly due to the restrictive nature of supply and demand. M Linden is cleaning up the house, he wants SL to be a PG13 friendly Theme Park. All ready and Californian-gleaming for a sale or IPO.

I also hope that Munchflower knows what she is getting into here, it all seems very hanger-on in terms of her involvement.

[Miro Collas]

@IntLibber Brautigan: Henmations (sp?)

Just because you haven't heard of something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[Joxter Hax]

@John Marks
Luna Animations makes and scripts every product by hand. All content is original and of very high quality. Stop by Luna Prime sometime and be educated.

[Joxter Hax]

oops, sorry that last comment should be directed to IntLibber Brautigan.

[Jumpman Lane]

hey davy crespo i beg to differ. sex will always sell. UNLESS linden lab decides to do completely away with sex in SL. Eros has their own mini continent. they werent required to move to that lag-dump Zindra. The VIEWER change perhaps harmed their Vegas sim, (poor noobs coulndt find muchless access it caws noobs dont ageverify day one) but day ol noobswere hardly eros' sex bed market.

things arent BAD or even tuff in the sex anims market, infact business is a booming. there are just so many more (better?) sex beds etc on the market that COMPETITION is the key word.

this strikes me all as a publicity stunt, because Linden Lab says allthe right things about ip right, does all that is legally required, so that no one is going to say that LL is personally violating Eros trademarks or abetting anyone who is. they spell out the dmca policy , there are channels to handle such thing. The Lab's hands are clean.

IF this is just for publicity, playin chicken withthe lab HAS its rewards, but as a bunch and as a rule LINDENS though pesky by nature, are downright vindictive when provoked.

So Good Luck Stroker. Trailblazer all the way!

[Amira Footman]

Ok, please correct me if I have this wrong, but am I correct in thinking that the base of the action against LL is for basically 'enabling' content theives? Isn't that a bit like getting hit by a drunk person in a bar and then taking the owners of the bar to court for selling alcohol? We are ALL adults in Second Life, we ALL have personal responsibility for our actions, the only people to blame for content theft.... are the content theives! What Stroker and Ms Grei need to try and consider that this, if it gets anywhere near a courtroom, isn't going to just be about IP theft. It will have HUGE ramifications for the level of involvement LL has generally in what we do in SL. I fear it will erase any personal freedom we have in SL at all, for LL's fear of being sued. The entire way SL works will change, in essence, it will become There. Which would mean, um, sorry but no sex beds, no sex furniture, no nothing that could cause even the most sensitive person offence. I support any content creator's right to protect their work but I do not support this lawsuit. As someone who enjoys having responsible personal freedom in SL, for example I have a SL family that includes child avatars, the consequences of the actions by these two individuals scares me.

[Jimbo]

LOL

This is great. Not only is Stroker going to end up spending a fortune on this lawsuit but if he wins, he'll effectively kill SL. Because his plan of attack is to strip away LL's use of the DMCA Safe Harbor provision as a defense. Once that's gone, sure, he'll win. But there goes the virtual porn and virtual prostitution that probably form the foundation for the vast majority of SL's economy. And if LL is then responsible for everything that it's customers do, LL will shut everything down to avoid prosecution by any zealous local or federal prosecutor. Talk about the old adage, "be careful for what you ask for; you might get it". Good luck Stroker!

[Peanut]

Stroker and LL deserve each other.

They both play out of the same business "ethics" hand book.

Like when Stroker once tried to bully other animation makers after decided he owned the idea of placing scripted anims inside prims... rofl

This latest publicity stunt is just more self-righteous hubris, born of the fear of losing what he once had because SL is changing. Yawn.

The dream can't last forever. Reality is catching up with your little snowglobe world whose tit you've been sucking for longer than most people could hope for.

Be thankful >> next phase.

[Lalina]

I agree, this is greed when I saw this lawsuit NO ONE WANTS sexgen or munch items, they are the past there are much better places to shop whether cheaper or more expensive, what you get for your dime is much more meaty than what you get from them. I agree this is about him not making his money. He even mentioned before that his family is suffering because he was only making 400k usd. ONLY??? talk about greed in our current nation financial situation

[Lalina]

I also confirm I remember the same story he gave away full perms of his items to someone else so now he cries about it. There is no mention of that in his lawsuit either. I hope linden labs finds those chat logs to use to show. And Munch filing about how copyright infringement when in 2006 photo sourced items graced her walls for shame!

[janeforyou Barbara]

sex sells in PG sims....i took a look in search..i set it on PG only..typed in "Lesbian" 8 sims poped up full of "Adult" search words..all are sexclubs or nude beaches even shops... then i turned on "Mature" in search 19 sims with "adult" search words poped up.. after sept 15 all this are suppose to be set " adult"
Zindra the "Adult" land and lots of other that do follow the rules set there land to "adult". i know there are 30.000 Sims in SL.. but i had a email from the lab telling me what to do to do all leagal and i did it.. it pisses me off that The Lab dont chekk all this that abuse the rules and brakes the rules get away with it!!

Stroker and me and lots of others that advertise for sex items we sell are trying to do the right stuff.My business are not big, but i do like to have total ownersip on it.

[Coke Supply]

Stroker's sim seems to be closed at the moment - his profile says he's remodelling the sim - access is currently closed

[Noor Loam]

Stroker who, Munchflower who?! What a coincidence, to start some class whatever act suit right at the adult change in SL. This stroker dude is so 2004 in his content creation, same is for munchie. No one buys their crap anymore. I wouldn't want to have neither one of their items for free. Why would anyone copy badly made skins, or spend 5K on some badly made prim bed nowadays?!
There are amazing content creators out there like Wolfe's Mocap beds, who has been in world for a long time as well. But he goes and grows with the everchanging times in SL. Our need and desire for new creations is way more pushy then it was in 2006, hence content creators are bombarding us weekly with new items, because we live a very fast life in SL.
Stroker is not doing this for " Others ", he is a greedy bastard, who is a has been and can not fathom the fact, no one wants his shit anymore. He pretty much, ( if he wins, which I highly doubt! ), will mess up a lot and not for the better. However LL may implement some new rules/ TOS, which will affect anyone in the Adult Business, win or loss of the suit.
As some said, don't bite the hand that feeds you, so true - some old man who's shining days of SL are a blast of the past. I wonder how much of his $1 mill, he reported to the department of revenue. I am sure there are loopholes and I hope the court will dig so dam deep into his dam shit and LL get him of the grid!

[jamie Cheeky]

"I dont know of ANY other bed maker producing their own custom animations using motion capture suits. Please let me know if I'm missing someone here. Most all other bed makers are selling beds made with scripts stolen from his products. Please detail who is being original and how."

@John Marks - how rude!!, I guess those months I spent making my animations by hand were my imagination then! Every single one of my animations in our OPEN SOURCE MLP scripted beds have been made by ME in poser and I find it narrow minded that you think that no one but stroker can make a decent anim!

[Jumpman Lane]

@Noor Loam that is my take onthe situation exactly. people HAVE stolen the beds and offered em at a deep discount but no one wants those crappy eros beds at all. this lawsuit is a last gasp effort to revive a dying brand. it will only serve to make secondlife worse for the average player if LL institutes even ONE new crappy rule, or is finacially destabilized by this frivilous suit. Since his minions/employees spent all spring and summer stealing redgrave skins and passingthem out allover the grid, he is mostcertainly NOT a champion of content creator's rights. (Cheergirl Allen and Chelsea Malibu ACT LIKE THEY DIDNT LMAO!)

@JAMIE CHEEKS from what i hear The old Man never scripted shit, hasnt made the first anim used in anything in the past, basically shitted corsi moushold outta profits, and aint usint that fat suit, i mean anim suit for anything.

We support the lab. Djquad Radio of Roadkill tees has made a group called Friends of The lab. I for oe am joining up
we gonna pretend people by eros Products and boycott that bullshit, raise money for the lindens legal defence and w/e else wecan dream up to stir up crap onna the grid. because we LOVE sl, and might be fun to kneecap that oldie turd for kix, for frees, for lulz, for god, for the lab, and for slut magazine

[jamie cheeky]

@ Jumpman Lane - yup I heard the same thing, If this is true and he didnt script a single thing then how can he continue with this lawsuit? how can you cliam rights for something you didnt create!
*ponders that one*

[JayJay]

I've gotta say, I've had dealings with Stroker, and to be honest, he comes across as quite egotistical and unfriendly. He is ruthless in driving competition away, and using dirty tactics. He thrives off threatening legal action against anyone he feels threatened by. He wants his name plastered all over everything related to Second Life. His ridiculous claim for a lawsuit is just another way for him to steal a bit of limelight in hopes to boost dwindling sales. I'm glad I am not the only one this is obvious to.

And he is out of his mind if he thinks any good can come from this.

[Jumpman Lane]

@Jaimie Cheeky SexGen(tm) sex beds to this day are made with scripts by Briggi Bard and animations by Corsi Mousehold. These were his former partners. Bard resides in Europe. in short, Briggi Made the first beds, coined the name sex gen, built half of the Amsterdam sim. Corsi added anims in later iterations of sexgen beds. Stroker marked it all. all the beds had a split cscript in them. Stroker trademarked the name sexgen in the us, removed the split script, kept the monies, spold amsterdamn for 10k usd, kept the money, threatend corsi and briggi with a lawsuit if they continued calling their beds sexgen, (they call their version neolove now) and stroker conitues to sell briggi scripts and corsi anims in his crap

@Jay Jay the above i reckon is a response to you

It would seem that Stroker Serpentine is the biggest content thief in the history of second life and the corporate culture of eros is one sneak-thievery.

[FWord Utorid]

http://tinyurl.com/yflzef4 contains what I believe to be the original, bsd licensed 'sex bed scripts'. Stroker needs to suck on his products, and learn to swallow... his pride.