GRAPHICS AND OBJECT CONTENT GUIDELINES:

1. What are the guidelines regarding what kinds of images and objects are allowed in CT?

To answer this question fully, let's take a look at a few things:

From the CT Constitution:

"9) In building your dwellings in Cybertown, the above rules also apply. In other words you cannot furnish your spaces with textures, texts, objects or images that would generally or usually be considered offensive, illegal, pornographic, racist or that violate copyrights."

From the Legal Notices:

"In consideration of being allowed to use the Chat Room facilities provided by Cybertown, you agree that you will not:

f. Post sexually-explicit images"

And from advice given to Security and the Mall staff to help them when deciding if a certain object can be approved for use in CT:

"What we're against is out and out pornography - hard-core or soft-core. Compare anything you're not sure about to whether it's generally considered acceptable for kids in movies, cartoons, comics, Anime, TV, games etc."

Now, let's look at some dictionary definitions:

por·nog·rag·phic: n. 1. Pictures, writing, or other material that is sexually explicit. 2. Writings, pictures, films, etc., designed to stimulate sexual excitement.

ex·pli·cit: adj. 1.a. Fully and clearly expressed; leaving nothing implied. b. Describing or portraying sexual activity in graphic detail.

sex·u·al: adj. 1. Of, relating to, involving, or characteristic of sex, sexuality, the sexes, or the sex organs and their functions. 2. Implying or symbolizing erotic desires or activity.

And let's look at the legal definition of pornography:

""Pornography" is a lay person's term, with no particular legal significance. Jones may believe that Penthouse is non-pornographic, while Smith believes that it is. Neither is incorrect.

The term of legal significance is "obscenity", which, after struggling for many years and through many cases, the U.S. Supreme Court defined in Miller v. California in 1973. It is a three-part test, as follows:

"The basic guidelines for the trier of fact (one who examines and settles a case) must be:

(a) whether "the average person, applying contemporary community standards" would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, Kois v. Wisconsin, supra, at 230, quoting Roth v. United States, supra, at 489;

(b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and

(c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."

Note that part (a) does employ community standards. However, all three parts must be met for a work to be deemed obscene, and part (c), as the Court has held elsewhere, is a national threshold, not a community test.

It must be remembered that offensive material alone does not constitute pornography. All three criterion have to be fulfilled for a work to be considered pornographic."

For the above, some further dictionary definitions:

Pru·ri·ent: adj. 1. Inordinately interested in matters of sex; lascivious. 2.a. Characterized by an inordinate interest in sex. b. Arousing or appealing to an inordinate interest in sex.

Las·civ·i·ous: adj. 1. Given to or expressing lust; lecherous.

lech·er·y: n. 1. Excessive indulgence in sexual activity; lewdness..

lewd: adj. 1.a. Preoccupied with sex and sexual desire; lustful. b. Obscene.

ris·qué: adj. Suggestive of or bordering on indelicacy or impropriety..

pro·pri·e·ty: n.. 1. The quality of being proper; appropriateness. 2. Conformity to prevailing customs and usages.

So, we do not allow explicit pornographic images or objects as defined above but images or objects that are no different than those you'll see in kid's comics such as Anime etc. (the less violent and less risque type aimed more at kids) are acceptable as are the kinds of images or objects that often show up in Gothic and vampire comics and games for kids (although we wouldn't want to over-promote violence, of course).

Images or objects on the same scale as the models posing for the cover of a magazine like Redbook, Cosmo, etc. and whose access is not restricted for children would be acceptable. What the image or object is trying to communicate as well as aesthetics come into it as well. You have to use judgement.

There has been a lot of discussion as to whether we should allow such items as handcuffs and whips and in studying all the points of view expressed in these discussions, we have come up with a middle ground that should make sense to most. A lot of discussion has been about items that "could be associated with" lifestyles that aren't appropriate for a family-friendly environment. That concept - "could be associated with" - is the key. Handcuffs, for instance, "could be associated with" police work, with prisons, with S&M activities etc. and when one sees a picture of an isolated pair of handcuffs one often has no way of knowing what the context is. A pair of handcuffs seen in an image that also contains spiked collars and chains however or that shows a person with a collar and chain around their neck, for instance, is more obviously associated with S&M activities.

Therefore we are not going to use the "could be associated with" concept as the test as it is far too open to widely varying interpretations but rather the "clearly are associated with" or "clearly are meant to allude to" concept.

So, an image or object of a single pair of handcuffs would per this be allowed. An image or object of a pair of handcuffs in an image or object scene that was clearly associated with or clearly meant to allude to S&M activities would not be allowed to be uploaded.

The basic guideline is that we do not allow images or objects that are clearly associated with or clearly meant to allude to S&M activities. Nor do we allow instruments of sexual torture.

In case anyone needs a definition of S&M, this is from the American Heritage:

sa·do·mas·o·chism n. Abbr. S-M, s-m, S&M, s&m . The perversion of deriving pleasure, especially sexual pleasure, from simultaneous sadism and masochism. [sad(ism) + masochism.] --sa”do·mas“o·chist n. --sa”do·mas”o·chis“tic adj.

and then there is bondage definition 3:

bond·age n. 1. The state of one who is bound as a slave or serf. See Synonyms at servitude. 2. A state of subjection to a force, a power, or an influence. 3. The practice of being physically restrained, as with cords or handcuffs, as a means of attaining sexual gratification.

This is why these don't belong in a family-oriented (parental guidance recommended) site.

2. What are the guidelines relating to copyright and trademark violations?

This is covered in the Legal Notices and the CT Constitution and other guidelines and when someone points out such a violation we get it removed, which is the same way that most other sites approach this issue. Copyright laws are not as clear cut as some might believe and as with obscenity laws there are a specific number of factors that have to considered together in order for something to be considered a copyright violation, but in keeping with our studies of the Copyright Act, a while back I gave this basic guideline: "If you don’t have the original artist or their representative’s permission in writing, don’t use their work in whole or in part.".

Additional info:

cop·y·right n. Abbr. c., C., cop. 1. The legal right granted to an author, a composer, a playwright, a publisher, or a distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work.

2) URLS covering the laws pertaining to copyrights:

http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/faculty.htm#fu
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/multimed/
http://painting.about.com/library/blpaint/blcopyrightfaq.htm

Note particularly the laws pertaining to "Fair use".

Here's a couple of excerpts from copyright law:

• If I change 10 percent, isn't it a new image?

This is a myth (as is changing 20 percent or 30 percent). It's not a legal test, but as a rule of thumb consider whether, if your painting were put next to the photo, would someone say you'd based it on the photo? If so, you're risking copyright infringement.

• What about the principle of fair use? Doesn't this cover artists?

Artists are not explicitly covered by fair use. In terms of sections 106 and 106A of US copyright law, "the fair use of a copyrighted work ... for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, ... scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright". None of these cover the copying of a painting to practise painting techniques or for showing your painting skill.

The factors used to determine whether "the use made of a work in any particular case is a far use" are:

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work."

Fair Use

One of the rights accorded to the owner of copyright is the right to reproduce or to authorize others to reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords. This right is subject to certain limitations found in sections 107 through 118 of the copyright act (title 17, U.S. Code). One of the more important limitations is the doctrine of “fair use.” Although fair use was not mentioned in the previous copyright law, the doctrine has developed through a substantial number of court decisions over the years. This doctrine has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law.

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

3) amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The distinction between “fair use” and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.

The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use: “quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author’s observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported.”

Copyright protects the particular way an author has expressed himself; it does not extend to any ideas, systems, or factual information conveyed in the work.

The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material. The Copyright Office cannot give this permission.

When it is impracticable to obtain permission, use of copyrighted material should be avoided unless the doctrine of “fair use” would clearly apply to the situation. The Copyright Office can neither determine if a certain use may be considered “fair” nor advise on possible copyright violations. If there is any doubt, it is advisable to consult an attorney.

Additionally, you cannot use a person's image or likeness for recompense without their permission or the permission of their next-of-kin if they are unable to give it themselves.

Another area is trademark law.

trade·mark n. 1. Abbr. TM A name, symbol, or other device identifying a product, officially registered and legally restricted to the use of the owner or manufacturer.

URLS pertaining to trademark law (particularly the second URL):

http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/trademark.html
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/1114.html