Plagarism

[Toa of Whimsy]

The situations are rather different.

Ralph

Both are on the internet. That ain't different. :P

[bugefun]

I see TLG is trying to take action. They just released this news article asking people not to plagiarize. They also say to leave a comment on a plagiarized creation saying it is copied.

LEGO Univierse : News Network - General News - Creation Lab capers

[user]

I see TLG is trying to take action. They just released this news article asking people not to plagiarize. They also say to leave a comment on a plagiarized creation saying it is copied.

LEGO Univierse : News Network - General News - Creation Lab capers

That is terrific news! I hope they acctually support it instead of just forgetting about it.

[Derek]

That's great that they posted that. It seems written perfectly for kids, and doesn't seem too harsh, so they will be more willing to follow it. This is a step in the right direction...

Edited April 30, 2009 by darthperson

[Ralph_S]

I haven't been updating you all about my communication with LEGO, but I got an e-mail from them last week in which they asked whether I'd send them the list of copied pictures that I had made. I spent a bit more time browsing the site and found more than 30 pictures that I recognised as belonging to somebody other than the person who posted them and for which I was able to find the original. These were mainly pictures of cars and aircraft, because those are the types of things that I build myself and because of that they're also the kind of things that I am most likely to remember. I've seen more things that are suspect (castle type MOCs, for instance), but I don't actually recognise who did build them and wouldn't know how to find them either. I sent the list to LEGO on Monday. I haven't checked whether those pictures are already gone, but I suspect they are.

I am very happy with this new development. It's great that they have actually posted it as news, because it's the first thing you see when you go to LEGO Universe and hard to miss. The message is also very clear. What I like the most is their advice of writing a comment if you suspect something has been plagiarised. LEGO really seem to be taking this seriously.

Cheers,

Ralph

Edited April 30, 2009 by Ralph_S

[minfigcrazy]

Lego is trying to make attemps to cut plagerism out here is a link on the site of there latest attempt.

Creation Lab capers

[CopMike]

I haven't been updating you all about my communication with LEGO, but I got an e-mail from them last week in which they asked whether I'd send them the list of copied pictures that I had made. I spent a bit more time browsing the site and found more than 30 pictures that I recognised as belonging to somebody other than the person who posted them and for which I was able to find the original. These were mainly pictures of cars and aircraft, because those are the types of things that I build myself and because of that they're also the kind of things that I am most likely to remember. I've seen more things that are suspect (castle type MOCs, for instance), but I don't actually recognise who did build them and wouldn't know how to find them either. I sent the list to LEGO on Monday. I haven't checked whether those pictures are already gone, but I suspect they are.

I am very happy with this new development. It's great that they have actually posted it as news, because it's the first thing you see when you go to LEGO Universe and hard to miss. The message is also very clear. What I like the most is their advice of writing a comment if you suspect something has been plagiarised. LEGO really seem to be taking this seriously.

Cheers,

Ralph

I´m glad for your sake that it seems to have worked out Ralph, and great job helping out with order Moc´s you´ve recognised !

Let´s hope that slows it down on LU!

Lego is trying to make attemps to cut plagerism out here is a link on the site of there latest attempt.

Creation Lab capers

Yes, just like bugefun posted 4 posts up !

CopMike

[SavaTheAggie]

I´m glad for your sake that it seems to have worked out Ralph, and great job helping out with order Moc´s you´ve recognised !

Let´s hope that slows it down on LU!

Yes, just like bugefun posted 4 posts up !

CopMike

And now it's gone, before I got to read the story.

--Tony

[bugefun]

And now it's gone, before I got to read the story.

--Tony

What in the world... They've never removed the stories before. That is very strange. Anyways, google still had it cached so here is what it said:

LEGO fans of all ages love to show off their incredible creations online. They have a blast coming up with original ideas, making amazing masterpieces and uploading them to the web. The internet can allow fans to share LEGO building techniques or just shout, "Look what I made!" The LEGO Universe Creation Lab also lets fans inspire the development of a truly original online game!

Imagine if you took the time to build and upload a super cool LEGO creation, and then someone else copied it and took all the credit. Ouch, right? Unfortunately, that's what a few folks try to do in the Creation Lab. That's against the rules and, more importantly, it's not nice.

Our moderators go to great lengths to ensure that every creation featured in the Creation Lab is an original, but we may not get it right every time. If you think that someone is showing off something that isn't their own in the Creation Lab, please tell us in a comment. We'll take action on any creation or image that seems to have been swiped.

Let's all help keep the LEGO Universe Creation Lab a spot for sharing our creativity and inspiring the game! Play well and keep the fun flowing!

Another weird thing is that I have left comments reporting stolen creations and it has been a week and nothing has happened. My normal comments get approved but these comments just stay pending and nothing happens. It seems like those comments are just put into a holding tank for someone special to go through who never does.

[Ralph_S]

What in the world... They've never removed the stories before. That is very strange. Anyways, google still had it cached so here is what it said:

Another weird thing is that I have left comments reporting stolen creations and it has been a week and nothing has happened. My normal comments get approved but these comments just stay pending and nothing happens. It seems like those comments are just put into a holding tank for someone special to go through who never does.

The moderating team don't seem to work in weekends. The latest uploaded creation that I can see at the moment is from Saturday. Indeed, the news message is gone, which is odd. I don't quite understand why they would do that. By the way, LEGO sent me a message telling me that they didn't get my list because the e-mail system used by customer services doesn't allow attachments. Anyway, they also provided another address and I sent them the list again. We'll see what happens.

Cheers,

Ralph

[bugefun]

The moderating team don't seem to work in weekends. The latest uploaded creation that I can see at the moment is from Saturday. Indeed, the news message is gone, which is odd. I don't quite understand why they would do that. By the way, LEGO sent me a message telling me that they didn't get my list because the e-mail system used by customer services doesn't allow attachments. Anyway, they also provided another address and I sent them the list again. We'll see what happens.

Cheers,

Ralph

I kind of see that. But thing is, I posted some comments reporting creations the day that news came out (April 29) and those comments are still pending while I posted some other comments on May 1 that didn't report creations and those have been accepted. Some other comments have been approved from only 2 days ago. Obviously they are recognizing them as reporting comments, which is good, and treating them specially but that special treatment is taking a while.

[Hinckley]

I yell at people all the time for not just reading the topic, but I'm in a bit of a hurry. Someone claimed my creation as their own. What should I do?

Here's the little thief on Universe, seems he entered it in a contest or something.

[Lord Admiral]

I'd say, if there were ever a purpose for having Ambassadors as a liason between the fan community and TLG, making TLG aware of these problems and keeping the community up to date about TLG's responses would be primary. After all, this creates discontent within the MOC community and the rest of the LEGO fan community, and threatens to destroy a foundation built based upon trust--trust that what I say I built was actually built by me.

What they need immediately is a "report this" button for people to report these kinds of violations. The system appears to be relatively new, so I'm not surprised they're running into these kinds of problems. However, I think TLG is realizing there is a huge internal conflict of interest. They cannot chastise their fans for bad behavior, especially if these are mostly children, out of fear that by doing so, they will alienate this new generation of LEGO fans. However, if they don't do something to ameliorate this situation, they will alienate MOCcers and most, if not all of the online LEGO fan community. Which is really why a community run by 3rd parties is probably more effective at inhibiting such transgressions than the 1st party.

I think their biggest mistake was trying to establish an online community with no regard to or acknowledgement of the existing community. And in fact, there have been cases even within the existing community where people have tried to take credit for creations not their own. What we're seeing here are those sorts of people scrambling to lay claim to things that suddenly belong to no one (at least through TLG's official eyes). In this case, what's being taken is credit for existing MOCs. If TLG had asked the community to help catalogue and attribute all of the existing MOCs prior to a more general release, I'm sure this would not have become an issue. It wouldn't be possible to be 100% thorough. But it'd be a damn good start. But, just opening it up to the public as a clean slate, thinking that the community would then populate it afterwards leads to this kind of behavior. After all, a clean, blank slate or is most easily tarnished, and that's what we're seeing here.

Hinckley, I would find an e-mail, a telephone, a contact, or any method of communicating with the people running the site, and report it. In fact, I would seek multiple methods of contact, to the point of annoying them, until you get your desired response. Start small, a polite e-mail, or phone call, or whatnot, and escalate if nothing happens. After all, you are as legit a customer as anybody else, and more so, considering you have displayed evidence countless times that you actually own a LEGO set, while the fraudster has not even done that much. I would have my sources ready: sites with the exact same picture, or sites that feature the same model, the model itself if possible, other members of the community able to vouch for you, etc. In fact, they're soliciting the community for news stories. You may want to write up and submit something about MOCs being plagiarized, with sites, photos, testimony, and any other evidence all nicely summed up. And you should encourage others to check to see if their works are being wrongfully attributed, and do the same. You can even put out a news item asking MOCcers to check this database for their MOCs that they did not submit, and put up a forum or a section called the wall of shame that enumerates all instances of this bad behavior. I'm sure if there are enough disgruntled people knocking on their doors, TLG will have no choice but to respond.

[Hinckley]

I commented on the photo itself and then e-mailed Steve Witt directly. I'll let you know what happens.

[Legoking]

I yell at people all the time for not just reading the topic, but I'm in a bit of a hurry. Someone claimed my creation as their own. What should I do?

Here's the little thief on Universe, seems he entered it in a contest or something.

I would email TLC about this.

[Dadster]

Wow - that's messed up. Good luck with getting the credit you deserve.

[Hinckley]

Wow - that's messed up. Good luck with getting the credit you deserve.

I don't care about the credit. I just want the picture taken down and the kid banned or suspended from Universe or whatever.

Here's an update: The person who pointed this out to me led me to a person on Flickr who spends a good deal of time busting thieves: LEGOMyMamma

You can follow the action there. I'll post periodic updates here, too. I hope they take that picture down soon as I don't have the extra time to be dealing with something so stupid.

[Hinckley]

Posting a comment on the set itself that it was mine and providing several links to prove it was enough to have the website remove it. It took a couple of days, but they took it down.

[Luke McAwesome]

It just makes me furious when little kiddies steal MOCs and call them their own.

[LegoMyMamma]

Glad to have helped

Yes, Brick~Busters has come along way since then! We can always use more *eyes* though

~LegoMyMamma

I don't care about the credit. I just want the picture taken down and the kid banned or suspended from Universe or whatever.

Here's an update: The person who pointed this out to me led me to a person on Flickr who spends a good deal of time busting thieves: LEGOMyMamma

You can follow the action there. I'll post periodic updates here, too. I hope they take that picture down soon as I don't have the extra time to be dealing with something so stupid.

[ILikePi]

Good to have you on Eurobricks, LEGOMyMamma!

I'm sorry if I am not actually helpful in the group. It's just that I rarely remember who made the MOCs that are stolen (and also, I have never seen most of the stolen MOCs before).

[LegoMyMamma]

I'm sorry if I am not actually helpful in the group. It's just that I rarely remember who made the MOCs that are stolen (and also, I have never seen most of the stolen MOCs before).

Well, just being a member is a start! Over the years, you will probably recognize some

[Big Cam]

This is so wrong on every level, but unfortunetaly that is the nature of the internet. Everything is so easy to copy.