Legal and permissions for performances in SL

[Morgue]

Hi all,

I want to tell you some things I have been thinking about. As for now
the HBO issue is the most important thing to be cleared for the group.
I gave a notecard to one of my friends explaining the issue and he
knows a lot of people, even at Lindens, so he might get someone to be
helpful.

Furthermore, if clearance is not possible - means, we do not get
permission for performance of The Vagina Monologues in SL - I will
start a group for this issue and make it public.

I think CNN, Reuters, the AvaStar and other media in SL related to RL
media will be glad to get a story :P

I am convinced this will become a major issue in future. Theatres in
SL will have to get rights from authors AND broadcasting companies and
may have to pay for that - as long as this issue is not cleared for
SL.

Here the notecard I wrote:

Legal issues for live performances

The VDay group in SL has started production on The Vagina Monologues.
It was meant to support the RL fundraising campaign to stop violence
against girls and women worldwide.

V-Day.org gave us permissions to perform in SL. But - we are now
facing a challenge as rights for broadcasting are at HBO, which is
related to Time Warner it seems. Now it seems, they consider the group
to do a broadcast - the performances are meant to be a Sl live
production and not a broadcast.

As for now it seems we are at a point of definiton what broadcasting
would be in SL. This might become a general issue for SL live
productions of any kind. The producers of VDay group in SL will try to
contact HBO for clearance.

Just to be clear: V-Day.org will pull back any permission for
performance of The Vagina Monologues in SL if HBO does not agree to
this live performance. So we need to convince HBO that this is not a
broadcast but a SL Live performance, something really different. It
will not be streamed on the web or such.

Further I think SL community and all performers, producers aso need to
get on their feet and make up a frontier regarding this issue. It
comes up now for SL VDay but it will surely affect the entire SL
communitiy in future.

[CalliopeDelgado]

Morgue,
Thank you for your positive, intelligent and reasonable argument.
Hang on to that notecard -- we may want to use it for a letter/email-
writing campaign.

We, the producers, understand fully the issues here -- not only as
they impact our production, but also the future of live production and
how 'broadcasting' is defined on SL. We do need to push this
frontier, not just for the sake of our production.

However, right now we need to be certain that lines of communication
between VDay.org and HBO and the producers of SL VDay remain clear.
Yes, we want people to be aware of this issue because it impacts so
many. But there are certain steps the producers need to take. If
anyone has contacts you think would be of vital help, PLEASE direct
them to Ada, ToryLynn, Lauren, or me. Please pass any ideas you have
on a notecard to one of the four of us rather than IM.

Time is of the essence, but considering the scope of what we are
doing, I think accuracy and clear communication are equally
essential. Please allow us producers to handle communication with
VDay, HBO and the media right now. We know how much this means to all
of you, but we'll certainly rally the troops when the time comes,
which could be as early as this week.

Yes, discuss the issue with friends as it pertains to the future of
performance in SL. But please help us by channeling all "official"
communication with any contacts you may have through the producers.
We can't afford any missteps at this moment.

Please let the producers take the steps we need to take right now...we
need contact HBO, we need to clarify details with our contact at
VDay.org, and then we'll let you know how you can help us "fight the
good fight" if those efforts fail.

[Morgue McMillan]

Sure! I did not mean to do something myself outside of VDay. This was only an explanation for my friend so he could understand the issue and think about whom to contact. As soon as I get info I will forward it to you :-)

Hugs,

Morgue