At the Ahern Welcome Center on Friday, January 29, JStevenson Oppenbaum was seen wearing a copybotted knit cap, stolen from Air Winx, who sells his creations under his "Argrace" label.

It was reported that two avatars were standing in close proximity to each other, and were giving obeservers the impression that they were both being controlled by the same person. The avatars had similarities that raised suspicions, and the female avatar was wearing an Argrace beanie.

Because the JStevenson Oppenbaum account was only two days old, and wearing a hat that a more experienced player would have, an observer inspected the hat.

The hat was discovered to be made by JStevenson Oppenbaum, a 2 day old account. The hat also still had the "Argrace" label on the side. An Abuse Report was filed against JStevenson Oppenbaum, for intellectual copywrite infringement/copybotting.

As of this writing, JStevenson Oppenbaum no longer comes up in search under the "People" tab, an indication that an account has been suspended or terminated by LL.

Copybotting has become so commonplace in SL that writing about it no longer seems to surprise or shock anybody. The real world is flooded with counterfeit merchandise. While there may never be an end to flea market designer goods, the fake products also serve to grow the brand and fuel the desire for the genuine articles. I wrote this article thinking, "What a tired subject. Why bother?" I bothered because people need to know that filing the Abuse Reports do result in action. The copybotters probably have more than one account, so it is probably futile to report them, but why not give them back a little of their own grief?
For anyone who loves hunting, and could use a break once in a while to go and do something that is both devious and productive, finding and reporting copybotters at mainland welcome centers can be a fun game, especially when the crook leaves the designer labels on the merchandise.