Second Life vendors file real-world lawsuit in New York

Is it a game, or is it RL? It does not stop, the file suits. This time not against Linden Lab, but against a 36 year old New Yorker, who claims not knowing of possible suing in a virtual world.

The lawsuit, filed last week in a federal court in Brooklyn, accuses the man of copycatting in Second life, according the New York Post.
The vendors suing the man say he violated copyright and trademark laws by duplicating their products. The lawsuit seeks damages equal to three times their lost profits, without specifying an amount.

Claims of product cloning in Second Life have already spawned at least one other lawsuit, filed in July in a federal court in Tampa, Florida. Other members also have sued Linden Lab over alleged seizures of their virtual property.

Than you have that other lawsuit of July, where Second Life adult goods magnate Alderman, known in the virtual world as Stroker Serpentine, sued an avatar named Volkov Catteneo for copyright infringement. Alderman claimed the avatar sold illicit copies of his SexGen Platinum bed, a piece of furniture for the virtual boudoir. Because Alderman didn’t know Catteneo’s real-life identity, the case was filed as Eros LLC v John Doe.
Now, after almost four months of searching, lawyers have identified a 19 year old man, of North Richland Hills, Tx., as Second Life avatar “Volkov Catteneo”, although this young man denies to be Volkov, according Second Life/Reuters.

We can say that Second Life is not just a game anymore, it never was. You have to be very careful of what you do in SL, but let's say, that the RL rules also exists in SL. Don't do anything that you wouldn't do in RL.

But for most of the avatars, Second life is just fun, it is an opportunity to meet, to explore the virtual world, without thinking of what consequences we can endure, by doing something that we would not do in RL.