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.

Linden Lab settles lawsuit

According a blogpost, Linden lab has reached a settlement with Marc Bragg, who sued the company for having terminated his account, with the loss of virtual business as a result of that.
I had a few months ago already a blogpost about this lawsuit, that started back in 2006.

"Linden Research, Inc., Philip Rosedale, and Marc Bragg have agreed to settle the “Bragg v. Linden and Rosedale” lawsuit currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The parties agree that there were unfortunate disagreements and miscommunications regarding the conduct and behavior by both sides and are pleased to report that Mr. Bragg’s “Marc Woebegone” account, privileges and responsibilities to the Second Life community have been restored. For the benefit of the Second Life community, the Parties have mutually agreed that the terms of their resolution shall remain confidential. The Parties ask that this confidentiality be respected. "thus the Linden blog.

As I also wrote in other articles, the main reason for discussions in Second Life always appears to be miscommunications.
With this article, I also want to ask all of you, first try to talk things over, before getting angry, blocking friends, ending relationships etc. because most of the time it was just a misunderstanding or interpretation. We are typing most of the time, and can not express our feelings in typing words. Now with Voice this should resolve a great deal.
Second Life has to be fun, there is already enough trouble going on in RL.

Law suit against Linden Lab dismissed

July, 2nd.
A French Court in Paris dismissed a complaint against Linden Lab filed by a French Group, called "Familles de France", opposed to adult content in Second Life.
As Linden says on their blog : "Today the Paris court (Tribunal de Grande Instance) dismissed the complaint filed by the French association Familles de France against Linden Lab, holding that the evidence brought by the association was unduly biased and should be thrown out."

Families de France and the Departmental Union of Families’ Associations of Ardeche alleged that Second Life features “pornographical, scatalogical and zoophiliac” content as well as advertisements for tobacco, alcohol and drugs.

This victory will convince LInden Lab that they are working in the right direction. They say that its age verification, to verify if someone is older than 18 years, will be available soon.

After the law suit against Linden Lab by Marc Bragg , where there is no outcome or pronouncement yet, this result will please Linden Lab and confirms that evidence in Internet cases must be gathered in an objective fashion, so they say.

(see French text from Reuters here)

Lawsuit against Linden Lab

A Pennsylvania lawyer named Marc Bragg has filed suit against Linden Lab, maker of the virtual world Second Life, for "a virtual land deal gone sour." According to a press-release issued by Bragg, "Bragg learned of a way to purchase virtual land significantly below market values, and invested thousands of US dollars purchasing land in an attempt to resell the land at a profit. Bragg claims that employees of Linden Research, Inc., the company who creates, manages and maintains this online world, allowed the auction to be created, and after Bragg paid in US dollars for the land, terminated Bragg's account, without explanation, without citing any violation of community policy, and have since refused [to] offer a credit or a refund. Bragg's calls to customer service and Linden Lab's legal counsel have gone unanswered. Bragg's final option? Seek relief in a real world court."

Technically, the land does exist--both as data, and as a user experience--but not as terra firma.

This is the first lawsuit of its type to be filed against Linden Lab. It seems that Bragg lost thousands of real-world dollars because the company didn't like the way he exploited a glitch in their system. His ejection might be permissible according to the Terms of Service for Second Life, but Bragg seems to think there are real-world rules being broken here.

He is the first person in history to sue over a virtual land deal gone sour. He's demanding $8,000 in restitution.

Judge Eduardo Robreno ruled on May 30 that Linden’s Terms of Service constitute a “contract of adhesion”, allowing the suit to proceed.

“Linden presents the TOS on a take-it-or-leave-it basis,” he wrote. “In effect, the TOS provide Linden with a variety of one-sided remedies to resolve disputes, while forcing its customers to arbitrate any disputes with Linden.”

“The arbitration clause is not designed to provide Second Life participants an effective means of resolving disputes with Linden. Rather, it is a one-sided means which tilts unfairly, in almost all cases, in Linden’s favor,” Robreno added. (REUTERS)

I am interested to know what Linden Lab will have to pay to Marc Bragg. Outcome this week.