KC//CRIMSON
10/29/2007, 10:00 PM
Second Life Players Bring Virtual Reality to Court
The Most Surreal Lawsuit Ever?
Should a judge decide how to apply U.S. law in an alternate universe? Like the next installment of Terminator, we all knew this day was coming: the first-ever Second Life lawsuit. Sure, it involves people who aren't real stealing products that aren't real, in a virtual world that barely resembles our own. Still, this is America! Since when has reality been required for legal action?
The question comes to mind as a federal district court in Brooklyn begins hearing the case of Eros v. Simon. According to the complaint, six virtual merchants are suing Thomas Simon of Queens, N.Y., for an undisclosed amount of money, claiming he stole the computer code for products they sell in their virtual stores. These products range from clothing for avatars to sexual aides that facilitate avatar sex. And while this may sound like a joke to you, for those involved it is absolutely serious. Really!
In Second Life, more than nine million users spend many real hours and lots of very real money to clothe, feed and comfort their avatars. According to Linden Labs, proprietors of the virtual environment platform where all this craziness takes place, users cumulatively conduct transactions totaling more than $1 million each day. That's real dollars -- the kind you can use to clothe, feed and comfort yourself in the real world.
The defendant, who goes by Rase Kenzo in Second Life, has a pretty good excuse: "It's only a computer game!" And in parts, the lengthy suit does read like an Onion article. For instance: Eros CEO Kevin Alderman (aka "Stroker Serpentine") claims his company "is engaged in, inter alia, the sale of a number of adult-themed virtual objects" including "the SexGen Platinum Base Unit v4.01... and the SexGen Platinum+Diamond Base v5.01." These products have, according to the claim, "built a reputation within Second Life for performance, quality and value, and ... are among the best selling adult-themed virtual objects within Second Life." By using Eros's hard-earned reputation to push his knockoff products, the suit alleges, Kenzo literally took money out of Stroker's pocket.
True, this case involves real world money, so it is different from suing an opponent in "Mortal Kombat" for wrongful death, say, or taking a fellow World of Warcraft gamer to The International War Crimes Tribunal.
Still, these virtual-world real-world lawsuits can get pretty tricky. How and to what extent should real laws apply in Second Life? For instance, Simon claims that the plaintiffs found their "evidence" by taking pictures inside his Second Life home, which they entered without warrant or permission. Should that evidence be considered admissible? And since Simon allegedly exploited holes within the Second Life platform to create his duplicate products, is Linden Labs also liable somehow?
The only hope may be if Second Life, which has its own culture, proto-customs and currency, could come up with some virtual solution. If not, there may be virtually millions of other such lawsuits popping up... for real.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/10/second_life_players_bring_virt.html
The Most Surreal Lawsuit Ever?
Should a judge decide how to apply U.S. law in an alternate universe? Like the next installment of Terminator, we all knew this day was coming: the first-ever Second Life lawsuit. Sure, it involves people who aren't real stealing products that aren't real, in a virtual world that barely resembles our own. Still, this is America! Since when has reality been required for legal action?
The question comes to mind as a federal district court in Brooklyn begins hearing the case of Eros v. Simon. According to the complaint, six virtual merchants are suing Thomas Simon of Queens, N.Y., for an undisclosed amount of money, claiming he stole the computer code for products they sell in their virtual stores. These products range from clothing for avatars to sexual aides that facilitate avatar sex. And while this may sound like a joke to you, for those involved it is absolutely serious. Really!
In Second Life, more than nine million users spend many real hours and lots of very real money to clothe, feed and comfort their avatars. According to Linden Labs, proprietors of the virtual environment platform where all this craziness takes place, users cumulatively conduct transactions totaling more than $1 million each day. That's real dollars -- the kind you can use to clothe, feed and comfort yourself in the real world.
The defendant, who goes by Rase Kenzo in Second Life, has a pretty good excuse: "It's only a computer game!" And in parts, the lengthy suit does read like an Onion article. For instance: Eros CEO Kevin Alderman (aka "Stroker Serpentine") claims his company "is engaged in, inter alia, the sale of a number of adult-themed virtual objects" including "the SexGen Platinum Base Unit v4.01... and the SexGen Platinum+Diamond Base v5.01." These products have, according to the claim, "built a reputation within Second Life for performance, quality and value, and ... are among the best selling adult-themed virtual objects within Second Life." By using Eros's hard-earned reputation to push his knockoff products, the suit alleges, Kenzo literally took money out of Stroker's pocket.
True, this case involves real world money, so it is different from suing an opponent in "Mortal Kombat" for wrongful death, say, or taking a fellow World of Warcraft gamer to The International War Crimes Tribunal.
Still, these virtual-world real-world lawsuits can get pretty tricky. How and to what extent should real laws apply in Second Life? For instance, Simon claims that the plaintiffs found their "evidence" by taking pictures inside his Second Life home, which they entered without warrant or permission. Should that evidence be considered admissible? And since Simon allegedly exploited holes within the Second Life platform to create his duplicate products, is Linden Labs also liable somehow?
The only hope may be if Second Life, which has its own culture, proto-customs and currency, could come up with some virtual solution. If not, there may be virtually millions of other such lawsuits popping up... for real.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/10/second_life_players_bring_virt.html