Virtual worlds ripe for real-world lawsuits...in the MILLIONS

If you've been following all the SL Blogs, you know there is a lot of hoopla about Intellectual Property (IP) rights and content theft. There even is an awareness campaign being run by many of Second Life's better-known creators.

Many, including myself consider the campaign to almost be a waste of breath. Almost. But, as it turns out, this is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg and Second Life residents are the Titanic. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

The issue is the untested waters of Second Life and virtual IP as it pertains to the law. real world law. It has already been proven, at least to a small degree that real life law can and does apply to virtual IP as found in the Eros vs. John Doe case of 2007.

If you are a creator in SL - creating your own stuff, marketing yourself, or even if you 'borrow' real life logos and marketing approaches, and especially is your are a content plagiarizer, you'd do very well to read the linked article.

For anyone involved in any way with Intellectual Property in SL, builders, designers, scripters, SELLERS... fasten your seatbelt. It's going to be a rough ride if you aren't careful.

Quote:

"For example, it's not clear whether someone who commercializes a virtual copy of a patented real world object commits patent infringment [sic] and if so, in which jurisdiction. It's also unclear whether someone who develops a trademark used only to identify virtual goods and services generates enforceable trademark rights in the real world. And it's not known whether making virtual use of a trademark, which can be confused with a real-world trademark, amounts to trademark infringment [sic].

"But rights holders can't really stand around waiting for the courts to decide the law."Failure to enforce is particularly damaging to plaintiffs in trademark infringment cases," [sic] says Kristina Rosette of Covington & Burling, which has offices in the U.S. and Europe.

"Mr. Bennett argues that abusers can do as much damage online as they can do in the real world."