Metaverse Law

Practicing Law in a Virtual World

2010-03-27T18:57:00.005+01:00

The SL Bar Association published two interesting videos from the last year Nov. 14's miniconference, "Practicing Law in a Virtual World".

Session 1: Practice Issues Unique to the Virtual World Setting

Daniel Perry – ‘DanielPerry Laa’
Virtual Law Teams

James Bryce Clark - ‘JamieBryce Infinity’
Privacy and Security

Stephen Davies – ‘Little Gray’
Dispute Resolution, Civil Rights

Session 2: Substantive Issues in a Virtual World

A. Craig Abrahamson – ‘Lexis Looming’ Contracts and Business Transactions

Steven Wu – ‘Legal Writer’ Intellectual Property Rights

Videos are licensed under Creative Commons license: Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States

Digital Law Conference - September 23, San Jose (CA)

2009-08-10T20:53:00.006+02:00

Digital Law Conference provides a detailed examination of the legal issues raised by games, social media, virtual goods and virtual worlds and offers key insight into where the industry is headed and what the associated legal implications are. 7 credit hours of CLE accreditation has been applied for in MCLE states.

Detailed schedule available here.

This is just a part of Engage! Expo which is taking place September 23-24 at the San Jose Convention Center and provides insight into the best practices, current trends, and effective strategies of social media and user engagement.

Rights of virtual communities - presentation

2009-08-10T20:38:00.002+02:00

Presentation - Leipzig GCO2009: Gods, Democracies, and Dictators: roles and rights of virtual communities

Available on Nic Suzor's blog

(I recommend *.odp format)

Economy of Virtual Worlds by Edward Castronova

2009-07-16T11:33:00.002+02:00

Edward Castronova (PhD, Economics, Wisconsin, 1991) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Telecommunications at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is the father of economic analysis of virtual worlds and has numerous publications on that topic, including Synthetic Worlds and Exodus to the Virtual World. He delivered the keynote address for the Washington and Lee School of Law symposium Protecting Virtual Playgrounds: Children, Law and Play Online.

Gold Farming illegal in China?

2009-06-30T14:59:00.021+02:00

According to the official news release of Ministry of Commerce the People's Republic of China:

China has unveiled the first official rule on the use of virtual currency in the trade of real goods and services to limit its possible impact on the real financial system.

The government also spelled out the definition of "virtual currency" for the first time, which includes prepaid cards of cyber-games, according to a joint circular from the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Commerce Friday.

"The virtual currency, which is converted into real money at a certain exchange rate, will only be allowed to trade in virtual goods and services provided by its issuer, not real goods and services." it said.

More references and comments:

InformationWeek

CNET

Virtual goods news

Law of the game

Terranova

CNN

Play no evil

and CNBC video:

MacArthur Foundation enters the Metaverse

2009-05-22T20:50:00.006+02:00

Virtual Worlds and the Law at Metanomics

2009-05-21T09:32:00.012+02:00

How emerging case law and legislation will affect the future of virtual worlds?

Discussion with the participation of prof. Robert Bloomfield and James Gatto took place yesterday on Metanomics islands.

you can also watch the video here

to read the transcript click here

Notes on the State of Cyberspace

2009-05-01T19:46:00.005+02:00

Quite interesting interview with David Post, one of the most original thinkers about the Internet and digital culture, the author of the widely acclaimed new book "In Search of Jefferson's Moose: Notes on the State of Cyberspace".

The example of fraud in Second Life starts at 05:30.

Taser International, Inc. v Linden Research Inc.

2009-04-21T18:25:00.012+02:00

On April 17, 2009 Taser International Inc. filed a lawsuit against Linden Research Inc. and others containing various trademark infringements. Taser claims unauthorized sell of virtual versions of its electric stun guns. The company seeks damages in excess of $75,000. The list of defendants is strictly related to Linden Lab and covers not only entities like Virtuatrade, LLC (the former owner of XStreet SL) but also individuals (generally Linden Lab's management).

The complaint alleges that Linden Lab and others are engaging in conduct which is damaging to Taser’s reputation and hurting its sales. Taser also claims that its brand will be damaged via association with virtual sex and virtual drug use occuring within Second Life. One of the businesses that makes Taser replicas (The Newman Group) does a trade in an urban role-play called The Crack Den.

The suit is entitled Taser International Inc. v. Linden Research Inc., 2:09-cv-00811, and is venued in the U.S. District Court, District of Arizona (Phoenix). The case will be heard by the federal judge Roslyn O. Silver.

It is the first time a major company has sued Linden Lab for infringement which occurred in Second Life.

Don't be an outlaw

2009-04-12T19:03:00.013+02:00

With a reference to the previous post...

Machinima.
...It has been hailed as the art form of the 21st century.
...It is redefining music videos.
...And reinventing the videogame.
...It might be the future of cinema.

But there's a catch: if you make machinima, you might be breaking the law.

Register now at http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/playmachinima

Machinima Law Conference

2009-04-06T19:42:00.008+02:00

Play Machinima Law is a two-day conference that will explore a series of key issues relating to what is often called "player-generated" or "user-created" content based on digital games or created in game and virtual worlds. Experts from the major players in the digital game arena, lawyers, practitioners, and academics will convene at Stanford to discuss the legal issues associated with gameplay in regards to user-generated content, machinima, and game-related practices.

date: April 24 - 25, 2009, 8:00am - 5:00pm

location: Stanford Law School

sesions: link here

agenda: link here

speakers: link here

The end of the Polish Republic

2009-03-31T17:32:00.008+02:00

After eight months the Polish Republic ended its existence cause of financial reasons. This great machimina made by Ayumi Cassini shows the history of that unique self-governmental community of Polish residents.

Gaza protest

2009-03-26T18:31:00.002+01:00

The feudal world of Second Life

2009-03-23T11:06:00.009+01:00

It would be difficult to deny the claim that the closest real life analogy to the "land ownership system" in Second Life is the old-fashioned feudalism.

Second Life even sports a parallel to feudalism’s hierarchical chains of subinfeudation. Several large commercial operations purchase entire Regions from Linden, landscape and subdivide them, and then rent or sell plots to users. Like feudal lords, these “land barons” play a major role in dispensing justice related to landownership. Many of them impose “covenants” on their land, such as a prohibition against running businesses from virtual homes. Tellingly, users upset at a neighbor’s violation of the covenant must look to the land baron for recourse; Linden Labs has no involvement in these local disputes. Similarly, Linden stays out of seignorial disputes between these (land)lords and their tenants. Whereas offline landlords are expected to rely on the state when evicting recalcitrant tenants rather than self-help, Second Life land barons have no recourse but self-help.

Written by: James Grimmelmann, Virtual World Feudalism, 118 Yale L.J. Pocket Part 126 (2009),
http://thepocketpart.org/2009/01/19/grimmelmann.html.

Image by Torley

Panopticon

2009-03-23T10:03:00.005+01:00

A few words on issues of privacy in the context of virtual worlds with an excellent comparison to the prison.

The essential irony of virtual worlds is that populations seeking to build new lives away from the public eye are moving into an environment that is subject to constant surveillance. Virtual worlds currently operate like Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon prison. The Panopticon permitted a single guard in the center of the prison to monitor all of the prisoners. The same degree of surveillance exists in virtual worlds. The denizens of virtual worlds are constantly under surveillance by “game gods,” the private companies that design, maintain, and administer virtual worlds. The game gods then must comply with government requests for call details, wiretaps, stored chatlogs, and other business records. The result: game gods’ cameras are on all the time and the footage reaches law enforcement and the intelligence community.

Written by Joshua Fairfield, Escape into the Panopticon: Virtual Worlds and the Surveillance Society, 118 Yale L.J. Pocket Part 131 (2009), http://thepocketpart.org/2009/01/19/fairfield.html

Real banking coming to virtual worlds

2009-03-22T13:42:00.011+01:00

The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) has granted a license to conduct banking activities to Entropia Universe developer MindArk PE AB's wholly owned subsidiary Mind Bank AB.

According to the company's official statement:

Mind Bank AB will be the first bank that fully incorporates real money transactions with activities in a virtual world. Milions of transactions can be processed by the bank for further transer to MindArk and the virtual universe. Mind Bank will also offer selected bank services to customers on the conventional market

More info: link here

The rule of law

2009-03-03T18:55:00.006+01:00

Participation in virtual communities is said to be governed by the contractual documents written by the proprietors and 'agreed' to by the participants. In a system where governance is controlled by contract, then the limits of contract are essentially constitutional principles. Where, then, can we find the limits that we will impose on contractual governance?

Very interesting analysis by Nic Suzor.

Full post: link here

Understanding Islam

2009-02-17T19:07:00.008+01:00

Some of Metaverse Law's readers may remember in-wolrd presentation of self-govermental project called Al Andalus Caliphate. Here is great machimina about Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds and some similar initiatives including Al Andalus.

More info about the project:

Full video: link here

Paper: link here

Cross-world IP rights infringements

2009-02-10T08:48:00.008+01:00

Two interesting articles was published recently:

1. Trust Revisited: Content Creation Theft and Open Source Grids:

Very detailed story of legal issues related to transfering work form Second Life grid to Openlife grid.

2. IMVU Avatars “stole” my eyes (textures):

Vint Falken's story of Creative Commons licensed pictures published on Flickr and used in IMVU.

Security of Virtual Worlds

2009-01-17T11:37:00.010+01:00

The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) released an interesting position paper on some of the concerns associated with virtual worlds. The report published in November 2008 is entitled:

"Virtual Worlds, Real Money: Security and Privacy in Massively-Multiplayer Online Games and Social and Corporate Virtual Worlds"

Link here

ENISA an EU agency created to advance the functioning of the internalmarket. The agency is a centre of expertise for the European Member States and European institutions in network and information security, giving advice and recommendations and acting as a switchboard of information for good practices. Moreover, the agency facilitates contacts between the European institutions, the Member States and private business and industry actors.

The report identifies 12 recommendations to tackle some of problems:

To the European Commission and National Governments (Government Policy Recommendations)

1. Support the setting up of an industry wide forum for MMO/VW service providers to share information and best practice on security vulnerabilities. In such a competitive sector there is a clear need for a neutral forum to exchange information on security incidents for the benefit of all concerned. Given its mandate to foster a culture of information security and bring together stakeholders in Europe, ENISA would be in a good position to stimulate such an initiative.

2. Fund work on legal clarification of key issues, such as the status of intellectual property, acceptable risk and personal information in MMO/VWs. Although this is not an information security issue per se, a lack of legal clarity is at the root of many information security problems identified in this report and therefore an effort to address this issue by appropriate bodies should be part of the solution. NB: This is not a call for extra legislation but only a call for clarification and interpretation of existing legislation.

3. Encourage and fund independent dispute resolution for player-to-player disputes.

4. Create financial procedures appropriate to MMO/VWs in order to prevent virtual asset theft using chargebacks. Again, this is not an information security issue per se, but it is a root cause of the information security problems identified in this report. This should be in partnership with MMO/VW providers, banks, credit companies and online payment services.

5. Investigate and address MMO/VW provider concerns about conflicting obligations brought about by legislation on common-carrier status.

To MMO/VW providers

6. The five most important technical issues to be highlighted in this area (see full report for more details) include item-duping, end-to-end security and MMO/VW specific denial of service. In general, providers should create an appropriate balance between security measures aimed at detection and response and those aimed at prevention.Detection and response is often a more effective means of addressing security issues in MMO/VWs than prevention.

7. Privacy policies should clearly specify data collected as part of anti-cheating measures and data available to other users (eg, via eavesdropping), including any information which might identify a user uniquely.

8. Providers should consider charging a token, returnable lodgement fee for all ODR complaints to prevent false complaints (eg,€50).

9. Any initiative which increases the strength of user authentication (while maintaining an appropriate balance between usability and cost) should be encouraged.

10. We recommend a standard set of governing documents and terminology, a single point of reference where governing documents may be obtained, and the input and participation of end-user groups in their design and development.

11. As an option formore security-conscious users, in certain MMO/VWs, a bootable CD image (LiveCD) containing necessary software can be made available; this is already a well-known measure to improve security in critical online operations such as online banking.

Awareness raising and research

12. Awareness raising: We describe issues to be highlighted in awareness raising campaigns, such as how to detect account theft, how to deal with inappropriate behaviour, privacy risks, in-world property risks, etc.

Research: The group has identified some future trends emerging in MMO/VWs which have important security implications, including effective content filtering for MMO/VWs, security and reliability issues of open world formats, and security vulnerabilities in corporate worlds.

The Rocky Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds

2008-12-29T11:14:00.002+01:00

Three short articles with some basic IP information regarding:

1. Trademarks

2. Patents

3. Copyrights

all by Ross Dannenberg the editor-in-chief of the Patent Arcade blog, and an adjunct professor at George Mason Law School in Arlington, Va.

What if someone patented the whole metaverse?

2008-12-12T18:02:00.006+01:00

It looks like american software patents system threaten virtual worlds too.

General Patent Corporation and World's.com announced yesterday:

We are pleased to have the expertise and IP experience of General Patent and Lerner David to enforce Worlds’ patent portfolio,” stated Thom Kidrin, Worlds’ CEO. “As the number of virtual worlds and MMORG’s continues to grow, Worlds has seen the space we pioneered in 1995 validated in techniques and methodologies we believe are defined in our patents.

The two patents in question are 6,219,045 and 7,181,690. Firts one is titled: "Scalable virtual world client-server chat system" second: "System and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space".

from Virtual Judgment post:

Therefore, it would seem that General Patent Corporation and Worlds.com are taking the position that the above-referenced patents cover the idea of the computer architecture for a three-dimensional graphical multi-user interactive virtual world systems. If so, this announcement is arguably a very thinly veiled notice to the virtual world industry that infringement suits are forthcoming for those companies who do not enter into a licensing deal with General Patent Corporation and Worlds.com.

Undoubtedly determining enforeability of these two patents could have serious impact on the future of virtual worlds.

Virtual Worlds Timeline

2008-11-17T19:14:00.003+01:00

Virtual Worlds on Dipity.

Isn't interesting?

Obama in Second Life

2008-11-07T21:47:00.004+01:00

by Draxtor Despres

Virtual Property - Business Models And Pitfalls

2008-11-07T21:32:00.002+01:00

Another outstanding issue associated with virtual property is ownership. Who actually owns these objects, characters, and land after they are "purchased" from the company? Most EULAs state the game company owns the intellectual property in the objects and the players are merely purchasing a limited license. Still, this is changing with some companies, such as Linden Lab, experimenting with EULA provisions that grant limited ownership rights in user-created virtual property. In fact, the Bragg case was only possible because that particular world, Second Life, acknowledged some limited player rights in virtual land. There are also companies like Metaplace that are developing technology that allow users to build their own virtual worlds, literally creating the world with their own IP.

from The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

see also Dan Miler's post

China has announced a 20 per cent tax on income from trading virtual goods

2008-11-05T08:38:00.003+01:00

Beijing tax officials declined to explain how they would implement the vaguely worded ruling, with local media saying detailed regulations could be announced in the coming days. However, Chinese analysts and games players suggested that the authorities’ attempt to tax the virtual currency trade would fare no better than the previous effort to ban it.

from Financial Times

The Constitution of the Polish Republic

2008-10-30T18:10:00.002+01:00

After few months of very intensive work the final text of the Constitusion has been established. It looks like Polska Republika will be the next interesting self-govermental experiment in virtual worlds. The document will be also available on the forum secondlife.pl and Polska Republika's website.

My, Założyciele Polskiej Republiki w Second Life,
nie hołdujący żadnym wartościom poza ToS i Big Six,
nawiązując do najlepszych tradycji Second Life, gdzie każdy wolnym i równym jest, i sam o sobie stanowi,
złączeni więzami przyjaźni z każdym z awatarów
ustanawiamy Konstytucję Polskiej Republiki jako prawo podstawowe
i oddajemy Wam ziemię byście nią zarządzali.
Wszystkie awatary, które dla dobra Republiki będą Konstytucję stosowały
wzywamy, by czyniły to ku dobru wspólnemu i wspólnej zabawie

Rozdział I
Wolności, Prawa i Obowiązki Obywatela oraz Rezydenta

§ 1.
Władza w Polskiej Republice należy do Obywateli. Obywatele sprawują władzę poprzez swoich przedstawicieli.
§ 2.
Nabycie Obywatelstwa Polskiej Republiki następuje poprzez przystąpienie do grupy Polska Republika. Przystąpienie do grupy jest darmowe i otwarte dla każdego awatara.
§ 3.
Obywatel może dobrowolnie zrzec się obywatelstwa poprzez wystąpienie z grupy Polska Republika. Zrzeczenie się obywatelstwa jest równoznaczne z utratą wszelkich funkcji w Polskiej Republice.
§ 4.
Obowiązkiem obywatela jest wspieranie Polskiej Republiki swoją wiedzą, doświadczeniem i umiejętnościami.
§ 5.
Obywatel jest równy wobec prawa oraz uprawniony do równego traktowania przez organy władzy.
§ 6.
Obywatel ma prawo do wyrażania i rozpowszechniania informacji, opinii oraz wierzeń w mowie, piśmie i obrazie, o ile nie stoją one w sprzeczności z systemem prawnym Republiki.
§ 7.
Obywatel otrzymuje czynne oraz bierne prawo wyborcze.
§ 8.
Żaden organ władzy Polskiej Republiki nie może pozbawić jakiejkolwiek osoby praw i wolności w tej Konstytucji wyszczególnionych ani praw i wolności wynikających z innych aktów prawnych, poza sytuacjami gdy został wydany wyrok sądowy lub gdy pozbawienie to jest niezbędne, by Królowa mogła wykonywać swoje zadania ujęte w niniejszej Konstytucji.
§ 9.
Pozbawienie przez Królową lub Sąd dostępu do Polskiej Republiki jest równoznaczne z pozbawieniem wszelkich praw z wyłączeniem prawa najmu działki, niezależnie od przynależności do grupy Polska Republika.
§ 10.
Obywatel ma prawo do zgromadzeń i wnoszenia petycji w dowolnej sprawie przy zachowaniu postępowania pokojowego i bez użycia przemocy.
§ 11.
Rezydentem jest, niezależnie od obywatelstwa, osoba posiadająca prawo najmu działki na terenie Polskiej Republiki.

Rozdział II
Królowa Polskiej Republiki

§ 12.
Królowa jest najwyższym przedstawicielem Polskiej Republiki oraz gwarantem ciągłości władzy. Do Królowej należą sprawy nie zastrzeżone dla innych organów władzy.
§ 13.
Królowa czuwa nad przestrzeganiem Konstytucji oraz innych aktów prawnych, stoi na straży suwerenności i bezpieczeństwa Polskiej Republiki.
§ 14.
Na Królowej spoczywa odpowiedzialność wobec Linden Lab oraz historii.
§ 15.
Królowa jest jedynym reprezentantem Polskiej Republiki w stosunkach z podmiotami zewnętrznymi.
§ 16.
W razie konieczności, Królowa może udzielić obywatelowi pełnomocnictwa do wykonywania poszczególnych czynności w jej imieniu.
§ 17.
Królowa wydaje dekrety po przeprowadzeniu konsultacji społecznych.

Rozdział III
Rząd Polskiej Republiki

§ 18.
Rząd prowadzi bieżące sprawy Polskiej Republiki.
§ 19.
Rząd składa się z Ministrów wyłanianych w wyborach powszechnych, równych, bezpośrednich w głosowaniu tajnym.
§ 20.
Wybory ogłasza oraz przeprowadza Królowa na podstawie dekretu.
§ 21.
Objęcie funkcji Ministra następuje z chwilą ogłoszenia wyników wyborów przez Królową oraz złożenia ślubowania.
§ 22.
Ministrem zostać może tylko obywatel Polskiej Republiki.
§ 23.
W skład Rządu wchodzi pięciu Ministrów:
- 1 wybrany przez rezydentów
- 3 wybranych przez obywateli
- 1 nominowany przez Królową
§ 24.
Zgłaszający swą kandydaturę w wyborach do Rządu może kandydować tylko na jedną funkcję ministerialną.
§ 25.
Królowa może przeprowadzić referendum w sprawie odwołania Ministra na podstawie wniosku zgłoszonego przez co najmniej 20 obywateli, którzy w sposób bezsporny potwierdzą ważność swojego podpisu. Minister zostaje odwołany jeśli wniosek o jego usunięcie poprze ponad połowa biorących udział w referendum.
§ 26.
Królowa może ogłosić Referendum w sprawie odwołania Ministra, jeśli Rząd przekaże jej wniosek z głosowania. Zebranie podpisów członków grupy nie jest w tym wypadku wymagane.
§ 27.
Odwołanie całego składu Rządu może nastąpić stosownie do § 25.
§ 28.
Minister nominowany przez Królową może być odwołany tylko przez nią i tylko przed nią odpowiada.
§ 29.
Kadencja Rządu wynosi 1 miesiąc.

Rozdział IV
Praca Rządu

§ 30.
Rząd wybiera na swoim pierwszym posiedzeniu Premiera, który jest jego oficjalnym reprezentantem.
§ 31.
Rząd otrzymuje środki finansowe na podstawie ustawy.
§ 32.
Rząd wyraża swoją wolę w formie ustaw publikowanych na forum oraz w grupie Polska Republika. Osobą uprawnioną do ogłaszania ustaw jest Premier, następnie Minister powołany przez Królową i potem kolejno pozostali Ministrowi w kolejności alfabetycznej.
§ 33.
Zanim ustawa nabierze mocy prawnej winna być przedstawiona Królowej lub osobie przez nią wyznaczoną. O ile Królowa nie zgłosi zastrzeżeń w terminie 2 dni, ustawę uważa się za przyjętą.
§ 34.
Wszelkie inne wypowiedzi Ministrów, niż za pomocą ustaw, wyrażają jedynie ich prywatne stanowisko.
§ 35.
Ministrowie mogą się komunikować w dowolny sposób, jednak za wniosek oficjalnie poddany pod głosowanie uważa się wniosek zgłoszony na niejawnym podforum. Do niejawnego podforum mają dostęp tylko Ministrowie, Królowa oraz administracja forum.
§ 36.
Po zgłoszeniu wniosku i odbyciu dyskusji, zgłaszający poddaje wniosek pod głosowanie słowami: "Kończę dyskusję". Głosowanie odbywa się poprzez napisanie postu o treści:
(a) "jestem za" wyrażającego poparcie ustawy albo;
(b) "jestem przeciw" wyrażającego odrzucenie ustawy albo;
(c) "wstrzymuję się" wyrażającego wstrzymanie się od głosu.
Wniosek uważa się za przyjęty po uzyskaniu większości głosów.
§ 37.
Niewyrażenie przez Ministra stanowiska wobec wniosku w terminie 24 godzin od momentu poddania go pod głosowanie równoznaczne jest z oddaniem głosu wstrzymującego.
§ 38.
Rząd jest zobowiązany do przeprowadzenia debaty nad wnioskiem ustawodawczym zgłoszonym przez co najmniej 20 obywateli, którzy w sposób bezsporny potwierdzą ważność swojego podpisu.

Rozdział V
Wymiar Sprawiedliwości

§ 39.
Sąd orzeka w sprawach przestrzegania porządku prawnego Polskiej Republiki.
§ 40.
Sąd wydaje wyrok w imieniu Polskiej Republiki.
§ 41.
Sędziego powołuje Królowa Polskiej Republiki spośród kandydatów przedstawionych przez Rząd lub co najmniej 20 obywateli, którzy w sposób bezsporny potwierdzą ważność swojego podpisu. W przypadku braku kandydatów, Sędziego powołuje Królowa.
§ 42.
Sędzia powoływany jest na czas nieoznaczony.
§ 43.
Sędzia w sprawowaniu swojego urzędu jest niezawisły i nie podlega innym organom Polskiej Republiki.
§ 44.
Sędzia nie może prowadzić działalności nie dającej się pogodzić z zasadami niezależności i niezawisłości.
§ 45.
Sędziego odwołuje Królowa Polskiej Republiki.
§ 46.
Szczegółowe zasady działania organów wymiaru sprawiedliwości reguluje dekret.

Rozdział VI
Finanse Polskiej Republiki

§ 47.
Opłaty związane z wynajmem działek oraz sposobem ich licytacji reguluje dekret.
§ 48.
Budżet stanowią wpływy z opłat za ziemię (Tier) oraz wynajmu sklepów oddanych Rządowi a także inne dochody wygospodarowane przez Rząd.
§ 49.
Królowa oddaje Rządowi do dyspozycji wyznaczone sklepy. Rząd gospodaruje nimi w dowolny sposób z zachowaniem porządku prawnego Polskiej Republiki. Opłaty wnoszone przez wynajmujących przedmiotowe sklepy przekazywane są Królowej, która dołącza je do budżetu.
§ 50.
W przypadku powierzchni reklamowej stosuje się odpowiednio § 49.
§ 51.
Dysponentem budżetu jest Królowa, która wypłaca Rządowi środki na określone cele lub bezpośrednio Ministrom na podstawie przegłosowanych ustaw.
§ 52.
Tygodniowa suma wypłat nie może przekroczyć ¼ całego budżetu.
§ 53.
Środki nie pobrane z budżetu są automatycznie przenoszone na kolejny okres rozliczeniowy i mogą zostać przekazane kolejnemu Rządowi.

Rozdział VII
Przepisy przejściowe i końcowe

§ 54.
Konstytucja wchodzi w życie z chwilą ogłoszenia.
§ 55.
Zmiany Konstytucji może dokonać jedynie Królowa po przeprowadzeniu konsultacji społecznych.
§ 56.
Źródłami powszechnie obowiązującego prawa w Polskiej Republice, obok odpowiednich przepisów prawa polskiego, są ustanowione przez przez Linden Lab "Terms of Service" oraz "Big Six" jak również Konstytucja, dekrety, ustawy, wyroki oraz inne akty prawne wydane przez organy Polskiej Republiki.
§ 57.
Jedyną osobą uprawniona do dokonywania wiążącej interpretacji Konstytucji jest Królowa.
§ 58.
Każdy przebywający na terenie Polskiej Republiki zobowiązuje się do przestrzegania porządku prawnego.
§ 59.
Językiem urzędowym Polskiej Republiki jest język polski.
§ 60.
Z chwilą wejścia w życie Konstytucji, Mała Konstytucja traci moc prawną.

Four Years of Virtual Democracy

2008-10-25T21:10:00.001+02:00

Four years on the CDS is in a fairly healthy state but, as ever in a democracy, there is stuff still to do. There are unravelled threads, incomplete projects and outstanding issues. It is messy, ragged and never complete - just like in RL.

from: Patroklus Murakami's blog

Digital constitutionalism

2008-10-09T14:08:00.001+02:00

The main problem with the governance of virtual communities is that our legal system operates in such a way as to vest overwhelming power in the hands of those who create and maintain the platforms. These people, whom we call 'proprietors', for they own the code that defines the platform and servers upon which the code runs, exercise almost complete discretion as to who may access and who may continue to access 'their' community. The law, by giving primacy to these property rights, marginalises the interests of participants in these communities. Further, by casting any disputes or tensions which arise as belonging wholly in the 'private' sphere, we deligitimise any to the current allocation of entitlements.

from Nic Suzor's blog

Transactions of Virtual Items in Virtual Worlds

2008-10-03T09:01:00.002+02:00

An interesting article by Michael Passman.

More on Virtually Blind.

A practical example of DMCA notifications in Linden Lab

2008-09-11T18:08:00.005+02:00

How Linden Lab handle with DMCA notices on user generated content in their virtual environment?

Very informative post by Tateru Nino from Massively.

The Polish Republic

2008-09-02T15:25:00.006+02:00

About one month ago Polska Republika (The Polish Republic) was born in Second Life. It looks like it is the first Polish self-governance attempt in the metaverse.
There is preamble and Small Constitusion so far. Final Constitusion still under construction. The owner of the island is a Queen (yes Republic with a Queen :)) but the plan is to establish government elected democratically by the community.

Some informations available on two great blogs run by: Ayumi Cassini and Gwyneth Llwelyn.

The Queen, Uzi Boa has her own blog too.

More details here or in-world.

2008 Meteverse tour

2008-08-14T12:24:00.004+02:00

Great overview of 42 (current open or in beta) virtual worlds in 7 minutes.

A Parallel virtual iSummit in the Metaverse

2008-07-26T10:29:00.006+02:00

The fourth global iSummit will be held in Sapporo, Japan from 29 July to 1 August, 2008.

iCommons in association with Digital Garage, Creative Commons Japan and the City of Sapporo will bring together pioneers of the free Internet from over 60 countries around the world.

The iSummit '08 in Second Life is coordinated by David Orban, aka Davidorban Agnon, virtual worlds visionary.

Check out the event schedule

Click on the following link to visit the island: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Japan%20Sapporo/128/160/22/

Dictatorship or democracy in virtual worlds

2008-07-24T09:06:00.003+02:00

Why not just create a "democratic" game that has a constitution, full citizenship for players, and all the prerequisites for stable wealth? Such a game would be open source (so that other, interoperable "nations" could be established for you to emigrate to if you don't like the will of the majority in one game-world), and run by elected representatives who would instruct the administrators and programmers as to how to run the virtual world. In the real world, the TSA sets the rules for aviation -- in a virtual world, the equivalent agency would determine the physics of flight.

an article by Cory Doctorow from Informationweek

Lively by Google

2008-07-09T08:55:00.018+02:00

It's not a secret anymore.

The Terms of Service are not very surprising and generally look similar to Secondlife TOS.

Two the most important differences:

1. Lively doesn't have currency.
2. The content in Lively is mostly generated by vendors working for Google and a small number of trusted testers.

So it looks more like clone of IMVU (combination of "chat with friends" in cartoonish 3D) than Secondlife or the Metaverse.

The Secondlife of Lawyers

2008-07-08T09:41:00.001+02:00

There was a time when the most influenced lawyers like Lawrence Lessing and Richard Posner appeared in-world. What is more important they gave very interesting speeches regarding legal aspects of the Metaverse:

THE SECOND LIFE OF JUDGE RICHARD A. POSNER

THE SECOND LIFE OF LAWRENCE LESSIG

both likns from the New World Notes blog.

The Metaverse Republic Party!

2008-06-16T09:29:00.005+02:00

If you still don't know what exactly The Metaverse Republic is and what wants to achieve that means you need to be there!

* here is the in-world landmark.

Legal aspects of machimina

2008-06-09T15:38:00.005+02:00

The big issue in Second Life is copyright. The creators of Second Life, Linden Lab, assign intellectual property rights in the avatars (characters) and the objects that individuals create to the Second Life users who create them. This means that you would need to get permission from the creators of any avatars or scenes that you film in Second Life, in order to avoid breaching copyright.

Generally Linden Lab does not give permission for anyone to film in Second Life because they do not own the content (the copyright in the avatars and scenes) but they do however liken filming in Second Life to filming in New York, where generic street scenes and landscapes can be considered “fair use”.

from: Machinima the legal way - a post by Mixin Pixel.

Podcast on Law in Virtual Worlds

2008-06-02T21:23:00.003+02:00

An interview with Dr Melissa de Zwart from australian Monash University’s Law Faculty.

Here you can listen or download the podcast. Worth your thirty minutes, in my opinion.

You can also read an article by Dr Melissa de Zwart, where she explains why our legal system can't ignore the rapidly growing interest in virtual worlds.

Confederation of Democratic Simulatiors

2008-05-19T19:34:00.005+02:00

The oldest Democracy in Second Life

by Draxtor Despres

Employment law issues

2008-05-16T08:50:00.003+02:00

Virtual world enthusiasts from businesses to individuals love virtual worlds for their immersive quality. In virtual worlds, you tend to feel like you’re ‘with’ others in a ‘place’ rather than communicating over a network with a tool. That’s what’s magical about them and why they will, over time, largely eliminate the challenges of physical distance. That said, we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that real life laws do not apply to virtual worlds. We would never question whether working over the telephone counts as work. The same applies to virtual worlds technology.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service issued a ruling that the Electric Sheep Company’s Second Life greeters for its CSI:NY promotion are “employees” rather than independent contractors.

Full interview regarding the ruling with an employment lawyer Dave Elchoness on Virtually Blind

Enforceability of EULAs

2008-05-16T08:31:00.002+02:00

"In Europe, terms of service can't always be changed when they need to because you have to tell the users up front in what situations you may change the the terms of service," said Lober. "It's hard to function in practicality -- how can you know all the situations that might come up in the future? You'd need a crystal ball!"

"In the US the kind of notice you have to give changes by state, and there are gambling laws to take into account sometimes. So you try to balance something that works in most of the states, and sometimes you can balance it based on where you know you'll be getting your customers from," said Augustino. "If you know most of your customers will be coming from California, you know you have to comply with California law. "

full text available here

Kölner Dom case

2008-04-30T10:19:00.002+02:00

Kölner Dom in Second Life was made by two people and one of them claimed copyright in jointly designed textures ...

According to Video Game Law Blog...

The applicant claimed copyright in certain textures of the virtual "Kölner Dom", which was partly designed by her, and partly designed by the defendant. While the textures were designed to make the virtual building look like the real one, and photos were taken to achieve this aim, the applicant claimed that her work was protected under copyright law, as she had to adapt colors, brightness, and perspective.

and what is more interesting...

After a rather long elaboration of the various types of "work" which can be protected under copyright law, the court found that the textures were not suffiently original for copyright protection

Sounds little strange too me... but I'm not German lawyer and don't know all the details of this case.

More on Video Game Law Blog and GameLawBlog.de

IRL it looks like this...

ISL... (sorry... I couldn't found something better)

Some pictures of "Virtueller Kölner Dom" are also available here
But my advice is to check it in-world by yourself ;)

One hour audio from Virtual Law Conference

2008-04-30T10:04:00.003+02:00

Steve Mortinger, IBM's lawyer gave interesting lecture titled: "The Top Ten Things a Brand Should Know about Virtual Worlds"

Here you can download the record from the Conference.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

2008-04-28T19:08:00.005+02:00

This is quite nice ADR summary. Made by one of the most experienced SL resident, Gwyneth Llewelyn. There are two more slides available here.

| View | Upload your own

Economy in the Metaverse

2008-04-27T11:29:00.007+02:00

John Zdanowski, also known as Zee Linden is CFO of Linden Lab.

Two Transcripts of Intellectual Property Discusions

2008-04-18T20:30:00.016+02:00

Both presentations with great participation of Juris Amat. She is an Intellectual Property Atorney in Real Life and Virtual Intellectual Property Organization (VIPO) founder in Second Life.

Second Arts: Intellectual property rights and content creation

SL'ang Life: Content Theft Conference

P.S. I would like to thank my friends from Slang Life. Better late than never ;)

Virtual Worlds Symposium Videos

2008-04-11T19:23:00.006+02:00

From Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal :

We are pleased to announce that all video from the 2008 Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal Symposium is now available for download.

The 2008 Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal Symposium took place at the heart of Silicon Valley, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. The 2008 Symposium tackled some of the most dynamic legal issues facing practitioners, academics, and jurists alike: Virtual Worlds, Web 2.0, and the GPL 3.0. As we finish editing video to incorporate better quality audio, it will be posted here.

Panel show list:

Rachel Goda download or stream

Greg Lastowka download or stream

M. Scott Boone download or stream

David Post download or stream

Question and Answer Session download or stream

Not enough? Visit Elizabeth Townsend Gard blip.tv webside (made by students but informative)

Congressional Hearing on Virtual Worlds

2008-04-02T20:07:00.007+02:00

HEARING
Online Virtual Worlds: Applications and Avatars in a User-Generated Medium

Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
Tuesday, April 1, 2008, 9:30 a.m.
2123 Rayburn House Office Building

Some resources:

The House of Committee on Energy and Commerce webside

witness list

audio

video: webcast or download

the most comprehensive summary

the best commentary

Regulatory issues around virtual worlds by Cory Ondrejka

2008-03-26T19:02:00.003+01:00

From his blog:

| View | Upload your own

The Second Life® Brand Center

2008-03-24T20:58:00.006+01:00

From Linden Lab blog:

Today we invite you to check out the new Second Life Brand Center. The Brand Center explains how Residents can promote their own brands, products and activities in the Second Life world and use appropriate logos to enhance their message.

With the Brand Center, we’re also launching the inSL Logo Program, which provides a new community logo for Second Life Residents. Display the inSL logo to show you and your brands are a part of the Second Life community. This logo may be used on your website, business card, promotional materials, product packaging, and in many other places where you may wish to promote your contributions to the Second Life world. When using the logo, be sure to follow the Guidelines for Using the inSL Logo.

So we have:

The Second Life® Brand Center

The inSL Logo Program

Guidelines for Using Linden Lab's Trademarks

Hm... better late then never. More about trademarks in-world infringements on Virtually Blind.

The inSL Logo Program looks really interesting. I'm curious how would it works.

Here you can watch some of the branded builds in Second Life

My Second Life

2008-03-23T22:52:00.006+01:00

as far as I know this is one of the famoust SL machimina.

The Dump Man

2008-03-23T22:48:00.005+01:00

The Dumb Man from Lainy Voom on Vimeo.

as you see I do like SL machiminas and this above is one of the best I've ever seen. Enjoy ;)

International Justice Center Launch

2008-03-23T16:40:00.004+01:00

International Justice Center opened. Video available on SLCN web.

The International Justice Center is a social network -- on the web and in the virtual world of Second Life -– that will enable people from all over the world to learn about the court, engage with ICC officials and advocates, and take action in support of human rights and international justice.

What has intellectual property got to do with justice?

Copybot still alive

2008-03-23T15:50:00.003+01:00

Ziggy Quirk's thoughts on content theft in SL

2008-03-23T13:02:00.002+01:00

Mask

2008-03-22T12:59:00.000+01:00

Stroker Serpentine / Volkov Catteneo Settlement

2008-03-16T22:08:00.005+01:00

More information on Virtually Blind

by the way… Stroker Serpentine Interview:

and one more video

Three interesting pieces on content theft in Second Life

2008-03-15T21:38:00.001+01:00

From:

PlagiarismToday

Hippoi Athanatoi

CodeBastardRedgrave.Com

Terrorism in Virtual Worlds

2008-03-09T12:09:00.003+01:00

and here is one article about it

Second Life Designers strip for IP Awareness Campaign

2008-03-01T21:44:00.010+01:00

Chez Nabob initiated SL content creator protest.

The hope is that enough awareness and education can take place as a result of the ads that a dialogue can be opened with LL and third-party ventures that will lead to a stronger, more robust system for dealing with the problem of theft.

For more information check commentary by Kit Merederith, who in RL is an attorney specializing in intellectual property.

"All ads reprinted by permission of Chez Nabob".

Why not qualify the taking away of virtual objects as theft?

2008-02-24T12:23:00.005+01:00

Interesting discussion on Terra Nova started by Arno R. Lodder

From the post:

I see no reason for distinguishing between virtual and physical theft. The original owners of the stolen Habbo furniture obtained the items after they bought credits with real money, and do attach value to those items. As long as the original owner looses something of value (such as virtual items) due to the act of another individual who gains possession over the item, it should in my opinion be qualified as theft, no matter whether the locus delicti is in the physical or the virtual world.

IBM virtual strike

2008-02-18T20:14:00.001+01:00

Philip Rosedale like Adolf Hitler

2008-02-17T16:59:00.001+01:00

why is this video not available in some countries?

The Second Life Story by Cory Ondrejka

2008-02-17T15:56:00.005+01:00

| View | Upload your own

and...
a very old (from 2004!) interview with Cory... not Linden any more on IP issues of Second Life

Intellectual Property Rights in Second Life

2008-02-17T11:11:00.004+01:00

There is a transcript from the in-world event with an intellectual property law attorney available at Slog. Frank Taney represents many Second Life companies and content creators, for example The Electric Sheep Company, Eros (Stroker Serpentine), Nephilaine, Munchflower, Crucial Creations and many more. Four categories of IP that are likely to be at issue in SL were covered: copyrights, trademarks, patents and trade secrets. The sim was packed to capacity so new events of specific topics are planned!

Another transcript from IP event this time with Benjamin Duranske aka Benjamin Noble is available at Business Communicators of Second Life® blog

An Avatar's Day in Court

2008-02-10T20:00:00.001+01:00

Great article from UCLA’s Journal of Law and Technology by Farnaz Alemi:

An Avatar's Day in Court: A Proposal for Obtaining Relief and Resolving Disputes in Virtual World Games

two related commentary from:

Thomas Malaby

and

Benjamin Duranske

Interview with Desmond Shang

2008-02-09T17:42:00.001+01:00

The laws that govern residents re: gambling and other such things are largely in place via our societies, not cooked up by our virtual world service provider. Our social interactions on the grid are already largely formed by us, and these are the basis for our rulesets. We can generally tell what is intended to be someone’s virtual bedroom as opposed to the street. We can generally ascertain meaning from how people chat, interact, move, and conduct business. From these social cues, we form distinct online cultures with their own values. Should governments of nations take action? For money laundering, identity theft or other major crimes, yes. But if someone leaves a virtual flaming bag of poo on your virtual porch, no, the government should not be involved.

An interview with Desmond Shang, the owner of The Independent State of Caledon. It is very interesting article about legal issues of Second Life from practical point of view. You can find it on The Seventh Sun's webside.

Two other interesting articles:

A virtual property dispute

Court rules against Linden

Virtual Law Conference

2008-02-07T14:42:00.001+01:00

Virtual worlds are rapidly being adopted by a mainstream audience, with millions of users worldwide participating on a daily basis. Media, entertainment, and advertising companies are leveraging virtual worlds to generate new revenue streams and further engage audiences.

The growth of virtual worlds and massively multiplayer online (MMO) games has raised legal issues with no clear precedent. Virtual Law Conference provides a detailed examination of the legal issues raised by virtual worlds and offers key insight into where the industry is headed and what the associated legal implications are.

In April 3-4, 2008 in NYC The Section of Science and Technology Law of The American Bar Association organize an event for legal professionals whose companies or clients are currently or may in the near future be influenced by the adoption and use of virtual worlds. For more information visit this webside.

When Pretend Money Has Real Value

2008-01-26T12:50:00.001+01:00

The Illinois Business Law Journal is a production of the University of Illinois College of Law's Business Law Society. This project is inspired by an innovative trend in legal publication, in which weblog technology is utilized to allow students, faculty, and professionals to interact online through legal writing and scholarship; providing a unique complement to traditional law reviews. The purpose of this Journal is to provide our readers with information on recent developments affecting business law. Articles are written by law students, but we invite professors, students, and practitioners to submit articles or user comments for publication on the website. Please visit the website on a regular basis, as new articles are published frequently.

and what can we find there...

A Study of Virtual Property in Online Gaming

just one more link about Property in Second Life

A lot of questions...

2008-01-26T12:15:00.001+01:00

Very interesting interview with David Naylor (SL- Solomon Cortes).

Find out how complicated can be legal implications of doing business in virtual worlds.

podcast

Show notes :

00:12 - Mike O’Hara introduction
01:10 - Start of interview
01:25 - Why did FFW establish a presence in Second Life?
03:03 - Intellectual Property issues - who owns what?
04:28 - Unauthorised replicas of real world goods & brands
06:49 - Anonymity issues
10:22 - “Goods” versus “services”
11:41 - Which laws actually apply?
12:56 - How much regulation should there be in virtual worlds?
15:33 - Employment law
17:48 - Contracts, consumer protection, e-commerce law
20:24 - FFW’s activities in Second Life
22:29 - Where to find out more
23:26 - End of interview
23:47 - Lister feedback from Dale Johnstone
24:29 - Preview of next show, featuring Nick Wilson
25:07 - Wrap-up

By the way, Salomon Cortes takes over as President of the Second Life Bar Association recently :)

The Media Revolution

2008-01-20T18:40:00.000+01:00

Real life, real lawsuit

2008-01-06T12:20:00.001+01:00

fascinating stuff :)

Al Andalus Caliphate Project Presentation on the Slang Life Island

2007-12-13T14:07:00.004+01:00

We are excited to invite you to the presentation of two-sim Al-Andalus Caliphate Project, which takes place on 15th December at 10 am PST on the Slang Life Island.

The Al-Andalus Caliphate Project is an attempt to reconstruct 14th Century Moor Alhambra.

It aims to build around this virtual space a community of individuals willing to explore the modalities of interaction between different languages, nationalities, religions and cultures shaped by authentic Islamic principles.

Those principles include political participation, separation of powers, justice and the rule of law.
As such, it is a social, political, legal and social project that takes advantage of the opportunities offered by the SL platform to develop virtual communities around a fixed virtual place and model its growth and development with real individuals from accross the world - all while intergrating a sense of gaming, entertainment, and sheer fun.

For more information about this project visit Virtually Blind or Your2ndPlace

See you all there... Caliphate Project Presentation on the Slang Life Island

Harvard university

2007-11-19T15:19:00.002+01:00

Harvard Extension School od pewnego już czasu na wyspie Berkman organizuje ciekawe wykłady. W znakomitej części poświęcone prawnym aspektom "światów wirtualnych". Odbyło się już kilka symulacji rozpraw sądowych. Oto zapis jednej z nich. Program zajęć prowadzonych przez Rebecce Nelson (aka Rebecca Berkman) znaleźć można tutaj. Dostępne są również nagrania video do obejrzenia lub ściągnięcia.

Jeszcze jeden filmik z Harvardu do obejrzenia pod tym adresem:

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/cyberone/

Better Life

2007-10-26T21:00:00.000+02:00

Human Chain in Second Life for Burma

2007-10-13T15:56:00.002+02:00

with no comment

EULAs are antisocial contracts

2007-09-26T09:40:00.006+02:00

Very interesting lecture by Profesor Joshua Fairfield (Washington and Lee University - School of Law).

Click To Play

An article with the same title: "Anti-Social Contracts" has been pablished on Terranova

Indentity verification

2007-09-06T14:09:00.003+02:00