Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Key Words:
banking regulation, counterfeiting,
counter terrorism, EULA, financial
information assurance, gamblinggaming, ISP duties, investigations,
metadata, money laundering, online
contracting, online markets, risk
management, IP, law enforcement,
political economy, pre-trial discovery,
prediction markets, racketeering, virtual
environments
Introduction
Virtual environments are considered
by many as no more than fantasy 1 games
with little real-world impact. However,
this is short sighted. These massively
multiplayer online role-playing games
(MMORPG or Morpeg) and the other
massively multiplayer online games
(MMOG) have proliferated in recent
years. The distinction between their
hypothetical impact and real-world
impact is blurring. 2 While Second Life
from Linden Labs claims to be
distinguishable from other MMORPGs,
the success of Second Life is a useful
exemplar that will be invoked in this
paper to illustrate the potential impact of
all MMORPGs and MMOGs. Second
Life claims nearly 13 million
residents. 3 When estimates of regular
participation in other MMOG is also
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courts/florida/flmdce/8:2007cv01158/202603/1/0
.pdf
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Eros investigation initially obtained Internet
protocol (IP) addresses from which Leatherwood
allegedly conducted infringement of Eros IP.
AT&T and Charter initially declined to provide
Leatherwoods real-world contact information
Eros sought (name, address, telephone number,
email address, payment information) including
additional unique identifiers such as Media
Access Control (MAC) and Ethernet Hardware
Addresses (EHA) directly associated with
Leatherwoods IP addresses. MAC and EHA
numbers allow identification of the actual
computer or other computer hardware associated
with the use of a particular IF address. Eros
LLC v. Leatherwood, No. 8:07-CV-01158 (M.D.
Fla. filed Oct. 24, 2007) (ex parte emergency
motion for discovery filed Sept. 4, 2007)
accessible at:
http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/districtcourts/florida/flmdce/8:2007cv01158/202603/9/0
.pdf
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Eros LLC v. Leatherwood, No. 8:07-CV01158 (M.D. Fla. filed Oct. 24, 2007) (order
granting subpoenas Sept. 5, 2007) accessible at:
http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/districtcourts/florida/flmdce/8:2007cv01158/202603/10/
0.pdf
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DISPUTE RESOLUTION
If a dispute arises between you and Linden
Lab, our goal is to provide you with a
neutral and cost-effective means of
resolving the dispute quickly. Accordingly,
you and Linden Lab agree to resolve any
claim or controversy at law or in equity that
arises from or relates to this Agreement or
our Service (a "Claim") in accordance with
one of the subsections below.
7.1 Governing Law. This Agreement and
the relationship between you and Linden
Lab shall be governed in all respects by the
laws of the State of California without
regard to conflict of law principles or the
United Nations Convention on the
International Sale of Goods.
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IP in vWorld Expression
In Leatherwood, the Florida Eros
case, Eros admits that the Linden ToS
govern user participation in Second Life.
For Eros this admission bootstraps IP
rights because users retain IP rights in
digital content created, inserted into or
otherwise owned in world. 43 This first
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50
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Id.
Linden ToS concerning VAT for European
Residents, accessible at
http://secondlife.com/corporate/vat.php
55
Supra note 44.
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Eros LLC v. Leatherwood, No. 8:07-CV01158 (M.D. Fla. filed July 3, 2007) amended
complaint at 4 accessible at
http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/districtcourts/florida/flmdce/8:2007cv01158/202603/11/
0.pdf
57
U.S. Trademark Application No. 77202601,
described as: Scripted animation system
utilizing a defined menu to actuate avatars within
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http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/cpr19n2-1.html
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The challenges of new monies, electronic
payment schemes, scrip and vMoney include the
following:
Confidence in money is gained when its
value is linked or it can be converted into
something of value, such as an acceptable
denomination of a respected currency ($, ,
, ) or another liquid asset with reliable
value (gold).
Electronic payment forms should be as
convenient as cash, that is, readily
transferable, capable of convenient
exchange in scalable denominations, easily
stored and transmitted or received to and
from various locations.
There must be security and accuracy in
transactions.
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Money Laundering
Enforcement
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A CyberLibertarian Epilog
Cyberlibertarian dogma is likely to
become pervasive among many
participants in MMORPGs and MMOGs
for various reasons, not the least of
which are practical: (1) likely the
difficulties of gaining jurisdiction over
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Id.
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