LawSpot Online -- Second Life Law Library, Law and Virtual Worlds

Links for 2009-04-06 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Patent Arcade: Case Update: MDY v. Blizzard

Links for 2009-04-02 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Virtual Goods News: Turbine Compensates Players For Server Downtime With Virtual Goods
it's a tacit admission that the in-game goods players can acquire in Asheron's Call and especially Dungeons & Dragons Online have sufficient monetary value to help compensate for an outage in paid service subscription.

Links for 2009-03-30 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

MDY v Blizzard | nic.suzor.com
GDC09: How to avoid new legal pitfalls in virtual world design and policy | Massively.com
Mark Methenitis' talk

Links for 2009-03-26 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Virtual Goods News: Over One Million Gold Farmers In China, 70% In World of Warcraft
Virtual Worlds in Education: Global Conference in Second Life, March 27-29 - Features - Second Life Blogs
LGJ: Serious games with serious regulations
Surprisingly, there is a growing sector of the industry that has a great potential for international trade problems. That sector is often referred to as "serious games" (or games with a purpose other than pure entertainment). In fact, there are a few specific areas that serious game developers need to be particularly wary of to avoid problems with US Customs.
Terra Nova: Mind Bank får banktillstånd - Entropia it's a bank!
Follow Up: Adult Content Changes - Community - Second Life Blogs

Links for 2009-03-25 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

[COOL TOOLS] 5 fun apps to record Second Life videos - TNT - Second Life Tips & Tricks - Second Life Blogs
Entropia getting a real banking license / What do Virtual World Platforms Really Need? - PlayNoEvil Game Security News & Analysis
Raph’s Website » Entropia becomes a bank
Article: On the (partially-)inalienable rights of participants in virtual communities · nic.suzor.com
Media International Australia - Contents - 130 February 2009
Computer games: Co-creation and regulation Sal Humphreys Discursive constructions of MMOGs and some implications for policy and regulation Sal Humphreys Productive play 2.0: The logic of in-game advertising Mark Andrejevic Co-creative expertise: Auran Games and Fury — a case study John Banks On the (partially) inalienable rights of participants in virtual communities Nicolas Suzor Electronic contracts: A law unto themselves? Dale Clapperton Informing our own choices: A proposal for user-generated classification Jeffrey Brand and Mark Finn

Links for 2009-03-24 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Raph Koster kicks off Worlds in Motion Summit at GDC 2009
Virtual World Feudalism - Pocket Part, an online companion to The Yale Law Journal
Virtual World Feudalism Written by James Grimmelmann, Monday, 19 January 2009 [View as PDF] Second Life is a feudal society. No, not metaphorically. Literally.
Escape Into the Panopticon: Virtual Worlds and the Surveillance Society -- Pocket Part, an online companion to the Yale Law Journal
Escape Into the Panopticon: Virtual Worlds and the Surveillance Society Written by Joshua Fairfield, Monday, 19 January 2009 [View as PDF] The Eye: that horrible growing sense of a hostile will that strove with great power to pierce all shadows of cloud, and earth, and flesh, and to see you: to pin you under its deadly gaze, naked, immovable.

Links for 2009-03-16 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

The Decline and Fall of an Ultra Rich Online Gaming Empire
New World Notes: Red Light Lessons: Creating a Second Life Amsterdam of Adult Content Will Likely Create Even More Controversies
Play Machinima Law | Stanford Law School
April 24 - 25, 2009, 8:00am - 5:00pm Stanford Law School 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.

New site design coming

kfitz@saclaw.org — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:34 PDT

The Directory has been revised. It's now based on a database, and will soon be searchable. For now, all the entries are still on one long page. Colors, graphics, and layout all in for an update soon. Next step: adding a "recently archived" panel to the home page. Comments? Suggestions for new content? let me know!

New listings in the Directory

kfitz@saclaw.org — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:25 PDT

Virtually Blind (www.virtuallyblind.com), reporting on Philip Rosedale's testimony before the U.S. Congress today, notes: "One piece of information that will be of interest to both attorneys looking at Second Life as a repository for potential discovery and Second Life users concerned about privacy is that, according to Rosedale, Linden Lab currently keeps communication logs for 'several weeks.'"

New listings in the Directory

kfitz@saclaw.org — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:00 PDT

Lots of changes due to delay in updating (sorry about that!) Enjoy.

New addition to blogroll

kfitz@saclaw.org — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:12:00 PST

Davis, LLP's Video Game Law Blog has been added to the Lawspot Blogroll.

Galileo Law Directory updated

kfitz@saclaw.org — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 06:52:00 PST

Galileo Law Directory 2.8 is out! New listings in the Lawyers and Law Offices, Services and Facilities, Bar Associations, Business Organizations, and Governance and Law categories.

New page on "Habbo Hotel" theft

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:29:00 EST

New page has been created to track inks and news on the Dutch investigation into theft of virtual furniture in Habbo Hotel.

Updates to the Galileo Law Directory

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:29:00 EST

New listings in the "Lawyers and Law Offices" category include MetaLegal Firm, STUDIO LEGALE AVVOCATO, and PONTO WEB Advocacia e Tecnologia, as well as Lovells LLP, which set up a "Pro Bono Week" exhibition on Depo 7. "Facilities and Services" gained Capitol Hill and the Second Life Supreme Court - Sessions. The "Educational and Library" category gained the Second Life Law School.

Why so many changes?

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 17:29:00 EST

I just returned from Internet Librarian 2007, brimming full of new ideas for the LawSpot library and website. Stick with me while I sort them out!

Blizzard v In Game Dollar: Motion for preliminary injunction granted; status of case unclear

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 17:25:00 EST

Links to the minutes and the order have been added to the Blizzard v In Game Dollar page. A scheduling conference was set for October 15, but the case docket does not include related filings, or indicate that the conference ever took place. There are no filings since the Sept. 17, 2007 order setting the scheduling conference.

Latest news feature added to litigation pages

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 10:17:00 EST

The litigation page, which links to info on various past and present cases involving virtual worlds, has a new feature. Headlines and links to recent articles across the web. This feature will soon be added to many of the individual litigation pages and other portions of the site.

New entries in the Law Review and Journal Article bibliography

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 10:15:00 EST

Thirty-two new entries in the law review and journal article bibliography, which collects citations to articles on virtual worlds and online gaming.

New entries in the Galileo Law Directory

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:38:00 EST

New entries include a Law School Student group, the law offices of Lexis Looming, the Virtual Intellectual Property Organization, Advogados Curitiba, and the SLPTO (SL Patent and Trademark Office).

Internet Librarian 2007 presentation

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:02:00 EST

Download my IL2007 presentation, "SL Lawspot: Bringing the Law (Library) to the Virtual Frontier," presented Tuesday, Oct. 30 as part of the "Second Life Smorgasbord" session.

More coverage of SL "pedophilia"

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:02:00 EST

Coverage of the latest "ageplay" scandal, prompted by a SkyNews (UK) investigation of the "Wonderland" sim.

New case added to "Docket" -- "Eros, et al v Simon"

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:02:00 EST

Six SL content creators sue alleged infringer in New York federal court. A new page has been created on SL Lawspot to track developments.

New page: History of Second Life Terms of Service

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 16:02:00 EST

This list attempts to capture the evolution of the Second Life ToS over time. It contains actual versions of the TOS since May 24, 2005, and some information about earlier versions.

Bragg v Linden settles

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:09:59 EST

Linden Lab and Marc Bragg announced today that they have settled their lawsuit over Linden Lab's termination of Bragg's account and freezing of his assets after allegations that he acquired land improperly. The brief announcement on the official Second Life blog reads: "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." For links to the announcement and commentary, click through to my site.