By Kathleen Craig|
02:00 AM May, 18, 2006
In what might be a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, a
Pennsylvania lawyer is suing the publisher of the
rapidly growing online world Second Life, alleging the
company unfairly confiscated tens of thousands of
dollars worth of his virtual land and other property.
The attorney, Marc Bragg of West Chester,
Pennsylvania, says game developer Linden Lab
unilaterally shut down his Second Life account,
cutting off his access to a substantial portfolio of
real estate and currency in the virtual world. He's
demanding $8,000 in restitution.
Bragg claims Linden Lab froze his account after a land
deal went bad. The attorney said he found a legitimate
way to purchase land at prices far below market rates,
using an online auction on the Second Life website.
Bragg v. Linden Research, a civil complaint filed May
1 in West Chester's local district court, charges that
Linden Lab "breached an auction contract by allowing
the land to auction, accepting online payment, and
then suspending plaintiff's account."
For its part, Linden Lab wouldn't address specifics of
the case. But general counsel Ginsu Yoon says the San
Francisco company has retained attorneys in the
matter. "We intend to contest this in the appropriate
forum," said Yoon. "We believe the suit to be without
merit."
Known inside Second Life as "Marc Woebegone," Bragg
has "in-world" real estate, nightclubs and other
businesses. He says he paid $300 for a "sim," a large
plot of Second Life land that normally costs a minimum
of $1,000.
Second Life is one of the only virtual worlds whose
members legally own the content they create. A
burgeoning trade in real estate, clothing, vehicles
and other goods has led to a strong and growing
in-game economy, supporting full-time businesses and
real estate barons.
Bragg says Linden Lab created the online auction pages
that allowed him to buy land at the abnormally low
prices, and that any responsibility for problems with
the system rests with the company. But the hacker-like
method he used to exploit the auction system may hurt
his case. Bragg copied the URL for a legitimate
auction, then swapped in the ID number for land not
yet up for sale publicly, so there would be no minimum
bid and few, if any, competing bidders.
"If they're not running their auctions properly to
begin with ... the onus is on them to do that," Bragg
told Wired News. "Granted people make mistakes, but
they're not treating it like a mistake.
"They completely froze my account, which is a real
problem, (and prevented) me from withdrawing about a
million Lindens that they wouldn't allow me to
exchange," said Bragg.
At about 309 Lindens to the U.S. dollar, that's about
$3,2001 . Bragg, however, says he has managed to find
ways to withdraw some of the money in his online
account.
The issues have been hotly debated in the Second Life
community, and when Bragg filed suit, attention
sharpened.
"There will be substantial interest in the outcome of
this suit from business, legal, academic and
virtual-world resident interests," wrote freelance
journalist and Second Life blogger Tony Walsh. "I
think that this is part of the reason that Bragg filed
suit. He might be the first person in history to sue
over a virtual land deal gone sour."
But some established members of the Second Life
community feel Bragg couldn't have much of a case.
One resident deeply involved in the Second Life real
estate business says she's been following the debate
over the case in the virtual world's online forums and
thinks Bragg doesn't have "a leg to stand on."
"I don't know if he was trying to scam or if it was an
honest mistake, but anyone who has ever been in-world
here knows that you don't buy a sim for that amount of
money," says Alice McKeon, a partner in dAlliez
Estates, which owns 27 sims in Second Life. "I made a
remark to somebody that if Linden Labs is selling sims
(that cheaply), I'll buy a hundred."
For his part, Bragg argues that since the auctions
were completed, they are final. "If I take a sim and
price it at 1 or 10 when I want 100,000, and it sells,
(Linden's) answer is tough luck, you sold it and it's
your fault." Bragg said he wouldn't have invested if
he'd known he could lose everything.
To those who follow the political, legal and economic
issues of virtual worlds, lawsuits over virtual land
have seemed inevitable for some time.
But they don't think that Bragg's suit is the one that
will set precedents. In fact, some say, this suit
doesn't even boil down to a property dispute.
"This case is not the case that (people interested in
virtual property have) been waiting for," said Joshua
Fairfield, a professor at Indiana University Law
School and a specialist on the law and economics of
virtual property. "As I understand how Second Life is
set up, land is (the equivalent of) bandwidth. They're
selling bandwidth, no different than AT&T selling the
bandwidth that allows me to talk to you."
Fairfield thinks the case that everyone is waiting for
"is the one about whether or not these things are real
property. This (suit) is more like airline mistake
cases, where people snap up cheap tickets and try to
keep the tickets."
In the end, Fairfield said, Bragg's case is "about the
terms of service," and according to Fairfield, U.S.
courts tend to strictly enforce such agreements.
Fairfield said there is anticipation about a virtual
property case because "people are eager, I think, to
see the value of virtual property validated."
1 Correction, Thu May 18 14:34:00 EDT 2006
We misreported the real-world value of Lindens in
Bragg's account. Wired News regrets the error. (Return
to the corrected text)
--
MC
http://mascarenhascastro.multiply.com
Violence in reality is quite different from theory.
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