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Blizzard vs. Bnetd wasn't the case name, it was Vivendi vs. Bnetd and it had nothing to do with virtual property. It was only a small part about the ability to enforce the EULA, and it was much more about supposedly copying and reverse engineering, sections of the EULA, to make a compatible server.

ProCD vs. Zeidenberg was also about EULA's and if a list of phone numbers can even be copyrighted, which they held they can NOT. The case was around the EULA's ability to limit people from redistributing the data.

So actually both of the cases you cite have nothing to do with virtual property and they don't make it clear that such a thing would hold up. You have to remember that these cases are about specific EULAs and if those clauses are legally enforceable. There is nothing saying that the Haboo's EULA would be legally enforceable until it gets before a judge/jury.

If fact I seem to recall a few cases with Ultima Online and Linden Labs about how you can actually sue over loss of virtual property at least in the US and other countries it appears.

Bragg v. Linden Labs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bragg_v._Linden_Lab

Virtual Currency Extortion
http://www.pcworld.com/article/165447/china_sentences_virtual_currency_extorter_to_prison.html

http://services.martindale.com/internet-law/article_Sheppard-Mullin-Richter-Hampton-LLP_689960.htm

Dutch Teens Convicted of Virtual Theft
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,442322,00.html

So it is clear that you can say in a EULA that virtual stuff has no value, but the courts are not seeing it that way at all.

Easily
Mark Hopkins at Martindale
Check him out at martindale.com he's pretty young
Practice Areas: Products Liability; Nursing Home Liability; Business Litigation; Tax Litigation
Quite odd.

Spammer Jeremy D. Jaynes: Represented by David A. Oblon. E-mail addresses: dao@albo-oblon.com, aolaw@his.com, and web form. Source.

Spammer Jessica DeGroot: Represented by Thomas V. Mulrine. Unable to locate e-mail address, but web form. Source.

Spammer Richard Rutkowski: Represented by Leo R. Andrews, Jr. E-mail address: leoa@erols.com. Source.

[Attention, Messrs. Olbon, Mulrine, and Andrews: if you discover this posting and decide to try to track down this 'anonymous coward' with revenge in your hearts, please note that your own actions put your e-mail addresses into the public record and onto the Internet, so kindly don't try to blame me for it. Mr. Olbon, you included your e-mail address in numerous Washington Business Journal articles you authored, and included your second e-mail address when you registered your firm's website. Mr. Mulrine, you signed up for the appropriate service with Martindale. And Mr. Andrews, you included your e-mail address in a legal pleading.]

Of course if you're jsut trying to get out of a DUI, any old lawyer will do. But if you want an attorney for a civil case or a great criminal lawyer, it really is the best place to go.

Also a great place for law students to find firms who might need externs or summer associates. We all use this service.

First, in the current environment, you're not likely to have much luck in getting them to modify the agreement. These things are generally boilerplate, and deviations tend to have to be reviewed by the company attorney, which may be more hassle than they're willing to deal with unless you are someone they really, really want. I'd probably still ask, but expect a "no".

Second, if you create something on your own time, using your own resources, they will have trouble coming after you. Not that they won't, but generally speaking they will have trouble getting any kind of judgement against you.

Regardless, if you plan on persuing an outside project, get a lawyer specializing in employment law to review your agreements with the company. It will cost a couple hundred bucks, but it could save you some aggrevation down the line. Martindale is a good place to start.

In my experience there are way too many crooks in the legal profession. They will try to scare you into believing that you need expensive services, and then bill you for useless work.

One good resource I've found is the Martindale site. This will help you to find a lawyer in the appropriate field, and may even tell you how highly they are regarded by their peers, both in terms of competence and ethics.

The guy's been around the block. Several times. He knows what's what in intellectual property law. In particular, he should know better than to send cease and desist letters without being specific about just what the infringement is. Doing that pretty much defeats one of the two purposes of sending such a letter: showing the court that you gave the defendant a chance to mend his ways before suing him. That makes winning a case in court quite a bit more difficult.

Rosini, presumably, knows this. That means that he's hiding something: either he's got some new and novel legal theory that he's just waiting to spring on some poor slob who'll be the defendant in a case lawyers will cite for the next 50 years, or else he has no case and is just rattling sabers.

I've set up a mirror of HaveBlue's page at http://www.i-foo.com/cuecat. I await my very own FedEx delivery with bated breath.
--

Well, if you check his bio, he's a litigation partner in one of Boston's largest law firms who served for five years as a federal prosecutor. It is hardly unbelievable that clients come to him without regard to who his father is.

An interesting thing to do next time you register software or give information to a web site is to misspell your name slightly and keep a record of how it was misspelled. Make a list of variations and which site you submitted to. In a few weeks/months when you get junk mail addressed to you with a variation of your misspelled name, you will know which site is giving away your info to others. Probably a good reason to NEVER give out your real info ever again unless absolutely necessary.
Bored? You can spend hours at Nedsite looking for info on yourself and long lost buddies. I imagine trying to opt out of being in all these different databases would take more effort than it's worth. Might as well get used to the idea that there will always be ways for people to find you on the net if they know how/where to search. People in certain professions don't even have an option of opting out - take a look at Lawyer Search or Doctor Search. I also wonder where these guys: Birthday Search got their data from.
Information is indeed begging to be set free - including your own.

A quick search from www.adanet.org nets:

MICHAEL J. MORRISON
1995 Ridgeview Dr.
Reno, Nevada
(Washoe County)

ADMITTED: 1976

LAW-SCHOOL: McGeorge School of Law (J.D.)

COLLEGE: United States Air Force Academy (B.S.)

BORN: 1945

ISLN: 902352344

The IPO was filed in Nevada was it not? Seems to me that this could be a legit lawyer.

URL: Abanet link to Mr. Morrison's Info


Also of interest is the Business Address cited in the LinuxOne S-1/A:

BUSINESS ADDRESS:
STREET1: 1495 RIDGEVIEW DR
STREET2: SUITE 220
CITY: RENO
STATE: NV
ZIP: 89509
PHONE: 7758276300


URL: FreeEDGAR S-1/A Filing for LinuxOne, Inc.

Conclusion. This e-mail was most likely sent by a real lawyer working for LinuxOne. Unless, of course, you want to get really paranoid and say that they saw the name on the building while renting their fake business office and decided to steal it for harassing honest, hardworking netizens...

Read the S-1/A a little further down and find:

With Copies To:

Michael J. Morrison, Esq.
1495 Ridgeview Drive, Suite 220
Reno, Nevada 89509
Telephone: (775) 827-6300

My guess is they had a real lawyer involved with the filing of their IPO material.

Nuf Said...