Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Virtual Land, Real Court, Real Money

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the virtual-world-real-courts dept.

Wired is reporting on what may be a first: a real world court appearance over a virtual land claim. From the article: "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."

2 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No Surprise. by iocat · · Score: 5, Informative
    Well, I actually RTFA and what he did was change the URL for an auction so he was bidding on land no one knew was up for auction. His claim is "hey it worked, so I own that now," but to me it basically seems the same as changing price tags at Home Depot and then being like "well, the price tags come off, so you need to sell me this $1299 BBQ for $199."

    In short, dude doesn't have a case. But he does have a great deal of free publicity.

    --

    Dude, I think I can see my house from here.

  2. Re:IANAL by hawk · · Score: 5, Informative

    I am a lawyer, but this isn't legal advice.

    In this case, there pretty clearly isn't a contract with offer and acceptance. The offer is made when the land is actually put up for auction *by the seller*.

    The case is a clear enough loser (and a good example of the "fool for a client" principle) that the only way that a lawyer *could* take it would be in a "good faith effort to *change* the law."

    hawk, esq.