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Second Life Lawsuit Heads to Federal Court

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the rubbed-the-wrong-way dept.

Conlaw writes "A former plumbing contractor who has made a new career selling virtual cyber sex toys in the virtual world of Second Life, has now brought suit against another player who is allegedly copying and selling a device called the Sex Gen. The plaintiff, whose avatar is known as 'Stroker Serpentine,' is seeking the real name of the copycat entrepreneur. The reporter describing the lawsuit included commentary from a cyber law professor whose university maintains a virtual Supreme Court in the Second Life world."

5 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. Re:USA laws don't apply there by sohare · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why should a virtual not be beholden to the laws of a specific nation? Frankly, the game is a service put out by a company and they should be, like every business, subject to the laws of the particular nation they operate out of.

    What really irks me is people who try and make the case that the internet is its own reality.

  2. copyright gone awry by nanosquid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    a Sex Gen is kind of a machine that manipulates avatars into various positions. [...] Alderman said Volkov Catteneo is not the only avatar who has done him wrong. "A lot of people copy me, copy my work, copy my ideas," he said. "Because it's an anonymous platform where you're an avatar cartoon character, as opposed to a real-life person, people think they can operate with impunity."

    He's basically talking about animation files. Now, if people literally copy the bits in his animation files, that would be a copyright violation; he'd have a case. But SL makes it pretty hard to do that, and that doesn't sound like what he is complaining about.

    Sounds like he is complaining about that people create animations that are "like" his, not merely his. But that basically means that he claims a copyright on the missionary position and that's not right. Copyright doesn't protect ideas, it only protects specific expressions of those ideas. And generic, common expressions aren't copyrightable either, and it seems like the missionary position is pretty generic and common.

  3. Just What We Need More Of..... by IHC+Navistar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Old World had:

    1. Lawsuits.
    2. Taxes.
    3. Life

    So what does the New World have?

    1. Virtual Lawsuits.
    2. Virtual Taxes.
    3. Virtual Life.

    Kinda makes you wonder if people are really as stupid and detached from reality as they act.....

    --
    Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
  4. The important thing here... by Guppy06 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    is that selling sex toys in Second Life apparently pays more than a unionized contracting gig like plumbing.

  5. Don't See Anything Wrong by phalse+phace · · Score: 3, Insightful
    So this guy is complaining about competition? As long as the sex toys are not exactly the same, then I see nothing wrong.

    Alderman said Volkov Catteneo is not the only avatar who has done him wrong. "A lot of people copy me, copy my work, copy my ideas," he said


    This is like HP complaining that Lexmark copied their work/idea about selling printers and expensive inkjet cartridges.

    Someone needs to go out a get a third life.