Terra Nova has a fascinating article on patents and virtual world economies. Our recent interview with Dr Melissa de Zwart from Monash University shone some light on this very grey area - there's still so much legal precedent still to be established. … [Read more...] about Patents and virtual world commerce
legal
Discussion paper on virtual property rights
Virtually Blind has an interesting article featuring a discussion paper on virtual property rights. The paper is written by a Columbia Law School graduatem, Daniel Gould and you can read it here. It covers the challenges in defining virtual property and the part that stood out for me was: bits in memory do not, by themselves, possess the qualities of real world property … [Read more...] about Discussion paper on virtual property rights
Virtual lips and law enforcement
Two interesting but totally unrelated pieces of information: 1. For the academically inclined, the Virtually Blind blog has an excellent piece on virtual law enforcement with a link to the paper written by a Dutch Assistant Professor at the University of Leiden, Bart Schermer. It's a fascinating read best summed up in Schermer's own words: From this article we may conclude … [Read more...] about Virtual lips and law enforcement
Linden Lab further clarify trademark policy
We mentoned last week that Linden Lab had launched a brand centre designed to clarify what's acceptable use of trademarks like the Second Life logo. The response since has been forceful and arguably negative in the majority as the reality of needing to change domain names becomes apparent for some business people. Today, Linden Lab have further clarified their policy and … [Read more...] about Linden Lab further clarify trademark policy
World Stock Exchange communicates after lengthy hiatus
Controversial Australian Second Life resident LukeConnell Vandeverre (RL: Luke Connell) gave an update on the World Stock Exchange, which has been offline since January. I wasn't able to attend the live event due to its time although I was offered a preview over the weekend which I also wasn't able to make. Nobody Fugazi from Your2ndPLace has a scathing critique of the … [Read more...] about World Stock Exchange communicates after lengthy hiatus