Law 897: Assignment for October 30, 2008

Virtual Property

• Introduction:
  • Look at this Pillsbury press release
  • Read Wikipedia's entry on virtual economy
  • Read Sean Kane & Bejamin Duranske, Virtual Worlds, Real World Issues
  • Read this December 2003 Reuters news report
• Runescape:
  • Explore the Runescape home page
  • Read the Rules of Runescape
    • Pay particular attention to Rule 12: Real World Trading
  • Actually read all of the Runescape terms and conditions
  • Visit Runescapeize, runelevel.com, and rpgstash.com
  • Read a cease and desist letter
• Second Life:
  • Check out What is Second Life?
  • Read Purchasing Land
  • Really read the entirety of the the current version of the Second Life Terms of Service
  • Check out B!dSL
  • Read this story from the Reuters Second Life Virtual News Bureau
  • Optional: visit the Second Life support center, and check out some of the answers in its knowledge base on "Legal Matters"

• Litigation:
  • Read Bragg v. Linden Research, No. 06-4925 (E.D.Pa. 2007)
  • Look at this 2007 Virtual Worlds news report
  • Read this 2007 Reuters news report
  • Check out Marty Linden's blog entry
  • Read this news report from Reuters' Second Life virtual news bureau

• Scholarship:
  Read all three of these essays. Be prepared to talk about the ways in which you agree and disagree with each of the three authors.
  • Orin Kerr, Criminal Law in Virtual Worlds
  • Yochai Benkler, There is No Spoon
  • Greg Lastowka, User-Generated Content in Virtual Worlds