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[Karbuncle]

Well I can't think of anything quite that specific off the top of my head. I'd be rather surprised if that particular issue had ever gone as far as a court decision, indeed, has it ever come up before?! This goes under the 'never adequately challenged' portion, I believe.

But look up Bragg v Linden for fun with MMOs.

I did, and thats... Interesting, To say the least. also looked Through RAIST's link. Not surprised in the least though. Shame there weren't very many more things to look at. Thought we were going somewhere with this...

Oh well, I'll miss you guys when this update comes...

[RAIST]

I did, and thats... Interesting, To say the least. also looked Through RAIST's link. Not surprised in the least though. Shame there weren't very many more things to look at. Thought we were going somewhere with this...

Oh well, I'll miss you guys when this update comes...

eh..it's an old debate that just seems to go nowhere. A software firm I used to work for actually did some research into this about 5 or 6 years ago, alongside another discussion over displaying public records over the internet (that's another issue that will blow your mind once you see just how easy it is for a stranger to request a crap load of details about you starting with something as simple as your name or the license plate of your car even).

Google Virtual Property Rights and you can find a ton of info out there--a lot of it older cases that didn't really have a conclusion that can be used in court as a precedent to support a future case. Nearly every company that has put some sort of MMO out there has faced this issue at one point or another. And it's not limited to just MMO's either--even Microsoft has gotten into it on more general terms with their virtual earth 3D mapping thing. Who gives them the right to render your personal property without your consent (or even your knowledge for that matter), and then turn a profit off it by sticking virtual ads on it? Wouldn't be surprised if someone found details on a lawsuit against Google for similar arguments.

The bigger problem is that most of this just gets shuffled off and settled out of court, so there is little to no precedent to follow. Case law is screwy that way....until judges start making more bold judgements for other's to cite in cases, it will more often continue to boil down to a company realizing how much damage is at stake to a their reputation (and future profits) so they settle out of court or something. Who knows what all goes on behind closed doors...stupid non-disclosure agreements.