Copyright Infringement Hits Second Life

Volkov Catteneo is being sued for copyright infringement, which wouldn't be a newsworthy story if he existed. He's actually the name of a Second Life avatar, in what looks like the first case to test Linden Lab's policy of granting its users copyright in their in-game creations. If it doesn't get tossed out of court, and I doubt it will, this case stands to create some important precedent in the law of virtual worlds, notably in legal recognition of virtual property and users' rights vis-a-vis the private proprietors of such public-like spaces.

Second Life entrepreneur Kevin Alderman, known as Stroker Serpentine, runs a business called Eros LLC, which sells the sort of objects you'd expect from a Second Life store. Eros claims that Catteneo is selling unlicensed copies of its SexGen bed, which comes programmed with 150 sex animations, and sells for US$45. Because Eros doesn't know who Catteneo is in real life, however, it filed a John Doe suit (standard procedure for unknown defendants – it's what the RIAA does to sue filesharers based on their IP addresses) and is threatening to subpoena Linden Lab for Catteneo's real-world personal information.

For his part, Catteneo says he's no “noob,” and doesn't have any real info on file with Linden Lab, or even a permanent home address. If you want to read the complaint, you can get it from Reuters.