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What Rase Kenzo means for virtual property
Our own Tateru Nino has been covering the Second Life case of Rase Kenzo very closely, but with the settlement yesterday, it seems the ruling might have effects on the concepts of virtual worlds at large. At issue is whether or not an avatar named Rase Kenzo could use an exploit to duplicate items created by Second Lifers-- does copyright and intellectual property matter when the items you're talking about are virtual? As Tateru herself noted, yes-- virtual theft matters.And Raph Koster agrees. He points to the Rase Kenzo settlement as all the precendent any court would need to consider virtual goods "merchandise" in every sense of the word, with all the normal protections and inherent properties included.Now, the Second Life items had some properties that most other virtual world items do not-- they were actually coded and created by the creators, and while you do hit a button to create, say, an Epic in WoW or a ship in EVE, the item you create wasn't actually created by you. So the intellectual property laws probably won't cross over-- whether you virtually "crafted" an item or not, you don't have a lot of claim on it when the design didn't come out of your head.But we are another step closer to putting a real (and real-world) value on virtual items. This case took place in Second Life, but like many things in the Lindens' world, odds are it will have repercussions in lots of different virtual worlds.
Simon says: yes to settlement, this time
Rase Kenzo (aka Thomas Simon) has pulled a 180, and accepted a settlement offered by Frank Taney, the lawyer representing six well-known Second Life content creators. One of the conditions of the settlement is that everyone keeps quiet about the whole thing - however the terms of the settlement that have been presented to the court for approval are available.
Simon says: no to settlement
Rase Kenzo (aka Thomas Simon) has rejected settlement with the parties represented by lawyer Frank Taney. The settlement offer involved $2,000USD compensation to each of the six plaintiffs, and $5,000USD in legal fees. It probably doesn't get much cheaper than that, in the USA. Nevertheless, Kenzo has rejected the settlement, indicating that he thinks it's too much, and besides, he doesn't have the money. Instead, he's opting for a potentially much more expensive court case - though he is trying to find a lawyer who will take the case pro-bono.
Why virtual thefts matter
Real thefts occur in the real world all the time - we know that, and our respective justice systems have long since evolved to deal with them. When it comes down to virtual theft (characters, gold, or items) whether actually taken from an account or replicated by use of an exploit - most people don't really think it matters. It's not happening in the physical world, right? So it shouldn't, right? Well, it does, and here's why.
