As further evidence that Virtual worlds technology is useful to all types of entities, including the Federal Government, the USDA recently announced an award of a virtual world contract to four companies: Advanced Software Systems, INC; Avaya Government Solutions INC; Science Application International; and Three Wire Systems LLC. The solicitation…
Linden Research Inc. and its CE Philip Rosedale have been named as defendants in a class action lawsuit relating to the ownership status of virtual property in Second Life, the popular virtual world in which users can realize significant gains from buying and selling virtual real estate (land and buildings),…
On April 8, 2010, Zynga sued Playerauctions.com for operating a website that provides an unauthorized “Secondary Market” for enabling Zynga game users to post and sell “Virtual Currency” and “Virtual Goods” allegedly in violation of Zynga’s Terms of Service. According to Zynga, its Terms of Service prohibits users from selling…
Florida A&M University (FAMU) recently filed a law suit against the maker of a porn video that depicted multiple individuals engaging in sexual acts in a setting that allegedly represented a dorm room on the FAMU campus. FAMU claims that such association constitutes false or misleading descriptions and misrepresentations under…
On April 28, 2010, a social game developer Crowdstar sued Wonderhill for copyright infringement based on similarities between Wonderhill’s “Aquarium Life” and Crowdstar’s “Happy Aquarium”. While copyright does not protect ideas (such as the idea for a fish-based game) it does protect expression of the idea. If this case should…
Three Wire Systems, LLC recently announced its VetAdvisor Virtual Room (VVR) won the U.S. Army Simulation & Training Technology Center’s Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge for best collaboration in a virtual world by a government contractor. The award was presented on the final day of the Defense GameTech Users’ Conference in…
Pillsbury is proud to announce a writing competition on legal issues relating to virtual worlds. Participants can elect to write a paper on a topic within one of the categories listed in the document attached. The papers must be submitted by June 30, 2010 and will be judged by members…
Worlds.com has reportedly settled its patent infringement lawsuit with NCsoft. The terms remain confidential and as of this morning neither company has a press release on its website. Worlds.com filed the suit on Christmas eve in 2008 after rattling its patent saber months earlier. To some, it is surprising the…
In what will be the first such case heard by the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land will address in its October term whether a California state law that bans the sale and rental of violent video games to minors runs afoul of the First Amendment right to…
In what turned out to be an April Fool’s prank, Gamestation modified its Terms of Service to include a provision that required users to sell their soul to Gamestation before they could make any online purchase. Pretty amazing prank! What’s more amazing is that nearly 90% of the users agreed!…