Academic

Grimmelmann on Property in Virtual Worlds

By Lawrence Solum

James Grimmelmann (New York Law School) has posted Virtual World Feudalism (Yale Law Journal Pocket Part, Vol. 118, p. 126, 2009) on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:

Second Life is a feudal society. No, not metaphorically. Literally.

Two problems have preoccupied scholars of virtual world law: "What is the political relationship between developers and users?" And: "Should we treat in-world objects as property?" We can make progress on both questions by recognizing that virtual politics and property are inextricably linked, in the same way that feudal politics and property were. It is the tenant/user's relationship with his lord/developer that both creates the property interest and enforces it. The similarity between ownership of land in feudal England and in Second Life suggests that offline courts should protect user interests in virtual items, gradually, without treating them as full-blown modern "property."

I'm a big fan of Grimmelmann's work--fascinating & recommended!

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on January 30, 2009 (boomark / email).