Richmond Journal of Law and Technology Volume 15 | Issue 1 Article 4 2008 Help! My Intellectual Property Is Trapped: Second Life, Conflicting Ownership Claims And The Problem Of Access Megan B. Caramore University of Richmond Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/jolt Part of the Intellectual Property Law Commons Recommended Citation Megan B. Caramore, Help! My Intellectual Property Is Trapped: Second Life, Conflicting Ownership Claims And The Problem Of Access, 15 Rich. J.L. & Tech 3 (2008). Available at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/jolt/vol15/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Richmond Journal of Law and Technology by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Richmond Journal of Law & Technology Volume XV, Issue 1 HELP! MY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IS TRAPPED: SECOND LIFE, CONFLICTING OWNERSHIP CLAIMS AND THE PROBLEM OF ACCESS By: Megan B. Caramore∗ Cite as: Megan B. Caramore, Help! My Intellectual Property Is Trapped: Second Life, Conflicting Ownership Claims and the Problem of Access, XV RICH. J.L. & TECH. 3 (2008), http://law.richmond.edu/jolt/v15i1/article3.pdf. I. INTRODUCTION [1] The controversy over ownership of virtual “real” property and intellectual property rights within online games has existed for nearly as long as the technology to create such games.1 Previously, the owners of virtual worlds possessed sole control over everything within the world as a result of rather strict terms contained in their user licensing agreements.2 Lately, this controversy has acquired a new dimension in a rapidly expanding game called Second Life.3 Second Life is different from most online games because it expressly guarantees its users the rights to content ∗ The author will receive her J.D.