Metropolitan Corporate Counsel: Corp Counsel Should Pay Attention to Virtual Worlds

Diane Duhaime, a Partner specializing in intellectual property and technology law practice at Jorden Burt LLP, has written an article for Metropolitan Corporate Counsel asking "Why Should Corporate Counsel Become Familiar With Virtual Environments? Aren't They Just Fun And Games?" She runs through a basic history of legal wranglings in virtual worlds and has a particular focus on branding, advising counsel to be aware that their brands may already be involved in virtual worlds, whether they know it or not: "Most corporations are quite aware of and have set up procedures for combatting piracy, counterfeiting, and trademark and copyright infringement that occurs via the Internet. However, it appears that the trademarks and copyrights of major corporations are being infringed upon in the virtual world with impunity.[...] It might feel like fun and games, but in actuality you will be performing an important compliance function for the benefit of your company and its customers." That's certainly a starting point for corporate counsel, but for more information on emerging legal issues in virtual worlds, come to the Virtual Law Conference in New York City, April 3-4. [Full article]

Comments

[Dave Elchoness]

As a practicing attorney with a virtual worlds consultancy, I firmly believe that it will be workplace-related law rather than IP law that will be the hot area in virtual worlds before long. Not to discount IP law, but consider the ramifications on employment law, immigration law, tax law, and benefits law. Take a simple example based on what happens everyday, today: You'd like someone to help you build a new structure on your Second Life sim. You strike up a conversation with an avatar, who indicates that he'd like to help. So he agrees to build the structure and then serve as a greeter at the sim at various times during the typical week. You agree to pay him at the rate of $100L/per hour (converted to perhaps less than $ .50 US/hour.) Now the issues to be dealt with. Who is the avatar in real life? Are you unlawfully employing this person? Are you paying less than the prevailing minimum wage in the jurisdiction that the person behind the avatar is entitled to? What about benefits? Taxation? The issues are endless when the employment relationship, once done almost exclusively in-person, in the same jurisdiction, becomes essentially global in scope without any sense of the challenges imposed by distance. What this new paradigm will give rise to is a new sort of workplace law, one that is more complex than most attorneys are used to. A workplace law in which political borders are difficult to manage given the proximity presented by technology. Of course, I'm not offering legal advice here. Just one person's opinion on where the world might be headed.