Virtual Worlds and the Law

[mandy]

About eight months ago, the owners of a sporting goods company contacted their attorney, Doug Wolf, a partner at Wolf Greenfield. It seemed a company was using the firm's logo and trademark without proper authorization. Setting the matter right should have been a straightforward task for Wolf -- except for the fact that the intellectual property theft was happening online, specifically in Second Life.

The client didn't even know who was controlling the avatar who had set up shop using its trademarks. Wolf contacted the person in Second Life and explained who he was. The avatar came clean; as it turned out, he was a legitimate distributor for the sporting goods company in real life. He didn't think he was doing anything wrong.

Eventually, the parties agreed that the distributor could use the firm's marks and logos in Second Life -- as long as he got them from the firm and didn't create them himself...

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/features/65300.html