The Evans v. Linden Research case finally generated some interesting results in late 2012, resulting in the certification of a subclass of plaintiffs and a court filing stating that the parties are planning on mediating the dispute on January 21, 2013. As part of the Court’s ruling, the order certifying the subclass held that the plaintiffs did not have standing to pursue claims on behalf of the main class of plaintiffs, which the Court said could encompass anyone who ever bought or sold virtual real or personal property on Second Life. Accordingly, the Court took a dim view of the main claims on behalf of the vast majority of plaintiffs and left the plaintiffs with only a small victory in a case that looks much smaller than the one they envisioned. Click here for a copy of the Court’s certification order. Read More...

I am continuing to follow the Evans v. Linden case, which was transferred from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The case concerns the conduct of Linden Research inc., which operates the Second Life® virtual world. The plaintiffs had claimed that Linden wrongfully deprived them of their virtual real property. A review of the docket and the latest scheduling order shows the case is continuing and evidently is in the discovery phase of evidence gathering in anticipation of a motion to certify a class of plaintiffs and eventual trial. Read More...

Last year, I wrote about the Evans v. Linden case filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Linden operates the Second Life® virtual world. The case concerned claims that Linden wrongfully deprived the plaintiffs of their virtual real property. I recently checked into the status of the case. In February, the Philadelphia federal court enforced Linden’s forum selection clause and transferred the case to the Northern District of California. Since then, the case has proceeded in San Francisco’s federal court. Read More...

Jason Archinaco, the lawyer who represented Marc Bragg against Linden Research, filed another lawsuit against Linden in Philadelphia’s federal district court on April 15, 2010. The gist of the suit is that Linden represented to Second Life users that they owned the virtual land and goods they are creating and purchasing on Second Life, while at the same time are trying to deny ownership rights. This lawsuit has the possibility of placing virtual property rights, or lack thereof, front and center before the court. The case is entitled Evans v. Linden Research, Inc. and a copy of the complaint is linked here. Read More...

Tags: Evans v. Linden Research

On my Facebook page, I recently wrote about a New York Times article on the booming market for virtual goods, but now others have written that game companies are using unsavory methods for obtaining sales leads. Now the lead generation practices have triggered a lawsuit in the Northern District of California. Read More...