Wollongong
Elite
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2006
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- 4,675
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- Odysseus Unbound
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- Jerry "Wollo" Wollongong
In California, there has been a class action lawsuit against the company behind Second Life. Plaintiffs basically claimed that they were deceived, as the company made claims about "owning" stuff.
And the outcome is that Linden Labs (the company) must provide a full refund:
I think this verdict has implications for EU too, for instance with the CLD. The only thing about ownership is in the EULA, which nobody ever reads. But iirc MA claims they never will return anything other than the PED deposited in the last three months. This verdict might just put that claim upside down.
Because one could argue we were misled about ownership too: CLD cost 1000 PED, but have a tt of zero. We bought the right to claim land (which never happened) and we were promised voting rights (which never came).
Now, let me emphasize that I am not complaining, nor am I in any way tempted to file any claim or lawsuit. But this does have a clear relevance to our world. While it has been about stuff taken away in SL, my example is about promises never delivered (which is basically the same in the end), and there have been cases where items have become useless (clothes, shops) for a short or longer time (what about the whips and the ped invested in taming skills, for instance?
What do you think the implications of this Judge's decision are?
Source: http://www.topclassactions.com/laws...nd-life-virtual-money-class-action-settlement
In this amended complaint, they accused Linden Research of making false representations about the ownership of virtual property and said that the company wrongly confiscated virtual property from them.
And the outcome is that Linden Labs (the company) must provide a full refund:
Under the terms of the class action settlement, Linden Research has agreed to return up to 100 percent of the U.S. dollar balances in the Class Members’ accounts to their PayPal accounts within 10 days of establishing the validity of the claim. Linden will also return up to 100 percent of the balance of linden dollars by converting them to U.S. dollars and will waive Second Life’s commissions on the currency exchange. Linden Research also agreed to pay for virtual property and virtual items once the validity of each claim is determined.
I think this verdict has implications for EU too, for instance with the CLD. The only thing about ownership is in the EULA, which nobody ever reads. But iirc MA claims they never will return anything other than the PED deposited in the last three months. This verdict might just put that claim upside down.
Because one could argue we were misled about ownership too: CLD cost 1000 PED, but have a tt of zero. We bought the right to claim land (which never happened) and we were promised voting rights (which never came).
Now, let me emphasize that I am not complaining, nor am I in any way tempted to file any claim or lawsuit. But this does have a clear relevance to our world. While it has been about stuff taken away in SL, my example is about promises never delivered (which is basically the same in the end), and there have been cases where items have become useless (clothes, shops) for a short or longer time (what about the whips and the ped invested in taming skills, for instance?
What do you think the implications of this Judge's decision are?
Source: http://www.topclassactions.com/laws...nd-life-virtual-money-class-action-settlement