The virtual economy looks lively

A copyright infringement claim in Second Life is heading to a court in the real world, reports Reuters.

In "Eros LLC vs John Doe," Second Life entrepreneur Kevin Alderman is suing user Volkov Catteneo for allegedly copying a virtual sex bed that sells for $12,000 Linden, or $45.11. The lawsuit seeks to force Linden Lab to expose Catteneo's real-world identity in addition to damages.

The first such case for Second Life, Stanford University's Lauren Gelman says it will be interesting to see how the law will react to virtual property ownership (via TechCrunch).

Since all virtual property on Second Life literally resides on Linden Lab servers, a question arises: what belongs to whom in the first place?