[MUD-Dev] BIZ: Who owns my sword?

[Linder Support Team]

Matt Mihaly wrote:

> Well, as far as I am aware (and I am not a lawyer), the law would
> not recognize a collection of database entries as having any legal
> right whatsoever. Without legal right there is no legal
> ownership. Companies can own things. Individuals can own
> things. I'm pretty sure an avatar or the copy of Word sitting on
> my harddrive cannot, at least in the eyes of the law.

Maybe that's the way things are right now. In my opinion the current
laws pertaining to intellectual property, copyright, the IT industry
in general is still evolving, as is the whole industry too - it is
not nearly as old as, say the industrial industry.

I think a great point to be made is that we should not say "this is
how it is and will stay".  Instead we should say "how can we
challenge the current situation" in order to help it mature.  We
actually have a great opportunity to influence future laws regarding
property rights of "fictional", as you put it, entities.

Maybe currently the law says that companies, individuals and trusts
are legal entities, but I say, what would be the fundamental
difference between a fictional entity and a trust fund.  Taking this
as far as I could, why can't I register my in-game avatar as a legal
entity with all the rights that goes with it, if someone else can
register a trust which indeed can very much own real world things?

What is the difference between that trust owning shares in another
company and my avatar owning a sword (or even shares!) in the
virtual world in which it lives... or even in the real world outside
of the virtual world?

Bernard Graham
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