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

[Matt Mihaly]

On Tue, 16 Sep 2003, Ren Reynolds wrote:

> Yes, Matt's original point was indeed not whether there are rights
> _in_ databases, but that databases _have_ rights. I agree with
> Matt that databases cannot own things.

That's right.

> But, if we also look at things like rights of publicity, where
> ones one own persona can be a transferable and inheritable
> property right; and the fact that some avatars can persist longer
> than companies or for that matter many humans, and the
> non-sentience matter I noted above - I can certainly see property
> rights being ascribed to avatars and, and avatars being separate
> legal entities.

> For example, I can (and do) own a company, and the company can own
> things separate from me. So why, in principle, can I not own an
> avatar and the avatar can own things e.g. the products of it's
> 'labour' ?

In principle there's no reason the law couldn't be changed to grant
personhood to avatars. I just don't think it's going to happen.

Incidentally, good history of corporate personhood in America:

  http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Corporate_personhood

--matt
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