Second Life Lawsuit. Bragg v. Linden, et al.

October 4, 2007 -- Settlement

Linden Lab and Marc Bragg announced today that they have settled their lawsuit over Linden Lab's termination of Bragg's account and freezing of his assets after allegations that he acquired land improperly. The brief announcement on the official Second Life blog reads:

"Linden Research, Inc., Philip Rosedale, and Marc Bragg have agreed to settle the 'Bragg v. Linden and Rosedale' lawsuit currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The parties agree that there were unfortunate disagreements and miscommunications regarding the conduct and behavior by both sides and are pleased to report that Mr. Bragg?s 'Marc Woebegone' account, privileges and responsibilities to the Second Life community have been restored. For the benefit of the Second Life community, the Parties have mutually agreed that the terms of their resolution shall remain confidential. The Parties ask that this confidentiality be respected."

Link

Virtually Blind coverage and comments

Second Life Insider

Virtual Worlds News

Summary

Bragg v. Linden Research, Inc. and Philip Rosedale (06-cv-04925, US DC (ED Penn)) is an on-going lawsuit between a Resident and landowner, Mark Bragg, and Linden Labs.

Bragg used what LL characterizes as an exploit to purchase land below market value. In response, LL disabled his account.  Bragg filed suit in Pennsylvania state court; Linden removed the case to federal court, and later moved to compel arbitration.

As of May 30, 2007, the court had issued an order denying Linden Labs' motion to compel arbitration. In so doing, the court held that the Second Life Terms of Service constitute an unenforceable contract of adhesion -- a ruling which some say calls the terms of service and end user license agreements (EULAs) for virtual worlds into question generally. See 4, below.  The court also declined to dismiss Philip Rosedale as a defendant in the case.

1. The documents filed with the Courts are available as downloads from this site, along with links to many articles of news and analysis about legal and economic issues related to Second Life. Note: sponsorship of the site is unknown.

Second Life - Lawsuit. Bragg v. Linden, et al.

2. The case was the basis for an in-world mock trial held as part of Harvard Law School's three-week "Evidence 2007" course (which was conducted partly in Second Life) . The Evidence 2007   "CyberOne wiki" contains class material and discussions, and includes material from the mock trial.

Evidence 2007 Wiki

3. The transcript of the jury deliberations in the mock trial can be found here:

Transcript

4. ORDER DENYING LINDEN'S REQUEST FOR ARBITRATION AS "ONE-SIDED" AND ROSEDALE STAYS IN CASE AS A DEFENDANT. 5/30/07

Order

5. BlawgIT

"The Biggest Lawsuit You've Never Heard Of"

by Brett Trout

BlawgIT post

6. Qualters, Sheri. "A suit over land that exists in a computer.(California)." The National Law Journal (Oct 23, 2006): NA. InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. Alameda Free Library. 15 Jan. 2007 (Bragg v Linden)

   Link

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