Abstract:
Virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft and Second Life have recently exploded in popularity. As users create avatars and acquire virtual assets conflicts among users and between users and virtual world developers inevitably arise. These conflicts are currently resolved through the terms of End User License Agreements (EULAs) between users and developers. Many commentators, however, criticize EULAs as being too one-sided, and argue for courts to acknowledge traditional common law property rights in virtual property. These arguments invoke three theoretical justifications for property rights: Lockean labor theory, personhood theory, and utilitarianism. This Note argues that each of these theories are poor fits for virtual property, that contract law of the EULA should remain the dominant paradigm. Furthermore, market forces will ultimately compel virtual world developers to grant property-like rights to users anyway, removing the need for legislative or judicial development of property rights.
Cifrino, Christopher, Virtual Property, Virtual Rights: Why Contract Law, Not Property Law, Must Be the Governing Paradigm in the Law of Virtual Worlds (April 14, 2013). Boston College Law Review, Forthcoming.
First posted 2013-07-15 17:31:33
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