My Take on Bragg vs. Linden

The other day Linden Lab’s attorneys filed an answer to Bragg’s complaint. I have been out of circulation for a few days and this has probably been blogged about all over the Second Life Blogosphere, but I had to read the answer myself; overall I found it a huge waste of natural resources to make that many pages.

Y’all know I am a simple country boy so the first thing I had to do was put Bragg’s complaint and Linden’s answers on the same page to see just exactly what was being admitted and denied. That wasn’t as easy as I was expecting it to be because the only copy of Bragg’s complaint I was able to find are scanned copies, so no cut and paste. I had to type the body of the complaint out, and since I have done that I figure I may as well post it here and let you have a look at what has been admitted to or denied. You can take a look at Bragg vs. Linden Saga Continues and read it yourself if you would like.

Most of it is a waste of time and doesn’t get to interesting until the counter suit is reached, but there are a couple of things that we should be aware of. The first being that Linden Lab deny that Second Life is a massively-multiplayer-online-role-playing game, but admits that it does share certain characteristics with such games.

Bragg’s complaint draws heavily on using Philip Rosedale’s own words and marketing strategy and his often use of the terms “buy” “sell” “own” virtual real estate. In Lindens answer to Bragg’s complaint Linden Lab is posturing to be more like a “hosting” company by stating that “virtual land” is not property, but “a license of access to Linden’s proprietary servers, storage space, bandwidth, memory allocation and computational resources.”

I have to say that Bragg probably has caused this shift in the “often stated virtual land stance” as it was never talked about before as a hosting service. Now the “official” word is analogous [Similar or equivalent in some respects though otherwise dissimilar] to ownership in “virtual land.” I would say we all pretty well knew we weren’t buying LAND, but that is exactly how it sounded when you heard Philip talk or read most anything about land ownership on the Second Life website. But Linden Lab is now having to change their story in an attempt to defend a legal position in a “real world” court system.

Another interesting aspect is that Linden Lab’s “legal eagles” are still calling heavily upon the Terms of Service agreement, including areas which the Honorable Eduardo Robreno has already decided are unconscionable and “unenforceable.”

Where this really got interesting to me was the counter suit filed by Linden Lab.

LINDEN RESEARCH, INC.’S COUNTERCLAIMS
AGAINST PLAINTIFF MARC BRAGG FOR:
1) FEDERAL COMPUTER FRAUD, 18 U.S.C. § 1030
2) CALIFORNIA STATUTORY COMPUTER FRAUD,
CAL. PENAL CODE § 502
3) BREACH OF CONTRACT
4) BREACH OF THE IMPLIED COVENANT OF GOOD
FAITH AND FAIR DEALING
5) CALIFORNIA STATUTORY UNFAIR COMPETITION, CAL. BUS. & PROF. CODE § 17200
6) DECLARATORY RELIEF

Their Preliminary Statement left me scratching my head and wondering just what Bragg actually did to “scam” their system. Here is the Preliminary statement:

This Counterclaim arises from a fraudulent scheme perpetrated by Marc Bragg and persons acting in concert with him to obtain money through a scheme and artifice involving unauthorized access to Linden’s proprietary computers that host the online digital platform, or virtual world, known as “Second Life.” As more fully alleged below, Bragg – who is a licensed attorney – and his confederates, knowingly and with intent to defraud, without Linden’s permission, obtained, used and altered data and computer software in a deliberate exploit to gain unauthorized access to Linden’s server software in order to manipulate and subvert Linden’s standard system for making so-called “virtual land” available to its users through its land auction system. Linden sells rights to such “virtual land” – which are equivalent to access rights to a designated and dedicated portion of Linden’s hosting servers, computational resources, and memory allocation – through auctions that are open to all residents simultaneously, with a set standard minimum bid of U.S. $1,000.00. The objective of Bragg’s scheme was to obtain access to “virtual land” that was scheduled to be auctioned by Linden in the future and thus before it was available to any other users, and to acquire it for as little as one U.S. dollar rather than whatever winning bid (in excess of the minimum opening bid of U.S. $1,000.00) might have resulted from a legitimate auction. After acquiring the “virtual land” through this fraudulent scheme, Bragg intended to subdivide it, sell it to other Second Life users, and potentially obtain thousands of dollars in U.S. funds in ill-gotten profit. Prompted by the fortuitous discovery of Bragg’s and his associates’ anomalous auction transactions, Linden personnel investigated, and placed Bragg’s Second Life account on hold before he was able to profit from the scheme. When Linden told Bragg that it had placed his account on hold pending their investigation of his activity, Bragg threatened to sue Linden, in an attempt to dissuade Linden from continuing its investigation into his fraudulent scheme. When Linden did not capitulate in response to Bragg’s threats and remove the hold on his account, he immediately retaliated by bringing suit and – incredibly – demanding that Linden refund him his “expectation interest in the profit” he hoped to gain by reselling the fraudulently-purchased “virtual land.” Linden brings these counterclaims to recover the losses it incurred as a result of Bragg’s scheme, and to ensure that Bragg is appropriately punished and forever barred from Second Life.

There are several thing in this counter suit that has me lil mind a spinning — I think I will tackle it tomorrow