This document discusses user generated content, virtual worlds like Second Life, and Creative Commons licensing. It provides definitions for concepts like Web 2.0, user generated content, virtual worlds and metaverses. Creative Commons licenses allow creators to choose how their content can be used, such as allowing derivatives or sharing alike. Virtual worlds have different types like MMOs, metaverses and playgrounds. They distinguish between clients, which connect users, and content, which makes up the virtual world. Legal issues around virtual worlds include jurisdiction and classification of content. Second Life's EULA discusses ownership and licensing of user-created content. Game content usage rules may allow noncommercial personal use under license. A legal case around Second Life involved a user exploiting

1. Build your own world
User Generated Content, Second Life and
Creative Commons
Andrés Guadamuz
AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and
Technology Law

2. A warning about hype...

3. Web 2.0

4. Web 1.0 Web 2.0
read only read / write
top down bottom up

5. Some definitions
Web 2.0
User Generated
Content
Peer-production
Virtual worlds, MMOGs
Cyberspace /
Metaverse

6. The user is the producer
Blogging
Flickr
YouTube
Social networking
Wikipedia

7. Obligatory Long Tail slide

8. However...

9. Creative Commons

10. Some concepts
Copyright
Licence
Copyleft
Open Source Software
Open Content licences
End-User Licence Agreement

11. Spectrum of rights

12. CC is copyright for Web 2.0

13. Core Licensing Suite:
Creator/Licensor chooses licence options
Attribution: Every CC licences allows the world to
•
copy and distribute a work provided that the
licensee credits the creator/licensor.
•The author may include these other elements:
NonCommercial: licensees can use the work for
•
non-commercial purposes.
No Derivatives: the work cannot be modified.
•
•
ShareAlike: the work can be copied, modified and
distributed if the author releases the derivative
under the same licence.

14. s e vit a vi r e D o N - l ai c r e m m o C n o N - n o it u bi rtt A D N- C N- Y B
e kil A e r a h S - l ai c r e m m o C n o N - n o it u bi rtt A A S- C N- Y B
s e v i t a vi r e D o N - n o i t u b i r t t A D N- Y B
e ki l A e r a h S - n o i t u b i r t t A A S- Y B
l ai c r e m m o C n o N - n o i t u b i r t t A C N- Y B
n o i t u bi r t t A YB
Types of licence

15. Simple License Generator

16. Human-Readable Lawyer-Readable Machine-Readable
Commons Deed Legal Code Digital Code
<a rel=quot;licensequot;
href=quot;http://creativecommons.org/licens
es/by/2.5/scotland/quot;>
<img alt=quot;Creative Commons Licensequot;
style=quot;border-width:0quot;
src=quot;http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/2
.5/scotland/88x31.pngquot; />
</a>
<br />This work is licensed under a
<a rel=quot;licensequot;
href=quot;http://creativecommons.org/licens
es/by/2.5/scotland/quot;>Creative
Commons Attribution 2.5 UK: Scotland
License</a>.

18. However...

19. Chang’s family complaint
quot;Creative Commons owed a duty to Justin Wong, as a
•
user and beneficiary of its license. Creative Commons
breached this duty by failing, among other things, to
adequately educate and warn him, as a user of the
Creative Commons Attribution license, to warn him of the
meaning of commercial use and the ramifications and
effects of entering into a license allowing such use.quot;

20. Virtual Worlds

22. Types of virtual world
MMOG
Metaverse
Playground
Console

23. An important distinction
Client Content
Connects the user to the world The actual virtual world
Can be independent Swords, people, buildings, NPCs

30. Machinima

31. The new virtual world...

32. Augmented reality

33. Legal issues

35. Legal classification
“Open source”
Closed content Open Content
content
Proprietary
client
Open source
client

36. Jurisdiction
Global games Regional games National games

37. Second Life EULA
“3.2 You retain copyright and other intellectual property
rights with respect to Content you create in Second Life,
to the extent that you have such rights under applicable
law. However, you must make certain representations
and warranties, and provide certain license rights,
forbearances and indemnification, to Linden Lab and to
other users of Second Life.”

38. Second Life EULA
“You acknowledge that: (i) by using the Service you may
have access to graphics, sound effects, music, video,
audio, computer programs, animation, text and other
creative output (collectively, quot;Contentquot;), and (ii) Content
may be provided under license by independent content
providers, including contributions from other users of the
Service [...]
You acknowledge that Linden Lab and other Content
Providers have rights in their respective Content under
copyright and other applicable laws and treaty
provisions, and that except as described in this
Agreement, such rights are not licensed or otherwise
transferred by mere use of the Service.”

39. Game Content Usage Rules
quot;Here’s the magic words from our lawyers: so long as
you respect these rules, Microsoft grants you a personal,
non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use and
display Game Content and to create derivative works
based upon Game Content, strictly for noncommercial
and personal use. We can revoke this limited use license
at any time and for any reason.quot;

40. Bragg v Linden Labs
Mr Bragg is an attorney who exploited a vulnerability in
Second Life's land auction system,
He used it to purchase $8,000 USD (approximately $2
million Linden dollars) worth of land for only $300 USD
investment.
Linden Labs froze his in-game assets, confiscated the
land and terminated his account.
Bragg sued Linden Labs for breach of contract, unfair
trade practices, and later expanded his claims in order to
obtain an injunction disallowing Linden Labs to terminate
users' accounts.

41. Bragg v Linden Labs

42. SexGen trade mark cases

43. Electronic Money
‘Electronic money’ shall mean monetary value as
represented by a claim on the issuer which is:
(i) stored on an electronic device;
(ii) issued on receipt of funds of an amount not less in
value than the monetary value issued;
(iii) accepted as means of payment by undertakings
other than the issuer.

44. Concluding...

45. Questions?