Continuing our ongoing coverage of the Bragg vs Linden Lab filings, we move on to Robreno's 30 May orders, denying Rosedale's Motion to Dismiss, and Linden Lab's Motion to Compel Arbitration. Judge Eduardo Robreno, you may recall, is the federal court judge who has been assigned to this case.
Along the way Robreno declares the Second Life Terms of Service invalid, and indirectly, it would appear, the Terms of Service of most or all other Virtual Worlds and MMO's by precedent.
"Let me explain. ... No, there is too much. Let me sum up." - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride.
Okay, let's pause a bit and take a look at the Bragg vs Linden Lab/Rosedale case. Let's look at where it started and what's gone on since.
Our Dramatis Personae are Marc Bragg (a Pennsylvania Attorney and former Second Life land developer known then as Marc Woebegone) and Linden Lab (who should need little introduction at this point).
Marc Bragg allegedly gained unfair advantage by accessing the land auction pages for property that had not yet been released for auction, enabling him to acquire land in Second Life below Linden Lab's cost for that land (Marc paid only $300USD for an entire region). Some of that property may have been subdivided and sold to other residents before Linden Lab suspended Marc Bragg's account for investigation, and then closed the account for violation of the Terms of Service -- dissolving his virtual assets (Linden Lab's usual procedure for closed accounts). Bragg declares that his actual losses were between $4000 USD and $6000 USD.
Continuing our walkthrough of the Bragg vs Linden Lab filings, we move on to Bragg's second 16 January, 2007 filing. Bragg's Opposition to Rosedale's Motion to Dismiss.
We already discussed Rosedale's Motion to Dismiss (to dismiss himself as a defendant in the case, on the grounds that the court had no jurisdiction over him). Now, Bragg is objecting. We also learn in passing that the motion to remand back to state court was denied. The case is now firmly in the federal district.
Continuing our walkthrough of the Bragg vs Linden Lab filings, we continue with Bragg's 16 January, 2007 Opposition to Linden Lab's Motion to Compel Arbitration.
We covered the first 11 pages of this one yesterday. Time to forge our way through the rest.
Continuing our walkthrough of the Bragg vs Linden Lab filings, we arrive at the 16th of January, 2007. Bragg made two filings on this day, backed up with assorted exhibits.
This one is Bragg's Opposition to Linden Lab's Motion to Compel Arbitration. You'd better get some tea and a sweet biscuit.
Continuing our walkthrough of the Bragg vs Linden Lab filings, we have three new filings to play with. The first is dated 9 January 2007, and is Linden Lab's motion to admit Scott Baker, Esquire pro hac vice.
Granted, that sounds like something you do in golf, but it means we can look forward to a little more personality, going forward.
Continuing our walkthrough of the Bragg vs Linden Lab filings, we get to 7 December 2006 and Linden Lab's filing in opposition to Bragg's motion to remand back to the state court.
Obviously if Linden Lab didn't want this to go to the federal court they wouldn't have filed the motion to remove in the first place. It was pretty obvious that they were going to oppose a motion to remand.
Continuing our walkthrough of the Bragg vs Linden Lab filings, we get to the 11 November filings in support of Bragg's motion to remand back to the state court.
The filings consist of one affidavit, and a supporting brief. Let's see what Bragg has to say ...
Continuing our walkthrough of the Bragg vs Linden Lab filings, we get to the last of the 7 November filings, now in the Federal Court (the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania).
This filing is supported by two more, later in the month (tune in tomorrow for those), and is Bragg's motion to remand the case back to the state court where the complaint was filed.
Continuing our walkthrough of the Bragg vs Linden Lab filings, we get to a companion filing to Rosedale's motion to have himself dismissed from the case (also 7 November 2006). This one starts sinking the boot in. It's also our first look at the Terms of Service in full-on legal-document action.
You see, the Terms of Service have an arbitration clause, when it comes to disputes, as for the rest of the document, they don't paint Bragg in particularly glowing terms. On with the fun...
Continuing our walkthrough of the Bragg vs Linden Lab filings, we get to some more 7 November filings, now in the Federal Court (the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania).
Philip Rosedale files papers to the District Court asserting that it lacks the jurisdiction over him for him to be a defendant in this case. Is there anything that's more fun than digging through court filings?
Continuing our walkthrough of the Bragg vs Linden Lab filings, Linden Lab acknowledges the receipt of the original filing "on or about" 10 October, and have apparently retained Reed Smith LLP to act for them. On November 7 they made a 'timely' notice of their own (within 30 days of receipt in this case).
Linden Lab's filing is a notice of removal, on jurisdictional grounds. They argue that the state court does not have the jurisdiction to handle the case.
About a month ago, I talked about the Bragg vs Linden Lab case, basically dissecting an interview with the legal counsel, Jason Archinaco. At the time, I promised to revisit this, and follow the case a little more closely.
Technically this case started on October 4, 2006, and we're going to look at the first filing, from Bragg and Archinaco. It's a bit of a doozy, so you might want to grab a coffee and some biscuits for this one. The whole document is linked, but I'll just be summarizing and explaining as we go.
Well, there's been a lot of talk about Marc Bragg and his lawsuit against Linden Lab. Urizenus Sklar, editor emeritus of the Second Life Herald had an excellent interview with Jason Archinaco, Bragg's attorney in this matter. I'll be referring to that, but really, if you're interested in this topic, you should go read it.
Marc Bragg, you may know, found a way to fool the system into letting him bid on property that was not available for auction in the usual way. With nobody to bid against him, he scored quite some amount of land for very little money, and then resold it. His account was banned and his Second Life assets dissolved, as Linden Lab considered this a violation of the Terms of Service -- an exploit.
Jason A. Archinaco, Esquire himself is a partner in the Commercial Litigation group of White & Williams, LLP. An avid gamer, he is also a technology law specialist, and wrote thisvery pertinent and interesting paper on the topic of virtual property. Having read it, I get the impression that Archinaco is very keen to see some of his ideas tried out in a court of law. However, having read both the paper and the interview -- even though I'm no lawyer or legal professional -- a number of other things seem to be going on here.