Bragg vs. Linden Research II : the Landbot episode
October 11, 2007 12:40 amDon’t get me wrong. Yes, I think using landbots is giving people an unfair advantage as it comes to land trading/brokering. And yes, I do believe a lot of people have been done wrong by those landbots, be it because of an own mistake, or some borked Second Life code.
Landbots are bots, and as far as I’m concerned Linden Lab’s ‘we don’t interfere as it comes to business between residents‘ does not fly as landbots are - obviously - bots, and NOT residents. Especially if the rumour goes that some landbots are able to buy land before it’s ‘really’ put up for sale. Didn’t they give Mr. Bragg the boot for exact the same reason?!
But… well, I was very curious about the terms on which the Bragg vs. Rosedale vs. Linden Research was settled. Obvious on very lucrative terms for mister Bragg and without a ‘thou shall not ever sue us again’ clause if that soon after he got his ‘out of SL jail’ card he makes plans to go to court again. Marc Bragg got his account - Marc Woebegone - back to, amongst others, ‘take up his responsibilities to the community again’. I wonder if - according to Linden Labs - that involves the next class law suit. So this does seem like a kind of very morbid humour to me.
Bragg seeks to sue the landbot owners/users, but Lindens have always stated that those are still abiding to the Second Life Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. So, there is no other option left than to go after the ToS, again?
Date of Notice: October 9, 2007
POTENTIAL CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT TO ENJOIN LAND BOT USERS FROM CONTINUING USE & FOR DAMAGES RELATED TO LAND ACQUIRED VIA THE USE OF LAND BOTS WITHOUT THE SELLER’S CONSENT.
We are investigating the level of interest from landowners harmed by the use of “land bots” within Second Life in obtaining a Court order preventing any further use of such technology and a judgment for damages on behalf of all persons harmed.
If you are interested in being a part of this action, and/or can assist the Class in obtaining relief; i.e., you have any evidence (which could include images of land bots in action, names of avatars that own land bots, names of avatars that own landbots on your land after acquisition, website URLSs listing land that was obtained by land bots for sale, chat logs, IMs, copies of land bot scripts, etc.), or have been a victim by land bots, please join the Group titled: “Class Action against Land Bot”, send a note card to Marc Woebegone, and/or email what information you have to msb@lawy-ers.com (Marc Woebegone) at your earliest convenience.
It is important that any evidence be copied and preserved immediately before it disappears or is destroyed, so please help out if you can.
Regards,
Marc Woebegone
(Marc Bragg msb@lawy-ers.com)
6 Responses to “Bragg vs. Linden Research II : the Landbot episode”
Now i’m VERY grateful we don’t have Landbots! :-D
I have it on good rumor that Bragg spent upwards of $90,000 US on this and pretty much came out if it with nothing. Companies and individuals usually like to settle at some point to reduce risks. You never know how a judge might rule one way or the other, and LL probably viewed there was a small risk of loosing, which was not worth the gain in winning (or they thought at this point they had won enough).
Rumor has it, that Linden had logs of him bragging how he cheated and beat their system (which was the premise of the case to begin with), which was not going to look good in court. Which is probably why it was settled.
Remember, it’s all a risk/reward. Risk of loosing might greatly outweigh the reward of winning.
My guess is that this new legal tact is a means to recoup losses on the last failed legal attack. In most class actions, the lawyers are the ones who make out with all the money.
My guess is he is going to have a hard time on this one. But I do agree the landbots are not good. I thought there was going to be some generalized action to prevent them from working?
Veyron, I do love (SL related) gossip. Please tell me more! ;)
Companies and individuals usually like to settle at some point to reduce risks.
Pfff, that’s taking all the fun out of law suits. I was so looking forward to - any - ruling.
So you think he just wants to find some innocent residents that had enough of the land bots, represent them and thus get their money, regardless if they win or not? (<- a bit blatantly put, but still… :p)
In regards to the class action, while I agree that the land bots are rather evil, determining who might be part of the class is going to be a real challenge. Think about it, how do you know or can prove, that you were cheated by a land bot? Obviously you might know you were, but how can you prove it? You don’t really have a record of the transaction, and how do you prove it was a landbot?
Then just finding people cheated by land bots will be a challenge. Next, the amount of money they were cheated out of might be in real terms, rather small - $10US - $20US - etc. Some people might be a lot more, but again, that is anecdotal.
Final problem for the class action is a judge might not get the case at all. There’s a lot of explaining to do in the case to a judge and if it’s not clear to them where the wrong is, they might just throw it out.
As far as the gossip, I don’t have a lot of information other than what I overheard at a party, but that’s pretty much what I heard. These people seemed to be in the know, but then - a rumor is a rumor.
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