Virtual Law: Navigating The Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds, by Benjamin Duranske

4/10/2008: The book is now available here.

I was fortunate enough to get a review copy of Benjamin Duranske's Virtual Law: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds, which is available for pre-order at this time. Since the author has been following Law in more than virtual worlds at VirtuallyBlind.com, it is written by one of the very few intellectual property attorneys actively involved in this new method of entertainment, business, education and communication. Being someone especially interested in Law as it pertains to technologies, I was very happy to get the review copy.

To give this all context for those unfamiliar with virtual worlds, here are a few things that have happened over the last year:

• The first trademark of an avatar has happened.
• Pseudonymity of an avatar was verified through payment information subpoenaed from PayPal and Linden Lab in a case of copyright infringement enacted in a virtual world.
• The Terms of Service of a virtual world service provider were ruled a contract of adhesion in a lawsuit that was later settled.

That is a very small taste of what has happened in the last year within virtual worlds - and these only relate to one virtual world. Obviously, despite what many people who use virtual worlds may think or hope, Law is playing an increasingly significant role in synthetic worlds just as much as it does on the Internet - if not more. Since this is the first book on Law as related to virtual worlds, it has a lot to live up to.

On to the review.

The first chapter, Introducing Virtual Worlds and Virtual Law, explains virtual world to those who may be completely unfamiliar with virtual worlds themselves, and introduces 'Virtual Law'. As Benjamin Duranske writes (Chapter One, 'What Is Virtual Law', p 14.):

Virtual law is like "Internet law," in that it refers to a wide body of generally preexisting law that is applied somewhat differently in a new context. In fact, much of what we think of as "Internet law" applies to virtual worlds. In sum, virtual law is the statutory and case law that impacts virtual worlds and the application of that law to these spaces. It also refers to the internal governance structures that are beginning to appear in some virtual worlds...

... Virtual law includes aspects of civil procedure, constitutional law, contract law, copyright law, criminal law, tort law, patent law, property law, publicity law, securities law, tax law, trade secret law, trademark law, international law and Internet law. In each area, questions similar to those that arise in relation to real-world activity arise when law is applied to activity that takes place in virtual worlds, though with different, sometimes surprising, implications.

Therein lies not only the premise of the book, but the promise of the book.

Subsequent chapters delve into many different aspects of virtual law as seen at present in virtual worlds - from understanding the larger questions surrounding virtual law to Tax Law. A view of the table of contents, which can be found at the bottom of this page, demonstrates the sheer scope of a book that certainly holds a lot of information. How that information is portrayed, though, is really the key. To go through the book chapter by chapter would be a basic rewriting of the entire book - and not as good.

Aside from the discussion of Law, I found Chapter 14, Establishing a Professional Virtual World Presence, especially interesting. The focus of the chapter is on legal professionals establishing presences in virtual worlds, and my interest was partly because of my own role as a Virtual World and Second Life® Consultant, and partly because of the premise for legal professionals having a virtual world presence. While this chapter is geared toward legal professionals, the underlying guidelines fit most sorts of professional presences in synthetic worlds and is well worth reading.

Benjamin Duranske did something rather difficult here, beyond the scope of writing the first practical book on virtual world law. Even as someone who has interacted with him through avatar and email, I am staggered by the sheer amount of work that went into this book as well as how well rounded he is on explaining the different perspectives on issues. As a fellow writer and commentator on virtual worlds, I often read VirtuallyBlind.com myself, so I expected Virtual Law: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds to be a good book. As a book reviewer, I have to do my utmost to make sure that the book is good or rate it poorly.

I am fortunate that the author made my job easy, though in the end he did make it difficult as his work and I fought over the final points.

Virtual Law: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds scored a KnowProSE.com 10 out of 10, a score I am loathe to give out to anyone. The book is timely, circumspect, well written and grounded where it is supposed to be while provocative in areas that it needs to be. The author's experience in virtual world use and commentary shines as he teases out the importance of law to virtual worlds, and vice versa. With references that demonstrate the importance of understanding the combination of virtual worlds and law, Benjamin Duranske makes Virtual law in concept and practice very tangible and understandable. This book is not only a book introducing Virtual Law - it is a book of reference for lawyers, virtual world users and virtual world owners alike. If there is a bias I could find in the book, it is a bias toward the future - and that bias is an agreeable bias as the author was careful not to draw conclusions.

If you're interested in Virtual Worlds - and you should be - get Virtual Law: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds. It's well worth $50. A mistake in understanding Virtual Law can cost a lot more.

Technorati Tags: Book Review Business Business Culture Global ICT Internet Media People and Communications Realist Cult SecondLife Society Technology Technology Technology & Communications Technology and Society Technology Observations Virtual World Virtual World Benjamin Duranske Virtual Law: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds Law virtuallyblind metaverse metanomics