Monday, January 19, 2009
Yale Pocket Part Symposium on Virtual Worlds
The Yale Pocket Part is holding a symposium on virtual worlds. Two articles look like they would be of particular interest to property profs: James Grimmelmann, Virtual World Feudalism, and Joseph Blocher, Reputation as Property in Virtual Economies.
Ben Barros
[Comments are held for approval, so there will be some delay in posting]
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/property/2009/01/yale-pocket-par.html
Very interesting stuff. I'm not buying into all of the tenets of the author, though. None of us can claim full "ownership" to our reputations. To the extent that at least part of anyone's reputation is a reflection of what OTHERS think and how they react to a person or a person's actions, the property right is a limited and arguably non-exclusive one. I just don't think, for now anyway and not in all circumstances, that reputations are inherently "ownable" for lack of a better phrase. It's somewhat like asking what something is worth--it's worth whatever someone ELSE is willing to pay for it. In the same way, a reputation is I think intrinsically defined with respect to things and people outside of one's own control or "property right".
But, really interesting stuff.
Posted by: sam gompers | Jan 20, 2009 1:24:34 PM