Title: Avatars: a right to privacy or a right to publicity?

Authors: Angela Adrian

Addresses: University of Bournemouth, UK

Abstract: |Virtual world| identities are becoming indistinguishable from |real| identities, just as |e-commerce| became indistinguishable from |commerce|. The problem of the appropriation of personality tends to be associated with |character merchandising|, with a fine line drawn between real people and fictitious characters. The control over online avatar identities has begun to have many real-world consequences. This article is based upon a previous article published in the Computer Law Security Reports, 2008, entitled |No one knows you are a dog: Identity and reputation in virtual worlds|.

Keywords: virtual worlds; character merchandising; griefing; avatars; privacy; publicity; online avatar identity; reputation; avatar rights.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIPM.2008.021139

International Journal of Intellectual Property Management, 2008 Vol.2 No.3, pp.253 - 260

Published online: 05 Nov 2008 *

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