Title: Intellectual property or intangible chattel?

Authors: Angela Adrian

Addresses: The Business School, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB, UK

Abstract: Currently, virtual property is governed under a system where initial rights are allocated to traditional intellectual property rights holders, and subsequent rights are governed by license agreements called End User License Agreements (EULAs). The traditional intellectual property rights holders have been systematically eliminating any emerging virtual property rights which game players may be entitled to by the use of EULAs, causing an imbalance in resources and rights. Items and characters created in virtual worlds by players should be treated as intangible chattel while allowing the underlying designs and code of the game designers to retain their intellectual property rights.

Keywords: end user license agreements; EULAs; intangible chattel; intellectual property rights; IPR; massively multi-player online role-playing games; MMORPG; virtual worlds; virtual property; online gaming; game design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIIM.2009.025939

International Journal of Intercultural Information Management, 2009 Vol.1 No.4, pp.331 - 343

Published online: 25 May 2009 *

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