SECOND LIFE - Brand Promotion and / Unauthorized Trademark Use in Virtual Worlds

摘要

An entirely new world is emerging as a hotbed for brand promotion as well as possible trademark infringement - the world of virtual reality. The popular press reports with increasing frequency about busiess activities taking place in virtual worlds. Gartner, Inc., an information technology research and advisory company, predicted in a recent report that by the end of 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users will have some sort of presence in a virtual world. One of the most popular virtual worlds at present is Second Life~R, an on line economy that is growing at a rate of more than 25 percent per month. Second Life is often described as a massive multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG, pronounced m or' peg), but it is certainly not a traditional computer game.