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The lawyer advised Rep that Rilort is legally responsible being the one who borrowed the item. Rep’s lawyer then proceeded by sending Rilort a letter informing him that he is responsible for returning the items or paying back their value.
Rep told us that he is still interested in recovering the items from Fizzle but that he proceeded with initial legal claims against Rilort in the hope that it would force him to take responsibility and take action to get his items back. He has offered Rilort his assistance in helping him proceed legally and retrieve the contact information from MindArk but that it is his responsibility to do so and Rep cannot take action against Fizzle himself.
The case has progressed slowly so far and Rep is still discussing with Rilort on how best to deal with the matter, we hope Rilort will cooperate so that the items get returned and we hope the legal system will consider virtual property based on its value and deal with the theft as they would of a real item.
I appeared on Justin Thyme’s radio show which can be found at www.gamerszoneradio.com. Since everyone has been complaining that I have remained anonymous I revealed my identity on the show.
My in-game avatar name is Tor Tory Robert, and I no longer actively play the game. The reason for keeping my identity anonymous is because I wish to seperate my work on the website with my private life in the Entropia Universe. You can hear the full interview here, it explains what lead me to start up the website.
By request of Spin Rep Pitt the fundraiser was cancelled and all donators received a refund, we will however post a short explanation of the reason we started it and what will happen next.
Rep does not have a whole lot of funds outside of the Entropia Universe and although he could have gotten the funds from elsewhere, we thought we would take the opportunity to allow the community to be involved instead as we believed the resolution of this case could be very important for many people.
Rep was obviously also depressed about the whole situation and we thought support for him would give him the confidence to keep trying to get his items back. For these reasons we asked Rep to allow us to start the fundraiser. Since the fundraiser has not worked out as we hoped, EntropiaLaw will be giving Rep the PED to pay for his lawyer instead.
By request of Spin Rep Pitt, the fundraiser has been stopped and all donators will get a full refund including shop fees.
Spin Rep Pitt and his friends have hired a lawyer to take care of their case, however legal council is very expensive and we would like to help make this process easier for him. Their story can be found here http://www.entropialaw.com/?p=72
We would like to make a public appeal for donations on their behalf, they will be needing roughly 8000 PED to pay for legal fees. If you would like to donate you can do so by buying 1 PEC for 10, 50 or 100 PED (+ shop fees) at xXSqUaLLXx Mining heaven II, shop 12 PA mall floor 2 (the second shop next to the tp). The shop owner will be giving the PED directly to Rep.
The aim of this action is to have a lawyer consult with the police in the hope of convincing them to launch a real investigation as in past cases of theft in Entropia the police has been unwilling to take any action. The secondary aim is for the lawyer to ask MindArk to share information on the culprit. After these things have happened, depending on the result Rep will decide how to proceed next.
The 8000 PED will go towards starting this initial action, and all further costs will be paid by Rep himself, and we will not be doing any other fundraiser in his case. We hope the community will donate to encourage Rep to continue his fight to get his stolen items back.
There is of course a chance that this will not succeed in doing very much, but without trying no one will ever know for sure.
The result and details of Rep’s case will also be made public through our website.
List of current donators:
100 PED donated by Zy Zylex Lex
100 PED donated by joe jeff xXSqUaLLXx
60 PED donated by Jon BigRedMachine Rukin
160 PED donated by Tom thebuzz Christensen
100 PED donated by Spin Rep Pitt
10 PED donated by liddle red gunzy ridinghood
163.40 PED donated by Jandre Shinobi Kroeze (via Ukash)
500 PED donated by James BlueFire Sunderland
If you wish to donate by other means then the shop then please contact the shop owner joe jeff xXSqUaLLXx to make your donation.
In july 2009, the avatars Spin Rep Pitt, Qing-jao Rei Fei-tzu, Litano Sacklitch Makero and Black Hawk Hawk had lent several items to the avatar Richy Rilort Lort. These items are estimated to be worth over 500 000 PED.
These items included :
- 1 A-3 Justifier Mk.III Improved
- 1 EWE EP-40 Mercenary Modified
- 1 Hedoc M-450
- 1 Marber Tango-Type Plasma Annihilator
- 3 Omegaton A106
- A mixed set of limited Eon, Infiltrator, Hermes armour
The items were later seen by NBK army who noticed a new player by the name of Majklam kalamitz Fizzle was holding them, claiming that he had bought them for 300 PED in total. After finding out that they belonged to members of the cK society, they tried to negociate with Fizzle to return the items as it was obvious that he acquired them by suspicious means, but they were unsuccesful. They even tried to get a Mindark representative to mediate, but he logged off when he heard the representative was comming to speak with him.
It was found out that Rilort shared his account with an avatar named Capuz sumah martins, and he is the one that is suspected of having traded away all of the items Rilort was holding.
Mindark had originaly locked the people who were holding the items, but they were unlocked after roughly a month and have been seen trying to sell the items. The people involved are currently taking legal action through both lawyers and the police, and we hope Mindark will assist them in the investigation.
We will post updates on the story as soon as they are available.
Sources: Spin Rep Pitt, Qing-jao Rei Fei-tzu, Black Hawk Hawk, Richy Rilort Lort.
Discussions on this story can be found at:
The submitter has asked for anonymity. We do know the real names as well as the avatar names, but because of the anonymity request we will simply call them player A and player B.
Player A had a pending court case that he claimed would net him over a million British pounds. He had built up a lot of trust with people, and he had also given out details of his court case in the form of documents and correspondence with his lawyer. He had borrowed many items in the past and had always returned everything given to him. Many people had lent him both PED and items, and he promised to return everything within a few months which was when his court case was supposed to pay out. After over half a year of promises, most people assumed that they would never see any of their PED or items ever again, and some considered him a scammer.
Player B who had lent him 300 000 PED decided to take legal action against him, as Player A resided in the UK he was able to file a money claim online at www.moneyclaim.gov.uk. Player A never replied to the money claim within the allocated time, and a default judgment was given against him. This meant that Player B now had legal proof that the money was owed to him. As he still did not have the money owed to him, he had the courts send bailiffs to Player A’s house to try and retrieve the money. They were, however, unable to get anything. Player B then hired a lawyer to get him his money, and an agreement was shortly made with Player A’s lawyer.
Player A’s court case did finally pay out after roughly 2 years, and according to our sources he did pay back some of his ingame debts, even to people who did not take any legal action against him, so Player B might have been able to retrieve the money without going to court. The money claim did however legalize the debt, and Player A would have had to pay back Player B regardless of the circumstances.
If you have the full name and address of someone living in the UK who owes you money in Entropia or otherwise, then a money claim can be made relatively easily and cheaply at www.moneyclaim.gov.uk. Should the other party fight the claim, then the dispute will be taken to the small claims court where each party can make their arguments free of lawyers.
While the claiming process might not be as easy in other countries as it is in the UK, most countries have a small claims court that one can make use of without the need to hire expensive lawyers. In the near future we plan to add a list of rules for various countries on how to initiate a case in the small claims court. EntropiaLaw will be happy to help you find information and help you to prepare your case if someone owes you money in the Entropia Universe.
For a bit of background information and to show that many things can happen in a court of law I will be writting a short summary of known cases that have arrised in other virtual worlds, while these have not happened in sweden, the country that Mindark and First Planet Company are based in, they are good references for the possible situations that can arise in the Entropia Universe, as well as the possible legal arguments that can be brought forward:
Lawsuit between Marc Bragg and Linden Lab (USA):
In the virtual world Second life, the service provider Linden Lab closed a users account for violating their Terms of Service by using an exploit in order to acquire a land at a below market value. The user Marc Bragg filed a lawsuit against Linden Lab, the lawsuit ended in a confidential settlement in which Marc Bragg was able to retrieve his account. In this case, before the settlement was reached, the court found that the ToS was presented on a “take-it-or-leave-it-basis” that was unjustly biased towards Linden Lab which meant that certain passages were considered invalid. (source: wikipedia)
Lawsuit between Li Honghen and Beijing Arctic Ice Technology Development Co Ltd (China):
A court in china ruled that the company behind the game Hongyue (Red Moon) return items that were stolen from Li Honghen by another player due to loopholes that made it easy for hackers to break in. In this situation the player had asked both the police as well as the company for assistance before filing the lawsuit. (source: cnn)
Court sentences four people for virtual property theft (China):
A court in China sentenced Wang Xiaoquan to 3 years imprisonment for stealing QQ coins from the person known as ”Shenyang fellow”. His accomplices received suspended sentences, and all four were fined 5000 yuan. They stole the QQ coins by beating up “Shenyang fellow” and forcing him to transfer the QQ coins. The court said that virtual property should be protected by law. (source: xinhua)
Police get involved in theft of virtual items in the online game Habbo Hotels (Holland):
A dutch teenager got arrested for stealing virtual furniture bought with real money. He stole the items by making the user enter in his details in a fake Habbo website and then moving the furniture into his own Habbo room. A spokesman for Sulake, the company that operates Habbo Hotel, said: “It is a theft because the furniture is paid for with real money.” (source: bbc news)
16 year old boy sentenced for stealing virtual property (Holland):
A 16 year old boy beat up and forced a 13 year old to hand over his virtual property in Runescape . He was charged both with the beating and for stealing virtual property. He was sentenced with 160 hours of unpaid work or 80 days of jail time. The judge ruled that “goods don’t have to be material for the law to consider them stolen.” (source: pcworld)
These cases show that virtual property can be considered real assets and taken seriously by courts and authories, and considering that Mindark guarantees the real world value of the PED, it is especially important in the Entropia Universe.
We are currently looking for stories to post articles on so if you have a current dispute with another participant or mindark/first planet company and are looking to explore the legalities of your situation please click here to submit your story.
We are also interested in stories regarding past disputes that have resulted in legal remedies, so please submit these as well if you would like to share your story so that others may benefit and use it as a point of reference.
Any story we think may be relevant to virtual property rights will be posted.
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