Copyrights are perhaps the most common type of intellectual property (along with trademarks), and are the first stop when it comes to protecting software-based products. This is because copyrights, which protect a particular expression of an idea, exist automatically upon fixation of an author’s work in a tangible medium of expression.

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Virtual worlds provide not only a new universe in which brave explorers stake their claims, but also a new legal landscape in which the colonists are often at odds with the natives from the “old world.” How do real-world laws apply? How do traditional concepts of intellectual property — patents, copyrights, and trademarks — apply in a virtual world?

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