Avatar vs. Avatar - the first Second Life lawsuit

Bed that lets avatars do naughties behind the controversy

6 July 2007 10:55 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

For what is believed to be the first time in the virtual world, one Second Life avatar is suing another.

Apparently a Second Life entrepreneur has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Second Life resident.

The person doing the suing is Kevin Alderman, known in SL as "Stroker Serpentine", who made headlines previously by making $50,000 in cold, hard "real" cash for selling a SL virtual island on eBay.

Volkov Catteneo, the sue-ee, is accused of stealing the design of Alderman's latest Second Life business venture, the SexGen bed, which lets Avatars do the dirty that was (somewhat unsuprisingly) becoming a roaring success.

According to Alderman, Cattaneo has pinched the design and is selling it a third of the price.

Alderman has apparently appealed to Linden Labs, the company behind Second Life, to find out Catteneo's real life identity, until then the lawsuit just names him as "John Doe".

We're unsure if this means the legal process will take place in the virtual, or real, world.