From Terra Nova I found out that blogger Greg Lastowka is doing a paper with Candidus Doughherty on Virtual trademarks. The paper is still in the draft phase but its still a good read.
Part of the conclusion goes:
In this article, we have made the case that, even though virtual worlds mayÂ
seem like mere fantasy games, they may, in some cases, be nvironments where the requirements of common law and statutory trademark nfringement can be met. Perhaps this is not surprising. Trademark lawsuits found their way onto the Internet many years ago—virtual worlds may be the next zones for the expansion of trademark law online.
 The traditional rationale of trademark law—the need to reward producer investments in popular goods and the need to prevent consumer deception—would seem to apply in virtual worlds as well as it does anywhere else. Yet trademark law has, at times, been deployed by plaintiffs in ways that have posed threats to expressive freedoms both offline and online.Â
The paper discusses:
- Trademarks in virtual worlds
- Player infringement
- Commerce in virtual worlds
- Secondary liabillity
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