"Youniverse World" Dogged by Content Ownership Problems

Chalk this one up as a new virtual world that gives me the heeby-jeebies. Youniverse World is the newest virtual world to hit the market in beta, and boy, does it raise questions. The fact that it's based in Europe and hawked by an internet army of Eastern Europeans with "trust me" schticks only makes it more disconcerting.

The concept is simple: Youniverse World expands on the successes of Second Life as a commercial world by developing an entire virtual community geared towards providing real world goods and services through an entirely virtual interface. Need a pair of Nikes? Go to Bob's Virtual Nike Store and see if you can catch a deal.

It's a virtual world with entrepreneurs - both small and large - as a primary target. I'll break it down:

Once you're signed up for Youniverse World, which is being billed as a persistent virtual world interpretation of places like MySpace and Facebook, you can become a "tutor." This is basically the same as a Referral I.D., and new users can enter your name in upon joining to be pulled into your community. There is a benefit to this: Youniverse World offers to kick 10% of everything your referrals spend in-world back to you.

According to a poorly-scripted Powerpoint presentation, membership in YW allows for virtual travel worldwide, digital conferencing via avatars, opportunities for "new profit streams" and "multi-level marketing," and a "3D social business network." This is sounding less like Facebook and more like LinkedIn:  the Game.

As mentioned, the game is based in the United Kingdom, with all currency using the Euro. Viral marketing has been taken over by a handful of forum-spamming power-users from Latvia and Russia. If you find a "tutor," their profile is likely going to be cyrillic.

And don't be expecting Second Life's society of ownership. Per the Terms of Use:

4.1 - Member acknowledges that all intellectual property rights comprised in the Products and Services (including without limitation, any patent, registered design, copyright, design right, trade mark, business name, application to register any of the aforementioned rights...) (“Intellectual Property Rights”) are...the property of YOUNIVERSE WORLD

Now, according to a later portion of the Terms of Use, the user can buy and resell items for his or her own profit, so long as they understand that Youniverse World has ultimate ownership over all items. This is especially worrisome given the fact that users are buying and selling real-world, tangible items in an internet storefront.

Will commercial culture blossom in Youniverse World when the potential exists for game developers to close down the virtual representation of a brick-and-mortar shop? Would the shop owner have a legal claim for damage to reputation if Youniverse World mistakenly bans them?

Without addressing these problems, it's going to be an awfully small Youniverse.

Comments

[TK]

I only knew it would be a matter of time before businesses took advantage of the internet world like this. Whereas Second Life actually has a purpose this is to just whore itself out. I swear they'll do anything to sell items. Even ones that are fake yet you actually have pay for them. Ridiculous.

[John Waugh]

Sounds just like a giant pyramid scheme to me... you are right to warn the hoi poloi to stay away

[Baeric Constantine]

The article raises Article 4 as being at issue, however, Article 17 is a fun one too...

Article 17 - Applicable law and jurisdiction

17.1 - All Contracts and these Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with United Kingdom law and Member hereby agrees that United Kingdom shall have exclusive jurisdiction save that YOUNIVERSE WORLD may bring a claim against Member in any court of competent jurisdiction.

I am not certain which law applies, as it needs to clearly state the law of England and Wales. To say United Kingdom is not enough anymore. Scotland has devoluted, North Ireland does not always form part of legal system. So to state United Kingdom Law is not enough.

As pertaining to Article 4, I wonder if YOUNIVERSE hope to have places like Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and others joining? If so, then Article 4 needs revising.

For anyone to join, I would recommend first, to sit down and read read read those terms and conditions. They are not easy by any means.