My thought on what Bragg is requesting:

In the context of the internet, people make decisions based on the information available at the *time*. While Bragg may be an attorney, he may not have had the technical background to understand that what Linden Lab offers is really 3d web hosting in an environment which they control, and in a legal sense ‘own’ means something quite different than Linden Lab ‘pwnership’. :-)

As such, I would have to say that Bragg’s case has definite merit – but in the context of what he was banned for, this becomes a real question mark. Finding a way to get web hosting cheaper using someone’s system is probably not what I would say is illegal (but I am not a judge or jury), but it certainly is underhanded. I’d also say that if he really saw this as ‘ownership’, as he is trying to demonstrate, it does seem unethical in a more increased sense.

That said… its unfortunate that this is the case which Linden Lab *chose* to allow to get into virtual property rights; they should have settled and let Bragg back in… and probably nailed him for something else (because if he did this, he would be likely to do something else). Or keep him around as someone who tests the system and make him a de facto white hat.

But I’m not Linden Lab. As it is, I think what he is doing is useful – because I believe a jury would take on the case of ‘ownership’.

Frankly, I think Linden Lab lawyers have been smoking too much crack.