BNT Claims $500,000 USD in Damages – Hopes to Join Class Action Lawsuit

by Pixeleen Mistral on 23/04/10 at 11:26 am

Intlibber Brautigan notified the Herald today that he has applied to join a virtual land class action lawsuit against Linden Lab and Philip Rosedale which was filed April 15th. The complaint alleges that after inducing players to join Second life with claims they "would receive and retain all right, title, interest, copyright and intellectual property rights to the land, objects and virtual property", unilateral changes to the Second Life Terms of Service and other action on the part of Linden Lab – including banning players from the virtual world – have deprived the plaintiffs of their property without compensation. The complaint claims that at least $5,000,000 USD in damages are possible.

Attorney Jason Archinaco, of Pribanic, Pribanic, and Archinaco LLC of Pittsburgh has set up VirtualLandDispute.com to help locate other members of the class. While Herald staff continue to digest the 64 page complaint Marc Bragg provides some interesting analysis here.

Meawhile, Intlibber Brautigan tell the Herald he hopes to join the class and claims losses of $500,000 USD. Mr. Brautigan’s letter to the Herald is reproduced below:

On behalf of myself, my partners, and my customers, in Brautigan & Tuck Holdings, its sims, content, and other intellectual property, as well as, M2B LLC and Ancapistan Capital Exchange, I have today applied to join the above class action lawsuit currently before Judge Robreno. We began BNT in late 2006, seeking to build a new world with our vision of a positive, forward looking, pro-business community in Second Life, we did so with the understanding that Linden Lab recognised the property rights of land owners to their virtual land, currency, and content, as well as to their avatar virtual personhood. It was clear as day in the terms of service. With that understanding, we proceeded to invest, in sim purchases, tier payments, and in capitalizing the development of content for our businesses and helping to capitalize the businesses of many others across Second Life, sums in excess of a half million dollars, US.

We have over the past three years seen an increasing attitude by Linden Lab against the property rights of its users, in violation of its agreement with them. We’ve seen them continually amend that agreement unilaterally by adhesion, and with no recourse for objection by the residents. We have also seen the Lab continuously violate the property, speech, and other Constitutional rights of its residents which are protected under Marsh vs Alabama.

Furthermore, Linden Lab engaged in anticompetitive pricing schemes, charging bulk resellers of virtual land, like myself, more for our private sims than they charged their small retail customers, and charging us likewise more in monthly tier fees than mainland landowners paid. They also unilaterally increased monthly fees on some sims, engaged in bait and switch actions, and lied about their justifications for the price increases.

Despite their actions, we have continuously attempted to negotiate in good faith, to deter them from proceeding down this road they have pursued. We have helped organize and led peaceful SOS protests and other civil disobedience actions to publicize the illegal actions of Linden Lab and its staff. My account was once suspended for protesting the right of other residents to engage in the advertising business in Second Life. The Lab has repeatedly suspended my accounts for standing up for the rights of myself, my employees, customers, residents, and business associates, only to release them again when faced with potential legal action, until they finally, permanently, suspended my accounts after a long campaign by Linden Lab staff and their friends to defame, slander, and libel myself, my business, and my associates. They contacted my customers to drive them away from my business, causing me to suffer a collapse of revenues, and seizure of all of my virtual land, including land held in other estate owners sims.

It has become clear, with the recent seizure of the virtual campus of Woodbury University, one of our largest customers, and a University that was engaged in the process of taking over BNT Holdings, that Linden Lab is a predatory, corrupt, racketeering organization engaging in massive fraud against its user base. Linden Lab has promoted the investment by thousands of its customers of millions of dollars into the virtual economy which they rigged and manipulated so that their biggest customers, who stood to compete the most strongly against Linden Lab, would be forced out of business or otherwise see their assets seized by the corrupt activities of Linden Lab.

For this reason, I have decided to apply to join the class action lawsuit now before Judge Robreno in http://www.virtuallanddispute.com/pleadings/evan_spencer_carter_v_linden_labs_virtual_land_property_rights_class_action_lawsuit.pdf. We will be seeking the recovery of over $500,000 US dollars in damages. If this suit is successful, these funds will be dispersed fairly and properly among the partners of my company based on their percent interest in the company.

It is truly sad that a virtual economy that once promised so much both explicitly, and intrinsically, to so many, for the future of online business and the expansion of the information economy, has come to such a situation. We once saw Second Life as the next phase of the internet. However, like AOL, they have rapaciously and predatorily preyed upon their user base and destroyed the economy they once helped foster, and as a result are sealing their own eventual doom as an evolutionary dead end in the history of technology and business.

Mike Lorrey
M2B LLC, dba BNT Holdings / ACE-exchange.com

76 Responses to “BNT Claims $500,000 USD in Damages – Hopes to Join Class Action Lawsuit”

  1. Caine Constantine

    Apr 25th, 2010

    I wonder how many of KFC’s new Double Down “sandwiches” $500,000 would buy?

  2. Orion

    Apr 25th, 2010

    Ya know guys, I was only joking when I suggested in a prior thread that LL change the label of the “Buy” button to “Pay to Use” in order to get away from the whole concept of virtual “ownership”. I didn’t think you’d take it this seriously! LOL

    Anywho, I’ve already wasted a few thousand dollars on SL, since yanked my account, and even before leaving I never expect to get any of what I paid for back, forget the pipe dream of getting to actually use what I paid for on my own grid. Just goes to show whats been proven all along. Linden is not a trust worthy company.

    Well, good luck with your lawsuit – and I do hope you stick it to Linden where its gonna hurt!

  3. Tux Winkler

    Apr 25th, 2010

    @Piddles
    “Lord knows we as americans love knowing our tax money is going towards an (ironically) liberal arts school with not concept of intellectual property to run a bunch of sims where their idea of education is developing clients that steal other people’s content and then mass distributing it to all its members.”
    - Unbelievable!

    @At0m0
    “The fact they side with a bunch of furries who have criminal records (who use the furry thing to hide their true nature, which is why many of them do so)”
    - Wow, by looking at a few pixels you can extrapolate all that?

  4. At0m0 Beerbaum

    Apr 25th, 2010

    lol @ the furries who got butthurt and misread what I said to create a reason to become butthurt.

    Never did I say all furries are criminals.

    though all furries are pathetic individuals who resort to caving back into a childhood security blanket because they cant handle what everyone else deals with on a daily basis. :)

  5. swedishfox ghost

    Apr 25th, 2010

    quoted from At0m0 Beerbaum “Never did I say all furries are criminals.”

    you never said that not all of them are, to begin with, so whats your point?

  6. Rocker

    Apr 25th, 2010

    Of course i wonder if $500,000 would be enough to buy a Marshall tube amplifier.

  7. R. Roizman

    Apr 25th, 2010

    Applaud IntLibber for taking a stand against LL on behalf of his beliefs.

    But Im not here to join his bandwagon.

    Lets see what IntL is known for:

    -Driving his virtual wife crazy to the point she had to have her account hidden for over a year. (the one he planned to marry in RL)

    -Driving his entire BnT staff to the brink of tolerance. They all left.

    Hes known for more too, but lets keep this simple.

    QUOTE:

    “. My account was once suspended for protesting the right of other residents to engage in the advertising business in Second Life. The Lab has repeatedly suspended my accounts for standing up for the rights of myself, my employees, customers, residents, and business associates, only to release them again when faced with potential legal action, until they finally, permanently, suspended my accounts after a long campaign by Linden Lab staff and their friends to defame, slander, and libel myself, my business, and my associates. ”

    You werent protesting diddly squat, and he knows that for a fact. When his account was suspended thats because he went broke and couldnt pay his land tiers on time, and you had owed LL a large sum of money then. — This is exactly the truth and I 100% stand by it.
    Now for other rumors such as you ran away with the money for a tummy tuck, or you went on a food eating frenzy diet that were said by other people, may or may not be true. But a tummy tuck wouldve been a legit excuse.

    His favorite words are defame and slander, he always uses these terms when someone comes against him showing him up, and displaying the true IntBlubber behind the offices of BnT.

    BnT now stands for “Bullshit n Talk”. I highly doubt this suit is going to go through, maybe people will join the class action, maybe not.

    Who knows, predict the future for us IntLibber would ya?

  8. Piddles

    Apr 25th, 2010

    @Caine –
    94,188 KFC Double Downs for you after taxes, with $1.88 left over.

    91,933 KFC Double Downs for Intlibber after taxes, with $4.33 left over.

  9. Curious

    Apr 25th, 2010

    Taking away ownership to me seems like LL is either planning to close up shop (like There.com) and not be responsible for paying people back for lost property or they are planning a large cleanup campain on the grid to make things more corporate friendly.

    my two cents worth.

  10. [...] After tiring of watching game god M Linden’s avatar auto-smile, I looked toward the back of the room and noticed the ash-colored untextured Kalel Venkman – a virtual vigilante prone to filing frivolous DMCA takedown notices. I was going to have some questions for Kalel later – and the scene was already more than weird. My IM windows scrolled continuously with news of mass Woodbury avatar executions, the unexplained destruction of 4 Woodbury sims, topped off with new legal woes for the Lab in the form of another player class action lawsuit. [...]

  11. [...] the second time in three years – despite the potential cost in bad publicity and a looming class action lawsuit filed against Linden Lab the previous week for uncompensated deletion of virtual [...]

  12. Neo Citizen

    Apr 26th, 2010

    Time to hang it up, Pixeleen. You’ve completely misread your customer base and let ten Woodbury con artists run your show for you.

    Time to grow up, old son.

  13. IntLibber Brautigan

    Apr 26th, 2010

    LOL R. Roizman is Rico Roizman who was a failed furry merczateer who begged for money for a skin because he was embarrassed to be a furry, and got a job as a low level security dude at BNT for about a week until he ran over a resident with an ambulance. He then tried to join the PN so he could learn how to grief us, but they wouldn’t let him join. He later tried to get elected to Rockerduck Vella’s failed “SL Banking Commission” because he thought it would allow him to lord it over old IntLib. A few months after that failure he came back begging for me to invest in his alleged “boss”s club sim, calling me on the phone and claiming to be his boss so he could give himself a positive reference.

    Really, now, Rico, you need to be a bit smarter about this sort of crap.

  14. Obvious Schism

    Apr 26th, 2010

    I wonder how much plywood $500,000 would buy?

  15. R. Roizman

    Apr 26th, 2010

    LOL at IntBlubber. Let me point out the truth and lies of your “slander” as you like to call it.

    Sure, I worked for you.

    Sure, I asked for money (my payment) for a skin, because I needed one.

    And sure, I accidently did run over a resident with a ambulance, which was accidental But I clearly admit to it.

    NEVER, did I try to join the PN or do anything with them not even to “learn” how to grief. If I wanted to grief you, you would’ve had a heart attack with all the weight on your body and the grief I would have gave you.

    NOW HERES THE TRUTH ABOUT THAT COMMISION
    It was the commision for the virtual stock market, a board of directors or something like that if I remember correctly.
    And it wasnt for banking.

    YOU SIR, YES YOU Mike Lorrey, had your company listed as a shareholder broadly within that market? Correct or not?

    Then when I ran for the board of directions, you threw a temper tantrum because you thought I would screw you over someway somehow. You raised hell not to get me on the board as if you were begging for your life, you looked extremely pathetic doing so.

    Then you put me up on the SLBanLink, with false accusations, once I challenged those, you quickly saw how many UN-subscribed from your banlink., because quote on quote “He has a bunch of peoples name listed from his own hatred” And I believe people still have their comments on there saying that you were wrong and most of your banlink “posts” were bullshit. Never did I call you on the phone, nor do I want to. And what did you do to poor ol Tavi?

    You are IntLibber, or IntBlubber was what your friends on the PN call you. Let me get a few pictures up here of you, so people can see the failure within.

    http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/f/fb/Image001.jpg

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3269/2832513999_85c3b6ac3f.jpg

    (^ ^ ^ ^ The one in the blue with the gut)

    and just for laughs lets bring up your friendster profile:

    http://profiles.friendster.com/268278

    “I’m a genius cyberpunk supernerd redneck (though admitting this might not get me laid” – from IntLibber (Mike Lorrey) about me section.

    When is the last time you gotten laid I wonder? Because I knew you had plans to marry tavi the girl you met in SL. But you chased her away forcing her to be hidden from you? Why? I dont know, you scared her? But thats not the point. Mike, you can try to come against me at any type of angle, but you will never suceed. And Slimfast is a good choice. Subways good as well.

    But along with the other posts up there, I dont know how many KFC double down sandwiches you would buy.

    And again, don’t try to lie about your account being suspended. You weren’t protesting crap, you were getting spanked on the behind by LL for not paying your bills…. You cant go through life without paying bills. And then you told another lie a while back about the same situation, about some snowstorm in NH knocking out your power. but im not going to get to that, that was too extensive of a lie for me to detail on this right now.

  16. IntLibber Brautigan

    Apr 27th, 2010

    Um, no, Rico, you were never up for election with the SL Exchange Commission, and I’ve got the chatlogs proving it was Rockerducks (of the scam Rock Insurance) failed SL Banking Commission you were trying to get on. Now, I can understand you being too ignorant to tell the difference.

    As for Tavi, she joined some christian cult in SL run by some con artists who tried to get her to “divorce” me and actually had the balls to try to demand half the company! She and I are on ok terms so really thats nobodys business, and she was never “hidden from me”.

    Really, you’re getting more and more desperate, you sound like Neo Citizen and Citizen X.

  17. marilyn murphy

    Apr 27th, 2010

    all this lawyers and paperwork and legal issues and documentation. ugh. i tend to feel bad for people who did not experience sl in 03 or 04. im not looking thru rose colored glasses at the past. it always had issues. there was nothing going on of this nature tho. it had a much more small town feel to it that i certainly have missed in the last few years.
    i had often thought, if only sl had created several different sites, limited the growth in those sites to population and land, if it would not have been more fun in the long term.
    something like WOW does with different servers sorta thing.

  18. Orion

    Apr 27th, 2010

    @IntLibber – Wow, no offence – but the way you and this Rico guy are going back and forth is making SL sound like some sort of weirdo bizzaro alternate universe full of malevolent tricksters and con artists.

    Wait, my bad. IT IS! :)

  19. IntLibber Brautigan

    Apr 27th, 2010

    Orion….. yes, you are getting it.

    Marilyn, anyplace that allows its people full anonymity is always going to have the worst sort of behavior from people because there is zero real world accountability for one’s actions.

  20. BNT is a scam

    Apr 29th, 2010

    Yes thats why people like Intlibber get away with running ponzi schemes and then can attempt to sue LL because his ponzi scheme has failed.

  21. Gundel Gaukelei

    Apr 29th, 2010

    No matter what game, the metagame is always even more entertaining.

    No go on washing your dirty laundry in public – much appreciated :-)

  22. Tracy Welles

    Apr 29th, 2010

    IntLibber is a scammer. Bottom line. He took off with Linden’s “we don’t care what happens between residents” attitude and milked it for what it was worth. He knew he couldn’t backup what he was doing in Second Life without Linden continuing to allow the fraud.

    He isn’t the only one. From 2003 – 2006 this was the norm as witnessed by thousands. Linden allowed the theft and did nothing about it.

    Then add the land baron fraudsters, the other money venture fraudsters, the scripts that priced an item at on cost, yet ended up being another.

    With no face other than that of the avatar, millions of dollars was taken, scammed, and sent to Linden Lab.

  23. IntLibber Brautigan

    Apr 30th, 2010

    @ Tracy and “BNT Is a Scam”:

    Once again, you’re being absolutly full of crap is evident. I was the first company CEO in SL to publicize my real life identity, and I refused to invest in any company that did not do likewise. I never ran any ponzi scheme whatsoever. The fact you both hide behind fake names while mine is well known is enough proof of who is really telling the truth here.

  24. R. Roizman

    May 1st, 2010

    Nobodies Hiding behind fake names, you are hiding behind a pile a crap. I think you’re really smelling yourself on this one Int.

    My name is R. Roizman – Short for Rico Roizman, which you already know, so who’s trying to hide from you? You are not some kind of threat to anyone if that was what you was hoping to be.

  25. Sam Henderson

    May 20th, 2010

    So i now post under my real life name. So it must be true you are a scammer!!!

    If you were not running a ponzi, you should have no problem returning my ACE deposits!! So can I have my lindens back please?

    SCAMMER!!!

  26. King Reggin

    May 31st, 2010

    This is solid proof you all need first lives. Hope some of you go bankrupt!

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