Several theoretical generalizations made by a lawyer with academic affiliation further to participation in a discussion at EQ2Wire.com (influential Everquest 2 website maintained by Feldon).

1. Legal regulation of the Internet:
pervasive problems and architectural
design
© Vladislav ARKHIPOV
Ph. D., Associate Professor
Saint Petersburg State University
Berlin, 2013

2. Introduction: the ‘Malshandir accident’
*A patent troll (presumably) under a disguise of a German holder of
the trademark ‘Malshandir’ raised a claim to an Everquest 2 (online
roleplaying game) fansite, because the latter contained API of Sony
Online Entertainment, Inc. which listed a character named
‘Malshandir’.
*The owner of that Everquest 2 fansite made this public and asked the
users for advice. Several lawyers, including myself, gave comments to
that case.The forum thread included more than 170 comments
including legal comments (and, as it usually happens in the
Internet, other comments were dubious).
*Most legal comments were contested on unusual grounds. For
instance, I got a kind of warning that I should be careful about my
words, because due to the fact that the forum thread may be
accessed from Germany, the German law may apply to it, and it
forbids to give free legal advice without a German license.
28.09.2013
(с) Vladislav Arkhipov. 2013. The background represents a
modification of a picture made by ~lulu2000 (www.deviantart.com)
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3. 28.09.2013
(с) Vladislav Arkhipov. 2013. The background represents a
modification of a picture made by ~lulu2000 (www.deviantart.com)
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‘Malshandir accident’: initial claim

4. 28.09.2013
(с) Vladislav Arkhipov. 2013. The background represents a
modification of a picture made by ~lulu2000 (www.deviantart.com)
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‘Malshandir accident’: my response

5. 28.09.2013
(с) Vladislav Arkhipov. 2013. The background represents a
modification of a picture made by ~lulu2000 (www.deviantart.com)
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‘Malshandir accident’: the warning I received

6. Problems stressed by the ‘Malshandir accident’
* Identification of users. No one can be sure that it was some
realThomas Freyer, or that other users under various names
were notThomas Freyer if such person exists. How could
anyone verify a user?
*Jurisdiction. My comment was made (a) in English, (b) from
Russia, (c) at American website, (d) targeted to a situation
possibly involving Germany.Which law should apply to the
contents of my comment?
*Information intermediaries. Feldon is an information
intermediary because he usesAPI of Sony Online
Entertainment, Inc. May an information intermediary be
brought to responsibility in such a case?
28.09.2013
(с) Vladislav Arkhipov. 2013. The background represents a
modification of a picture made by ~lulu2000 (www.deviantart.com)
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