I'm sure there is more to this story, but it brings to light the issue of being able to trust third party grid operators when it comes to honoring and protecting intellectual property rights. I think Linden Lab has been incredibly foolish to allow these copycat grids to spring up and operate without any contractual obligations to LL with respect to honoring a consistent set of rules and laws. In my opinion LL should never have allowed things to go this far. It should have been set up as a license system. Want to run an
SL compatible grid? Great, sign here. if you don't operate up to our standards we reserve the right to shut you down at any time. Now not only are these third party grids competing against LL's biggest income source, they're eroding trust in the entire platform. Silly idealists.