The Twenty-Seventh Annual John Marshall Law School International Moot Court Competition in Information Technology and Privacy Law:Summary of Bench Memorandum, 26 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 259 (2008)

Petitioner, Alex Romero (“Romero”), appeals to the Marshall Supreme Court from an order granting summary judgment in favor of Respondent, Windbucket Entertainment, LLC (“Windbucket”). Romero’s lawsuit alleged that Windbucket and a third party (not a party to the present appeal) were liable to him for invasion of privacy by intrusion upon seclusion. Romero then sought discovery sanctions against Windbucket for violations of Marshall Rule of Civil Procedure 37. The issues in the case concern whether a subscriber to an Internet-based, multiplayer computer game can state a valid invasion of privacy claim against the game’s publisher, when liability is based on another subscriber’s actions, which occurred wholly within the virtual world of a computer game.

The case also concerns the extent to which a computer game publisher should be required to keep identifying information of users who log into its computer systems via the Internet and whether the publisher can be held liable for deleting its records when faced with litigation.