A half-dozen entrepreneurs are suing a Queens man, charging him with coun terfeiting and selling versions of their prod ucts.
Here’s the catch: The products aren’t real, and the alleged crimes took place in a virtual world on the Web.
Nonetheless, six Internet retailers have banded together in the real world demanding payback from their nemesis from Second Life – an online universe with more than 10 million registered members who create identities and digital represen tations of themselves, starting with nothing and spending actual cash and credit to pur chase clothing, food and shelter.
Second Lifers can fly, slay monsters, get married, have sex – and make money.
Some Lifers support them selves via the game’s economy, in which an average of $1 million a day in real dollars changes hands.
That is where the federal lawsuit comes in. It was filed last week in Brooklyn federal court against 36-year-old Flushing resident Thomas Simon, a k a Rase Kenzo on Second Life.
The e-business owners allege that Simon lifted everything from shoes and clothes to beds from their Second Life shops.
What’s so wrong with copying imaginary products in what many would consider a video game?
“It’s stealing,” insisted Kevin Alderman, a Florida man whose Second Life alter ego is called Stroker Serpentine.
He operates the Second Life sex store Strokerz Toyz, which sells beds, sofas, rugs and toys embedded with computer code that facilitates sex between virtual characters.
Simon also allegedly infringed on the copyright and trademarks of Shannon Grei, of Oregon, who sells clothing and “skins” for Second Life characters; Linda Baca of Indiana; Teasa Copprue of Michigan; Kasi Lewis of Georgia; and Michael Hester of Virginia.
Grei, a single mom who goes by the name Munchflower Zaius on Second Life, supports her two young kids with her business. Cybergeeks spend anywhere from 50 cents to $4 to clothe their “avatar” in anything from a simple T-shirt to a formal gown.
“Over time, it’s going to add up, and it’s going to add up quickly,” she said of her Second Life sales.
The cyber-entrepreneurs think their products were cloned through a technical glitch in the Second Life system.
Their lawyer, Frank Tanney, said they have a strong case based on intellectual property rights.
“This is not a joke,” he said. “This is not a game. This hurts them.”
The lawsuit doesn’t specify how much money the group wants but seeks damages equal to three times the profits they claim they lost by Simon’s activities.
Simon denied any wrongdoing.
“They can say whatever they want to say,” he said. “It’s a video game.”
He also said the plaintiffs found their “evidence” by taking pictures inside his Second Life home. He contended that if he could be sued in real life for what goes on in Second Life, then U.S. search and seizure laws should also apply in the virtual world.
At his small condo complex near La Guardia Airport, Simon shrugged when told about the lawsuit.
“I didn’t know you could sue anyone over it,” he said.
kboniello@nypost.com