TAMPA, Fla. - Kevin Alderman, aka Stroker Serpentine, said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with AVN Online that he has acquired enough information to locate a man who has been duplicating his product.
Alderman said he is beginning a second round of subpoenas; he said the man will be served within the next two weeks and ordered to respond to the claims against him.
"This man, who we believe resides in Texas, has already given an interview to Reuters where he admitted to selling 50 instances of our objects," Alderman said. "His basis for innocence is that he was doing it for someone else. Based upon that information and what information his [Internet-service providers] will give us, he will be ordered to respond to the claim against him. His ISPs have been subpoenaed. We have gathered enough information from the man's associates, sites that he frequented and AT&T, which was formally Southwestern Bell, which has helped us establish his real-life identity."
The accused man uses the name Volkov Catteneo in the virtual world. He is accused of unlawfully copying and selling Alderman's copyrighted SexGen bed.
Alderman, who operates Eros LLC, created the bed more than two years ago and sells it on Second Life, a 3-D virtual world on the Web. Alderman learned of Catteneo and his illegal production of his product and filed the suit "Eros LLC v. John Doe" in the U.S. District Court in Tampa. Alderman first gave subpoenas to PayPal and Linden Lab, creator of Second Life, demanding that the person's identity be handed over by July 20.
As Serpentine enters his second round of subpoenas, he said he is grateful for the support that he has received from online communities.
"This case will pave the way for others that involve rights in the virtual world," he said. "It has helped to delineate the difference between virtual property and real-life property. The line has become fuzzy, so there has been a lot of interest in the case. We do have all the information necessary and evidence that will, hopefully, allow us to prevail."
Alderman said he does not anticipate a substantial monetary settlement, but said he believes that the implications of this suit are far-reaching, since it affects all content providers dealing on the Web - whether their properties are tangible or virtual.
