Professor Greg Lastowka

Greg Lastowka, a professor at the Rutgers School of Law–Camden, is the recipient of a Rutgers Board of Trustees Research Fellowship for Scholarly Excellence, a top award honoring faculty research across Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

The award was presented by Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick during a special May 6 ceremony in New Brunswick.

One of eight faculty chosen for this honor, Lastowka was selected for his research in intellectual property law, particularly those issues at the intersection of law and technology.

Lastowka has written articles on a range of law and technology matters, including digital copyright, the regulation of search engines, and computer crime. His research articles have appeared in journals such as the California Law Review, the Indiana Law Review, and the Berkeley Technology Law Journal.

Lastowka has also published extensively about virtual worlds, online simulated environments where hundreds of millions of people today meet, socialize, and trade virtual property. In virtual world like Second Life and World of Warcraft, people interact in the form of avatars, digital bodies that represent real people in a simulated world.

Some participants also find themseleves in heated conflicts, making virtual worlds a potentially new jurisdiction for law. Lastowka's forthcoming book, Virtual Law (Yale University Press, 2009), will be one of the first studies of law and virtual worlds.

Lastowka became interested in law and virtual worlds in 2003 when he co-authored the first major law review article introducing virtual worlds to the legal academy. Since then, numerous federal lawsuits have been filed over disputes in virtual worlds. Real plaintiffs have asked courts to consider claims involving property rights, criminal activities, contractual duties, copyright and trademark laws, and much more.

Online devotees and the businesses that cater to them aren't alone in their fascination with virtual realities. Mainstream media attention has resulted in annual academic conferences and led universities to establish institutes designed to study and create new virtual worlds.

“Twenty years ago, science fiction writers imagined simulated communities existing within computer networks,” says Lastowka. “That future has arrived. Virtual worlds are places where new social organizations are formed, new works of art are created, and virtual property is bought and sold for real money,” Lastowka says.

At the law school, Lastowka teaches a variety of courses, including property, intellectual property, and Internet law. Before joining the Rutgers faculty in 2004, he practiced intellectual property and technology litigation at Dechert LLP.