Second Life is relatively lawless, but when you are bringing the virtual into the real world there are regulations that need to be adhered to. Copyright is tricky and I'm sure will develop more specifically over time. Read the conditions that you agree to when you download Second Life, you might be surprised by what you are agreeing to.

This advice was given to me by Catherine Smith at Linden Labs
"I like to say that filming in Second Life is much like filming in NYC. Generic street scenes can be considered fair use and you need to get the permission of individuals and the owners of more identifiable buildings (like the Empire State Building). As you may know, Linden Lab does not own the copyright on any of the content in world so we can't give permission to use it. However, I think you're in good shape if you've got the permission of the people participating and you're filming on their island."

This is advice given by my lawyer and applies to Australian Copyright Laws

Copyright and Second Life
The big issue in Second Life is copyright. The creators of Second Life, Linden Lab, assign intellectual property rights in the avatars (characters) and the objects that individuals create to the Second Life users who create them. This means that you would need to get permission from the creators of any avatars or scenes that you film in Second Life, in order to avoid breaching copyright.

Generally Linden Lab does not give permission for anyone to film in Second Life because they do not own the content (the copyright in the avatars and scenes) but they do however liken filming in Second Life to filming in New York, where generic street scenes and landscapes can be considered “fair use”.

Fair Use and Second Life
The term “fair use” has similar application and scope to the “incidental inclusion” exemption in Australia.

For your further reference, the Copyright Act provides that:

“Section 67 Incidental filming or televising of artistic works

Without prejudice to the last two preceding sections, the copyright in an artistic work is not infringed by the inclusion of the work in a cinematograph film or in a television broadcast if its inclusion in the film or broadcast is only incidental to the principal matters represented in the film or broadcast.”

So long as the film is not about the character, building or scene that is included in the film and no reference is made to that character, building or scene, then the use would be covered under this provision.

Releases and Notice of Filming in Second Life
I suggest that when you get releases from the subjects you are interviewing, that you include a release for their avatars, objects and spaces they have created in Second Life. We can certainly devise some phrasing for you to add to the release form.

Where you are filming in Second Life generally I would keep the advice given by Catherine from Linden Lab in mind and try and avoid any identifiable buildings, not created by the people you are interviewing. Further to this I would place a sign up in Second Life that alerts users to the fact that you are filming, and this will hopefully prevent Second Life users from walking into the scenes as you are filming."