SUNSET BEACH- It seems even Linden Lab doesn’t have one: a patent on software in connection to any of its Second Life platform. And as far as anyone knows, no one does and until now no one has ever applied for one. Software patents among developers are more than frowned on.

Under a start-up company called Virtual Worlds PPV, Tim Allen (in-world FlipperPA Peregrine) and his business partner Frank Taney have applied for a patent on software technology that they say would allow "content owners to provide their content…to users on a pay per view basis, while at the same time allowing the shared, collective and interactive media experience unique to virtual worlds."

When asked if that "device" was currently in use, Linden said, "I don't believe it went anywhere. The demo that became SL was probably far more distracting. I doubt they did much with the patent since SL began bearing fruit, but I'm no historian."

SLNN also contacted Robin Linden who knew of no software patent and referred SLNN to the UI developer team.

Coming so close on the heels of that controversy, some initial suggestions were made by some SL residents accusing Allen and Taney of near-conspiracy with Phreak Radio to obtain the rights to video and audio of music and other events at the upcoming SLCC and selling them in-world as a pay per view event.

Both Allen and Taco Rubio, owner of Phreak Radio, deny that there ever was an intention or a connection between the initial wording of the SLCC release form and Virtual Worlds PPV.

Rubio said, "I'd never heard of the PPV thing until I read it on a thread yesterday. It had never been mentioned to me and was never part of any SLCC plans. I think that people don't realize that Flip has about 20 projects going on at a time."

Adding to the initial fears of some residents was the fact that the Web page for Virtual Worlds PPV had been discovered and blogged about early this week. The following day, the Web site was no longer available for public viewing though caches of the page were still stored and available to view.

Tuesday, SLNN contact Allen at his home and interrupted Allen at a dinner party he was hosting. In that brief conversation, Allen denied any connection between the PPV company and SLCC and seemed shocked that anyone would have made such a connection.