In a landmark ruling, Judge Steven yesterday awarded Luis Smith full rights to his expedition book. This would not have been such a controversial judgement, had Smith actually paddled around Antarctica himself, instead of buying the memories from a virtual experience travel agency.

The world-famous Virtual Reality Tripper Mark Ritter expressed his disappointment about the judgement, as did his publisher. They have decided not to appeal the ruling but rather work to ensure previous and future adventures are properly protected.

The judgement is the culmination of several years of copyright violations, identity theft, identity confusion, and fraud related to implanted memories. What started back in 2018 as a life-changing technology to restore eyesight for the blind, grew into a multi-billion-dollar recreation industry during the 2030s supported by ever-increasing advances in human-computer connectivity.

Adventurers and travelers found a new way to finance their lifestyles by recording full-stack sensory data (visual, audio, smells, tastes, touch, feelings, memories, heartbeats) associated with an experience. Virtual experiences for sale range from restaurant visits and being on exotic beaches to hardcore adventures like rock climbing and survival expeditions.

The richer the data, the higher the price that can be extracted from wealthy clients, but with data richness comes identity confusion. Clients can no longer discern whether it is a bought or real experience! While regulation is lagging, several memory clients have gone on to publish works based on bought experiences; but never so boldly and blatantly as Luis Smith and his expedition journal, even selling the movie rights to Amazon.

In a separate note to all VR Trippers, judge Steven advises them to hold back crucial episodes or add in memory markers when packaging their experiences for resale. After all, you don’t want to lose the rights to your own lived experience!