CFP: Law as Applied to Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed-Reality Environments

This just in:

Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, the longest-established academic journal that is devoted to research into teleoperation and virtual environments (3D virtual reality worlds), has issued a call for papers on Law as Applied to Virtual, Augmented and Mixed-Reality Environments.  Guest editors are Woodrow Barfield and Jonathan Franklin of University of Washington School of Law.  Presence is filled with stimulating material about fundamental research into topics such as presence, augmented reality, haptics, user interfaces, and virtual humans, and applications that range from heritage and education to training simulators, healthcare, and entertainment. Presence appeals to a wide audience that includes computer scientists, high-tech artists and media people, psychologists involved in the study of human-machine interfaces and sensorimotor/cognitive behavior, and mechanical and electrical engineers.

The Call:

Advancements in virtual reality are not only technology driven, but  actions within virtual environments implicate numerous issues in policy and law. For example, are virtual
images copyrightable? Is the speech produced by a virtual avatar afforded rights under the U.S. and other Constitutions? How does criminal law relate to actions performed within
virtual environments, or contract law apply to the lease and sale of virtual objects? These and other questions form the theme for this special issue. Legal scholars and practitioners from the U.S. and other jurisdictions are encouraged to submit. Topics of interest for the special issue include:

• Free speech and other fundamental rights within virtual environments
• The law of cybersecurity within virtual and mixed environments
• A review of case law related to virtual and mixed environments
• Trademark and copyright law for virtual images and virtual environments
• The integration of real law in virtual environments
• Augmented reality and law (e.g., virtual images in advertising)
• Virtual equality and human rights in virtual environments
• Patent issues with virtual reality technology
• Property crimes in virtual environments
• Virtual reality goes to court, rules of evidence, etc.
• The law of VR and mixed reality from the U.S and other
jurisdictions is especially sought.

Manuscripts should conform to the journal’s submission guidelines: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/page/sub/pres
Digital manuscript files should be submitted in .pdf form as email attachments to presence@mit.edu (preferred) or may be uploaded to authors' websites for download. Please include names and institutional affiliations of all authors on the manuscript cover page, and contact information for the corresponding author in the body of the email message. Authors, please note that in order to support the high cost of publication, page fees of $40 per published page will be mandatory. Acceptance of manuscripts for publication is based entirely on technical merit, irrespective of ability to pay the charge.

For further information, please contact presence@mit.edu.
Submission date: September 1, 2016
Planned publication: late 2017

Comments

[Bob]

Might someone comment on the propriety of the author-borne publication charge? Is this a common practice for journals in this field?