Quote from: bitcoin.me on October 09, 2012, 10:43:05 AM

http://www.slcapex.com/

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[...]a fictional stock market simulation game operating for entertainment and educational purposes only and reinforce with: To be very clear, Capital Exchange is not a real-world stock exchange and does not offer opportunity for direct real-world investment or profit. Shares purchased on this stock exchange simulation game do not entitle you to any legal real-world rights to a listed virtual company. Please play accordingly!

and reading the tos of linden labs it says

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The terms profit and earnings as used within the context of the CapEx.com website, and any claim of monetary value therein, relates solely and specifically to the valuation of $Lindens as specified in the Linden Lab Terms of Service, Section 1.4 (http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php). [Note: should read 5.1]

The $Linden currency is a limited license right available for purchase or free distribution at Linden Labs sole discretion, and is not redeemable for monetary value from Linden Lab or from CapEx.com.

It doesnt matter one iota that you can redeem lindens for usd anywhere else. Just as a GLBSE "game token" it wouldnt matter if you use bitcoins somewhere else if you use the same TOS.

Possibly with that disclaimer, if also actively enforced by the exchange, and the assets operating on that exchange were bought and sold with that understanding. A judge generally speaking looks at all the facts, it isn't some word game puzzle where the magic combinations of words gets you the super combo and you winz. A prosecutor would likely pull the worst contracts, get statements from victims, dump forum posts, etc. Based on all the evidence if it overwhelmingly seemed like a game then likely GLBSE would be fine. If it seemed like some dubious wordplay to get around securities law then a judge is going to rule on it for what it is.

Then again who would be willing to buy Gigamining bonds (as an example) if there was a caveat that Giga could simply 100% legally and lawfully walk away with all the coins in "entertainment". It is part of the game right? I mean would you buy assets if they had this disclaimer:
"Shares purchased on this stock exchange simulation game do not entitle you to any legal real-world rights to a listed virtual company. Please play accordingly!".

The reality is GLBSE only has value if the contracts have real value. If they don't have real value nobody is going to pay anything for them. If they DO have real value the disclaimer will just be struck down in court. Many people have tried the whole "it is just for entertainment value"* to run gambling operations with very predictable results.

So which is it?

* I would point out the law is always evolving so even if hypothetically a judge bought the "entertainment value only" argument over time people as people got scammed "in good fun" and didn't take it as fun and sought legal recourse, filed police reports, sued GLBSE, etc those actions would be precedent for future cases. Based on the new evidence some future judge would rule that, no in some cases it isn't entertainment value and even these "entertainment value securities" are real securities.