Brandon J. Huffman

Brandon is the founder of Odin Law and Media. His law practice focuses on transactions and video games, digital media, entertainment and internet related issues. He serves as general counsel to the International Game Developers Association and is an active member of many bar associations and community organizations. He can be reached at brandon at odin law dot com.

How to prepare for a financing or acquisition: Diligence

Diligence is the process by which a prospective buyer or investor looks at a company in order to decide whether or not to invest or buy. It’s really that simple. Diligence can be very scant or it can be very involved. A wise investor or acquirer will lean toward more aggressive diligence. That means looking …

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The First Amendment and Video Games – Part 4: What is Protection?

In Part 3 of this series, I spent some time talking about the difference between First Amendment protected speech and unprotected speech. With that in mind, assuming speech is “protected” by the First Amendent, what does that actually mean? Protection from government restriction The language of the Amendment is always relevant. The first part of …

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EU Approves Copyright Directive

This month, the European Parliament voted in favor of the Copyright Directive, a piece of legislation intending to update online copyright laws. The apparent goal of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market is to hold platforms with user content, like YouTube and Facebook, liable for copyright infringement. Or in the video game …

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The First Amendment and Video Games – Part 3: Protected v. Unprotected Speech

What does the First Amendment Protect? In terms of speech only (the First Amendment protects a lot that isn’t speech), the First Amendment protects “expression.” It does not protect anything that is not expressive. Expression does not have to be words. For example, the Supreme Court has ruled that video games (even if they do not …

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The First Amendment and Video Games – Part 2: First Amendment Basics

What does the First Amendment say? The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for …

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The First Amendment and Video Games – Part 1: Introduction

Background Recently, I gave a presentation on video games and the First Amendment at Casual Connect USA. It focused on the importance of pushing boundaries and resilience in the face of adversity. You can see the entire presentation, here: I tried to cover a lot of material in 20 minutes. I didn’t cover everything. Soon, …

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Valve’s content policy and the First Amendment

Back in May, Valve changed its content policy to crack down on visual novels containing adult content. Just a few weeks later, Valve again changed its policy to allow anything that isn’t “illegal” or “straight-up trolling.” This led many developers and consumers down a rabbit hole of questions surrounding what Valve’s role should be in …

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What’s up with the DMCA fight over defunct online games?

If you’ve been paying attention, you may have seen press coverage of the Entertainment Software Association’s opposition (PDF) to a proposed change to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. So, what is ESA arguing about? Who are they arguing with? Why is this happening? The short version: A “museum” petitioned the copyright office to change the rules …

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