The first sale doctrine, or the right of first sale or first sale rule, is a legal concept that enables an owner of a good embodying a copyrighted work to resell it and defines the limitations for the resale. When someone buys a video game or a book or a movie, it insinuates that they …
Credits in video games are a way to attribute the team members who helped create the final product. Is any game studio required to give credit to any specific individuals or support teams in a video game? The short answer: only if it’s established in a contract. The longer answer: well, credits in video games …
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As a law firm with several video game attorneys on staff, everyone is a gamer in their own right. Here’s what we’ve been playing this spring: Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI: Gathering Storm by Firaxis Games (PC) I’ve been playing Civilization VI occasionally with Megan – specifically with the Gathering Storm expansion. Megan started up a …
Giveaways that are run on Twitch are subject to the same laws as giveaways (which vary from state to state in the United States). We’ve talked about the differences between giveaways (aka sweepstakes) and contests before and what can define a giveaway. So, are giveaways on Twitch legal? It depends If all of the normal …
A DBA (Doing Business As) is a registration for a company conducting business under a different name than the name under which it was formed. DBAs are also sometimes referred to as an “assumed name,” a “fictitious business name,” or a “trade name.” A majority of states in the US require corporations and LLCs to …
Non-compete agreements restrict employees from being able to go to work for competitors after leaving an employer, willingly or unwillingly. They are a standard practice across the board in the video game industry and are intended to offer protection for game developers, but are they enforceable? The short answer? Yes, for the most part. But, …
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Moral rights got a lot of attention recently after Blizzard requested that users sign over moral rights to created works in Warcraft III: Reforged. Here’s a bit of context on what moral rights are and why they matter in this situation. What are moral rights? Moral rights are rights that vest in the creator of …
GameDaily.biz recently covered a lawsuit by Rick Fox, the founder of the esports organization Echo Fox, as he is suing his business partners over alleged fraud and misappropriation of funds. Here is an excerpt: Basically, the plaintiff will pay an expert to look through the records and identify potentially problematic transactions–things like withdrawals of cash, …
The primary goal of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is to protect technology, devices, and/or services that are copyrighted. Anti-circumvention refers to laws that prohibit the circumvention of technological barriers for using a digital good and/or service in a way that the rights-holder doesn’t allow. The requirement for anti-circumvention laws came about with the …
