Ryan Fairchild

Ryan is an attorney at Odin Law and Media. He works with developers, publishers, content creators and across the wider entertainment industry. He also worked at Sunnyvale Golfland on and off for 10 years, helping to run fighting game tournaments. He can be reached at ryan at odin law dot com.

Cost Terms in Contracts: What Do “Out-of-Pocket,” “Direct,” and “Actual” Mean?

By / October 26, 2026

Many folks looking at a contract for the first time will notice strings of words, often adjectives, accompany terms such as licenses (see, for example, this blog entry), limitations on liability (e.g., indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, punitive), and others. Today, we are going to take a look at the meaning of words that often …

Cost Terms in Contracts: What Do “Out-of-Pocket,” “Direct,” and “Actual” Mean? Read More »

Transmedia and Cross-Platform Adaptations: What Game Devs Should Know Before Granting (or Receiving) a License

By / September 8, 2026

My favorite board game, Agricola, has been turned into a mobile game app twice. The first time, Lookout Games had rights in the board game and, presumably, entered into a license agreement with Playdek to develop the mobile app. The result was an excellent adaptation of the board game with a few bugs. Later, Asmodee …

Transmedia and Cross-Platform Adaptations: What Game Devs Should Know Before Granting (or Receiving) a License Read More »

Read Before Signing: Why Developers Should Negotiate Portfolio Rights Up Front

By / May 19, 2026

When a developer joins a studio, whether as a full-time employee or an independent contractor, a nondisclosure or confidentiality agreement (NDA) is often part of the onboarding paperwork. NDAs are typical as studios want to protect unreleased games, proprietary technology, and internal processes. But developers who sign an NDA without reading carefully may find themselves …

Read Before Signing: Why Developers Should Negotiate Portfolio Rights Up Front Read More »

AI Tools in Legal Work: Good Help Still Needs a Lawyer

By / March 30, 2026

When I studied Spanish translation in college, Google translate was in its infancy and only provided the roughest of translations. My tools were primarily dictionaries and thesauruses, internet searches, example texts, and my own knowledge of Spanish and English. Within the last year, however, I took a Spanish short story, ran it through a machine …

AI Tools in Legal Work: Good Help Still Needs a Lawyer Read More »

Roblox Developer Ownership Agreements: Why They Matter

By / February 18, 2026

We’ve written about issues on Roblox before, including contractor agreements and  intellectual property and privacy issues and other legal issues to consider. But today we’re going to talk about when developers work with other developers who are (or aren’t) going to own part of a game and why developers should consider formalizing those relationships early, …

Roblox Developer Ownership Agreements: Why They Matter Read More »

Video Game Developers and Work For Hire Agreements

By / March 21, 2025

Indie developers frequently outsource portions of game development to independent contributors (i.e., contractors). But depending on what agreements, if any, the primary devs have in place with any contracted contributors, the primary devs might not own their game outright. Even so, when devs start making a game, one of the last things they think about …

Video Game Developers and Work For Hire Agreements Read More »

A dachsund sits on a shelf in front of a mirror, looking over its shoulder

How people accidentally doxx themselves by setting up a business. Avoid these mistakes.

By / January 9, 2025

A lot of folks accidentally dox themselves, typically when they’re setting up a limited liability company (LLC) or corporation (or when purchasing property or filing for trademarks, though this post focuses on corporate records). Why is that? When setting up a business, different states have different disclosure requirements. Some, such as Delaware, might only require …

How people accidentally doxx themselves by setting up a business. Avoid these mistakes. Read More »

Corporate Formalities and Meetings 101, Part 2

By / March 24, 2025

In our first overview of corporate formalities and meetings we looked at corporate formalities that help to preserve corporate liability protections. In part two, we look at meetings specifically, including the types, procedure, and substance of meetings.  Types of meetings At a high level, there are shareholder meetings and there are board meetings. Corporate bylaws …

Corporate Formalities and Meetings 101, Part 2 Read More »