Given Cambridge Analytica, Wikileaks, and the Sony hacks, the internet is on privacy red alert. The games industry is currently up in arms over “Red Shell,” found in many Steam games, but what is it? If you listen to game developers and Red Shell itself, Red Shell is an innocuous marketing attribution tool. By generating …
The article from Variety details game cloning on mobile storefronts, particularly the latest game Donut County. Here is an excerpt: Game ideas or mechanics are not protectable under copyright law,” says Odin Law and Media founder Brandon Huffman. “Individual assets (like specific art, music, etc.) are. Most clone developers know this and so they avoid …
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 …
Co-founder and former CEO of Telltale Games, Kevin Bruner, has brought suit against his former studio over his ouster last year. Bruner alleges that the company, following his removal as CEO and from the board of directors, deprived him of contractually obligated financial information necessary to sell his stock holdings. Bruner filed suit in California …
The article from GameDaily.biz details Bethesda’s accusations over Warner Bros. and developer Behaviour Interactive’s “rip-off” of Fallout Shelter with their latest game for Westworld. Here is an excerpt: It’s somewhat curious that Bethesda did not attach the development agreement to the complaint,” Huffman said in an email to GameDaily. “In some agreements, there is a differentiation between game …
Brandon J. Huffman quoted on copyrighted source code lawsuit Read More »
If you have created original work/piece of intellectual property and your copyright has been infringed upon, you can report alleged violations and request a take-down on platforms that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. Many of these platforms screen or select submissions and a DMCA notice may not be appropriate even …
DMCA Contacts – How to report copyright infringement Read More »
A service-level agreement (SLA) is a a kind of contract or part of a contract between a service provider and a client. Aspects of the service being provided like quality, availability and the responsibilities of the service provider can all be defined in this agreement. The primary piece of an SLA is defining the services …
A terms of service (TOS), also known as terms of use or terms and conditions, is a contract established between a company and a user that defines the rules by which a user must abide by in order to use the service. It’s the foundational contract between a service provider and a user. A TOS …
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) which has effectively banned sports betting for the last 25 years. PASPA did not ban sports betting directly. Instead, it prohibited the 49 states with bans or limitations from modifying or repealing them. This distinction was PASPA’s downfall. …
Supreme Court strikes down ban on sports betting – what about esports? Read More »
We’d like to issue a warm welcome to Kat Riley who is joining Odin Law and Media as our new law clerk. Kat Riley is an avid gamer and aspiring video game attorney. Kat earned her J.D. at the UNC School of Law where she focused on the intersection of video games and the law …