In March, Brandon J. Huffman joined the IGDA Student Special Interest Group (SIG) for an Ask Me Anything (AMA). An AMA is a format for hosting online discussions where the audience asks questions of the guest speaker during a set amount of time. The IGDA hosts AMAs on their community Discord server. During the discussion, …
Brandon J. Huffman Speaks with IGDA Student Group Read More »
On Wednesday, April 18th, Brandon J. Huffman will be speaking at the East Coast Game Conference (ECGC) in Raleigh. He will be presenting on the following topic: Video Games and the First Amendment: Why Free Speech Matters for Developers In today’s political climate, media of all kinds are under increased scrutiny and pressure. Video game …
Brandon J. Huffman to Speak at ECGC 2018 in Raleigh Read More »
On Wednesday April 11th, Brandon J. Huffman will be speaking at The Racing Attorney Conference (TRAC) in Charlotte. He will be presenting on the following topic: Dealing with the Media: Ethical issues in crisis and success This presentation will explore the challenges and professional ethics issues faced in today’s media world. TRAC, first held in …
Brandon J. Huffman to speak at TRAC in Charlotte Read More »
There’s a fine line with copyright infringement and trademarks when it comes to Easter eggs in video games. What are Easter eggs? Easter eggs are intentionally placed features within a work that may sometimes reference inspiration from outside of the work. Easter eggs can be found in video games, computer programs, movies, TV shows – …
Contests, sweepstakes and lotteries are all useful mechanisms for promoting a company online. But only some can be done legally, so businesses need to know the difference between them, however, if they’re going to use one as a marketing tool or offer a giveaway for their business. What’s a contest? A contest is an event …
What’s the difference between a contest, sweepstakes and lottery? Read More »
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 …
What’s up with the DMCA fight over defunct online games? Read More »
Thinking of opening an Internet café/cybercafé? Be prepared to learn about the exciting world of commercial licensing! In order to legally offer a physical location where others will access content like video games (whether they pay for them or not), you must purchase commercial licenses of games. What is a commercial license? When you buy …
Do I need a commercial license to use games for an Internet Cafe? Read More »
COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, is a law that was created to protect the privacy of children under 13. The Act was passed in 1998, took effect in 2000, and then it was updated in 2013. There are a lot of misconceptions about COPPA so let’s address a few of them and how …
What is COPPA and how does it affect my game company? Read More »
As a consumer, it’s important to read a license before signing it whenever possible. As a business offering a license, it’s even more important to understand what is being offered. A license is there to help business set terms of the relationship with the users of a product. Here’s a quick overview of a few …
An overview of licenses: shrink-wrap vs. click-wrap vs. browse-wrap licenses Read More »
There are many legal requirements that companies, especially game and digital media companies, must adhere to in this day and age. One question that comes up often is whether game companies must have a privacy policy on their website. What is a privacy policy? A privacy policy is a document that explains what personal information …