A successful creator’s name and likeness are some of their most valuable assets. Streamers, VTubers, musicians, artists, and other personalities build audiences that trust their brand, and that trust is exactly what impersonators set out to exploit. As a creator’s following grows, it becomes increasingly common to find websites posing as the creator’s “official” site, …
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 »
Picture a creator on a tight deadline. The sponsored post is due tonight, a trending song fits the post perfectly, the brand’s talking points are sitting in the inbox, and the only thing left is to hit publish. Most creators have lived some version of that moment. This post is for them. Courts, competitors and …
Every Brand Deal Is an Ad: Three Lawsuits Every Creator Should Know About Read More »
Often in development, a typeface gets approved early and becomes part of the interface without a ton of thought beyond the look and function. Months or years later, a studio may discover that the font license never allowed distribution inside a commercial game or that a renewal of the font license changed the rules for …
Contracts are full of magic words, and two of my favorites words are ‘perpetual’ and ‘exclusive.’ In a grant of rights, ‘Perpetual’ speaks to how long that grant lasts. ‘Exclusive’ turns on whether anyone else, including the creator who made the work, can ever use that work again. Each word does a lot more work …
‘Perpetual’ and ‘Exclusive’: Two Magic Words Doing More Than First Appears Read More »
Marketing a game is becoming ever more important as platforms get flooded with new games daily. Developers, especially those with smaller marketing budgets, have to get increasingly creative with how they market their games, lest they get pushed to the back of the search results. With great creativity comes great responsibility. There are an infinite …
Today’s content creators can choose from myriad platforms to build their careers on. For short-form vertical content, creators have found audiences through TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, while for livestreaming, creators can choose between or multi-stream on Twitch, Kick and Rumble. But for long-form content, YouTube remains the primary platform, and a diverse array of creators, …
Anime Expo. Comic-Con. Offkai. Any convention season means thousands of attendees walking the floor as Frieren, Mao Mao, Spider-Man or even their favorite VTubers such as Calliope Mori or Ironmouse. Cosplay is one of the most visible and beloved parts of fan culture and has been widely accepted by every party in the industry. Brand …
Legal Issues in Cosplay: When Cosplay Becomes a Business Read More »
Here is a sentence that makes everyone feel warm and cozy: “You retain ownership rights in your content.” Almost all platform’s terms of service include some version of this, and in each case, it is technically true. The copyright is yours. You can register it, license it elsewhere, and sue an infringer who is not …
What Creators Should Know About Platform Licenses and AI Training Read More »
In our “VTuber IP 101: Protecting Avatars, Content, and Branding” blog post, we talked about what intellectual property rights VTubers already have, when they have to register those rights, and what protections different intellectual property rights give. We also briefly mentioned certain legal actions that VTubers can take after they establish their rights. When it …
VTuber IP 201: DMCA Strategy and Personal Privacy Read More »