All game devs have a favorite character; one they draw inspiration from. What better way to show props to those who have inspired you than by featuring your favorite character in your new game. A little nudge or nod to other creators to show your respect. But where does admiration cross over to copyright infringement? …
Can I Use the Character From Another Game in My Own Game? Read More »
We see trademarks every day. Ones that we recognize, like Coca-Cola, Apple, Exxon, Pepsi and Ford, and ones that may go unnoticed, like the color of a Tiffany’s blue box. A trademark is a word, phrase, slogan, symbol, design, or combination that (1) identifies the good or service and (2) distinguishes source. Trademarks can (but …
What is a trademark? And what is fair use of a trademark? Read More »
Update: 1/26/2019: Unity has updated its terms. Over the past week, the video game world has been closely following the tumultuous relations between Improbable, Unity and Epic Games centering on an interpretation of an update (or clarification) of Unity’s Terms of Service. This case has brought into the spotlight an ordinary and extremely common contract: Terms …
The main goal of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is to protect technology, devices, and/or services that are copyrighted. It also makes it a criminal act to circumvent access to technology, devices, and/or services even if there isn’t actual infringement on copyright – aka, trying to access something online without permission. At its core, …
We are privileged to host this guest post by David Flint from MacRoberts LLP, a law firm based in the UK. David Flint is Senior Partner of, and a partner in the Intellectual Property, Technology and Commercial Group. Few businesses in the United States can fail to have become aware of the EU’s General Data Protection …
GDPR: Roadblocks on the Information Superhighway Read More »
This month, the European Parliament voted in favor of the Copyright Directive, a piece of legislation intending to update online copyright laws. The apparent goal of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market is to hold platforms with user content, like YouTube and Facebook, liable for copyright infringement. Or in the video game …
What can you do if someone has copied your game? First, “copied” can mean a lot of things. Is this a clone game? Is it an unlocked .apk or drm-free install file? Did they take your art, sound, music and other visual assets and copy them into their own attempted-cpoy of the code? Each of …
What does the First Amendment Protect? In terms of speech only (the First Amendment protects a lot that isn’t speech), the First Amendment protects “expression.” It does not protect anything that is not expressive. Expression does not have to be words. For example, the Supreme Court has ruled that video games (even if they do not …
The First Amendment and Video Games – Part 3: Protected v. Unprotected Speech Read More »
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 …
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 »