Background Recently, I gave a presentation on video games and the First Amendment at Casual Connect USA. It focused on the importance of pushing boundaries and resilience in the face of adversity. You can see the entire presentation, here: I tried to cover a lot of material in 20 minutes. I didn’t cover everything. Soon, …
The First Amendment and Video Games – Part 1: Introduction Read More »
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 …
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 …
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 »
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 »
Biometric identification systems are becoming more common and data points are being tracked more regularly with the rise of new devices in the video game and VR industries. What is biometric data, though, and is this data currently legally protected? What is biometric data? “Biometrics” is the primary term for body measurements and calculations involving …
What is biometric data and how is it legally protected? Read More »
Virtual reality (VR) might be the next big thing in the gaming space – but what are the legal considerations that need to be kept in mind with this new technology? Here are some thoughts you may want to keep in mind to protect your intellectual property as development in VR continues to grow. Protecting …
Protecting your patents & intellectual property in VR 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 – …
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 »