Video Game Lawsuit Highlights Intellectual Property Issues with Internet Memes
The modern workplace this week brought us stories of disability fraud, job recruitment with video games, apps to fight procrastination, and distracted driving. Who says work is boring?...more
On April 12, 2013, the UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the UK regulator for consumer affairs and competition, announced that it was launching an investigation into children’s web- and app-based games. In particular, the...more
Mississippi recently enacted two pieces of legislation that should encourage private investment in the state. The Strengthening Mississippi Academic Research Through Business (SMART Business) Act (House Bill 826), which...more
Hart v. Electronic Arts, Inc., U.S.C.A., Third Circuit, May 21, 2013 - Third Circuit reverses district court’s grant of summary judgment dismissing claim of plaintiff, former college football player, for violating his...more
I’ve previously blogged about a pending lawsuit involving former college athletes (here and here) and whether they should get paid when universities and business partners use their likenesses. Brent Lorentz, a Chambers...more
There are so many fun things you can do with celebrities. In addition to the traditional things like writing books about them, you can also use their catchphrases to make greeting cards; make movies about them using puppets;...more
For some time now, Electronic Arts–purveyor of sports video games–has been embroiled in disputes relating to using the likenesses of former college athletes without providing them appropriate remuneration. There has been the...more
In a much-anticipated opinion, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday reversed a New Jersey lower court decision granting summary judgment in favor of video game giant Electronic Arts against putative class...more
In a recent 62-page decision by the Third Circuit, obviously intended to give guidance in an unclear area of the law, the rights of publicity of a college athlete in a video game trumped the First Amendment arguments of the...more
Although we’re moving quickly from humorous to played out, you’ll still a number of brands use memes in their marketing and communications. That raises the question though, who owns those memes and can companies get in...more
A weekly wrap up of interesting news about virtual worlds, virtual goods and other social media. In This Issue: - What's the Matter With Zynga? - Video game maker drops gun makers, not their guns -...more
Once in a while it seems the people who design live-action war-based video games get into real-world non-virtual disputes of their own. When “Timegate” promised to “Southpeak” that it would design a videogame named “Section...more
In a dispute over whether an arbitrator has authority to grant a video game developer and publisher a perpetual license in the intellectual property as a remedy for the developer’s fraud and breaches of contract, the Fifth...more
On April 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued an order upholding an arbitration award against a video game developer and granting a publisher a perpetual license in the developer’s game due to the...more
A weekly wrap up of interesting news about virtual worlds, virtual goods and other social media. In This Issue: - RUMOR: Google Is Launching An Augmented Reality Based E-Book Line - Valve Can't Pull Plug...more
In This Issue: - Stacy Allen Speaks: Right of Publicity: Advantage Athletes - Recent court decisions regarding unlicensed likenesses of celebrities in programs, products or video games represent a disturbing...more
Introduction - On 24 January 2013, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) served Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited (“Sony”) with a monetary penalty of £250,000 following a serious breach of data security...more
In This Issue: POM Loses Again to the FTC – Will Other Advertisers?; Instant Instagram Controversy; LASIK Providers Need Corrective Advertising; FTC Reports on Food Industry Marketing to Kids; Google, Viacom Accused of...more
One of the inevitable challenges faced by independent entertainment entrepreneurs, such as film producers or videogame developers, is obtaining financing for the development, production and eventual delivery of their project....more
The legal controversies over athletes' rights-of-publicity rage on. Two pending appellate decisions offer some hope that a rational conclusion might be in sight. The head of Manatt's Sports Law Practice Group, Ron Katz, had...more
Since the early days of online games, 'virtual goods' have been used to enhance game play and to provide revenue to game developers. These are earned by accomplishing tasks or bought from the developer, typically for use in...more
As 2012 winds down and we all recover from what I’m sure was a wonderful Festivus celebration (I know I’m still feeling the effects of a particularly bloody Feats of Strength and an overly ambitious Airing of Grievances...more
In this memorandum opinion, the Court of Chancery held that stockholders of an acquired video game developer were not required to indemnify the acquirer for losses it incurred defending claims based on intellectual property...more
Originally published in the December 2012 issue of The HR Specialist. With the year-end holidays fast approaching, many businesses are in the midst of assessing their 2012 performance and planning for 2013. If those...more
District Court Finds Appearance of Logo in Documentaries and Stadium Displays, but Not Video Games, to Be Fair Uses: A recent decision by Judge Marvin J. Garbis in the District Court of Maryland has provided further guidance...more
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