As a previous Wilson Sonsini Alert reported, Snail Games USA Inc. and Wildcard Properties LLC (collectively, “Snail”) sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice to Valve Corporation (Valve) in order to...more
Many video games are marketed on the photorealism of their imagery and graphics. However, depending on the depiction, developers and publishers may need to worry about the underlying intellectual property rights in that...more
Investors in technologies and services for the Metaverse hope that a significant portion of the existing lucrative electronic gaming market will migrate to Metaverse platforms. Game companies regularly rely on the sale of...more
On May 17, 2022, Plaintiff Y.H. brought claims against Blizzard Entertainment making two sets of allegations: first, that booster packs in the game Hearthstone constitute unfair competition or unlawful gambling; and second,...more
On April 28, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment, holding that, taking facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, defendant...more
In recent years, there has been an increase in putative class actions alleging that game developers, game publishers, and even platforms should be liable for alleged harms flowing from loot boxes in mobile or other electronic...more
Normally, parties become indebted to each other through an express contract. But you may become liable to pay a bill from a vendor simply because you failed to dispute that bill within a "reasonable" time. How? Through a...more
On April 13, 2020, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the self-regulatory industry group that has been rating games1 since 1994, announced that it would create a new “Interactive Element”—the term ESRB uses to...more