Analysis
The Magic of Patents: Wizard101 and How Patents on Game Mechanics Have Evolved – Part 3
This post is part 3 of our three-part series exploring patents on game mechanics through the lens of Wizard101. In Part 1, we looked at a patent related to pure gameplay mechanics. In…
The Magic of Patents: Wizard101 and How Patents on Game Mechanics Have Evolved – Part 2
Part 1 of our three-part series exploring patents on game mechanics through the lens of Wizard101 looked at something that feels like more of a pure gameplay patent, relating to how combat…
Palmer Luckey’s User-Killing VR Headset: Creepy, but Eligible to be Filed as a Patent Application
Famous VR developer Palmer Luckey recently developed a virtual reality headset rigged with bombs such that, if you lose the game, the headset explodes and kills the user. Per Luckey’s blog: The…
Is Fortnite’s Imposter Mode Kind of Sus?
Is Fortnite’s Imposter Mode Kind of Sus? The popular game maker Epic Games, Inc. (“Epic”) has continually tried to maintain the popular game Fortnite’s relevance through consistent updates, including concerts and new…
Animation Frames Patents Spotlight
Animation Frames Patents Spotlight Earlier this week we covered the tight inbetweening patent, U.S. Patent No. 8,451,277 (the ‘277 patent). This patent involved the computer-generation of inbetween frames in animation, inbetweens being…
28th Anniversary of Magic: The Gathering – A discussion of IP Considerations – Part Three
28th Anniversary of Magic: The Gathering – A discussion of IP Considerations – Part Three By Sandy Rokhlin* This is the third and final post in our MTG Intellectual Property series, click…
28th Anniversary of Magic: The Gathering – A discussion of IP Considerations – Part Two
28th Anniversary of Magic: The Gathering – A discussion of IP Considerations – Part Two By Sandy Rokhlin* This is the second post in our MTG Intellectual Property series, please click here…
28th Anniversary of Magic: The Gathering – A discussion of IP Considerations – Part One
28th Anniversary of Magic: The Gathering – A discussion of IP Considerations – Part One By Sandy Rokhlin* Magic: The Gathering (“MTG”) has been around for nearly 30 years, with a new…
Determining the Article of Manufacture in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Design Patents
There’s a super interesting article just published in the AIPLA quarterly journal by one our (Banner Witcoff’s) law clerks, Sonia Okolie, on design patents within augmented and virtual reality. She does a…
NBA 2K Avoids Tattoo Copyright Infringement in Three Ways
Solid Oak Sketches, LLC v. 2K Games, Inc. and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.Case Number 16-CV-724-LTS-SDAUnited States Court for the Southern District of New York Since Solid Oak Sketches, LLC (“Solid Oak”) filed…
Different Days for Different Places – Determining Timing in Agreements
In re: Supercell OyUnited States Court of Appeals for the Federal CircuitCase No. 2020-113Filed March 17, 2020 In a case that highlights the sometimes important race to the courtroom and nuances of…
Dynamic and Nonliteral Elements Win Protection in Blizzard Copyright Suit
Dynamic and Nonliteral Elements Win Protection in Blizzard Copyright Suit MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Vivendi Games, Inc. 629 F.3d 928 (9th Cir. 2010) For those who followed our…
Law Review: A History of US Video Game Litigation
We’re proud to announce that the Patent Arcade’s own, Ross Dannenberg & Josh Davenport, have published a new law review article on the history of US video game litigation, including analysis of…
Tattoos in Video Games – A New Right of Publicity?
Yesterday, the New York Times published an article on the use of athlete’s tattoos in video games. While the article regurgitates the usual commentary on the existing current state of the law…
NEW BOOK: Computer Games and Immersive Entertainment (a video game legal treatise)
We are proud to announce the publication of Computer Games and Immersive Entertainment: Next Frontiers in Intellectual Property Law (2nd ed., Jan. 2019), edited by Christina Scelsi, J.D., LL.M. and Ross Dannenberg. This…
Game Companies Using Inter Partes Reviews (IPRs) As Part of Litigation Strategy
We’ve previously written with updates about inter partes reviews (“IPRs”), where an accused infringer files a petition with the US Patent and Trademark Office arguing that the asserted patent should’ve never been…
Supreme Court Not A Fan Of Trademark Ban – A Reasoned Analysis of Matal v. Tam
SUPREME COURT NOT A FAN OF TRADEMARK BAN By R. Gregory Israelsen On Monday, June 19, 2017, the Supreme Court held in Matal v. Tam[i] that the disparagement clause of the Lanham Act violates the…
Software Patent Update: Why McRO matters.
We posted Tuesday about the McRO case, and here is some more commentary for consideration, which we posted on our firm’s web site, too. One very notable point is that different from…
Guest Post: EU Games Law Special – Keyselling
From Konstantin Ewald & Felix Hilgert of Osborne Clarke: Another year, another gamescom… This time, one of the hot topics we discussed a lot in individual meetings and at the VGBA European Summit…
U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Index
The U.S. Copyright Office maintains an index of fair use lawsuits. They recently sent out a reminder about the index, reproduced below. Definitely worth checking out. One year ago, the U.S. Register…