News
Video Games With Advanced Communications Services Must Now Be Accessible to Players With Disabilities.
Courtesy of our friends Sean Kane and Greg Boyd over at: An important legal waiver recently expired and as a result, video game developers and publishers must now ensure that new and…
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…
State of Gaming and Esports (by Jacob Carlson)
Jacob Carlson of Manatt Digital penned a nice summary of Gaming and Esports for 2018, including a look ahead at what’s in store for 2019. Here are a few snippets: It’s a Fortnite world,…
E3 2018: Halo Infinite
Call me old school, but Halo 2 is still my favorite multiplayer first-person shooter. It was the most balanced FPS game I’ve ever played, and I still get excited with each new…
Babbling Prodigiously and Incoherently – Lanham Act Disparagement Clause Ruled Unconsitutional
BREAKING NEWS: Lanham Act Held Partially Unconstitutional Today the United States Supreme Court held that the disparagement clause of the U.S. Trademark Act (also known as the Lanham Act) is unconstitutional. In…
IPO supports amending 35 USC 101 (patent-eligible subject matter)
In a meeting on Sunday in Orlando, Florida, the IPO Board of Directors adopted a resolution supporting legislation to amend 35 U.S.C. § 101 as follows: 101(a) ELIGIBLE SUBJECT MATTER Whoever invents…
Obama Signs Law Allowing Trade Secret Owners to Sue in Federal Court
OBAMA SIGNS LAW ALLOWING TRADE SECRET OWNERS TO SUE IN FEDERAL COURT By Bradley J. Van Pelt and Shambhavi Patel Yesterday, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), enacting a federal trade secrets…
Patent Arcade on the ABA Blawg 100
We are proud to announce that the Patent Arcade has been included in this year’s ABA Blawg 100 list of notable legal blawgs. The Blawg 100 includes only continually updated law blogs.…
Nintendo Patent Application for New Gaming Device
On July 23, 2015, an international patent application (WO/2015/107747) was published for Nintendo. The WIPO application was filed by Nintendo back in October 2014. The application is entitled, “Information Processing System and…
Gearbox acquires Duke Nukem franchise
On August 19, 2015, Ars Technica reported that Gearbox Software finally acquired the Duke Nukem franchise from 3D Realms after a long legal battle that started in February 2014. Gearbox thought it…
Bungie “Eververse” Trademarks
Bungie, Inc., the developer of the popular Destiny video game, recently filed three trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The first trademark is for the name “Eververse” and was…
Google announces patent purchase program during May 2015
Today Google announced a new initiative to try and keep patents out of the hands of patent trolls, entities whose only business is amassing intellectual property and filing lawsuits. Google is calling…
Targeting German consumers? Play by Germany’s rules!
Courtesy of : SCHULTERIESENKAMPFF Internet services that specifically target German consumer, e.g. by addressing them in German, have to adhere to German law when doing so. In a default judgment, the regional…
BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court nails Aereo’s coffin shut.
Not exactly a video game case, but important the world of Copyrights nonetheless. The decision everyone has been waiting for it out. Today the U.S. Supreme Court held that Aereo is equivalent…
R-E-S-P-E-C-T: ‘League of Legends’ gamer granted US visa recognizing him as professional athlete
‘League of Legends’ gamer granted US visa recognizing him as professional athlete | The Verge: ‘via Blog this’
Hart v. Electronic Arts, Inc. U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey Case No: 3-09-cv-05990 This case was recently remanded to the United States District Court for the District of New…
Chief Judge Rader Pens Op-Ed in New York Times
Yesterday there was an Op-Ed in the New York Times presenting the opinion that District Court Judges should use already existing portions of the law more often to shift fees in patent…
Copyright Reform: And so it begins…
It will be interesting to watch as Congress begins to hold hearings to reform copyright law. The Verge recently posted a couple informative articles on the topic. There will likely be much…
The gamification of code development itself
WIRED has an interesting article regarding Microsoft’s inclusion of badges as rewards for developers in Visual Studio. As developers write code, an Achievements extension grants badges in much the same way a…