Copyrights
Coming soon: New book on Video Game IP Law
We’re getting close… Stay tuned for more information about our new book. I am one of the editors, along with others from my committee at the American Bar Association: Computer Games and…
Case Update: No Doubt v. Activision Publishing Inc.
Activision has responded in federal court to a lawsuit originally filed in California state court by No Doubt over Activision’s use of the band’s likeness in “Band Hero.” According to Activision, the…
Copyright in Screen Shots – Sony v. Bleem (9th Cir. 2000)
Sony Computer Entertainment America v. Bleem, LLC 214 F.3d 1022 (9th Cir. 2000) Background Bleem marketed a software emulator that allowed users to play Sony Playstation games on their personal computers. Bleem’s…
New Case: Eros v. Linden Research
Well, it has finally happened. Someone got so upset that they filed a class action suit against Linden Research, the owner of Second Life. Eros, LLC filed the lawsuit. They are a…
Article on Pirate Bay
A colleague of mine, Mikko Manner, recently published an article regarding Pirate Bay in the Entertainment Law Review. The article begins, as you may know: On April 17, 2009, the District Court…
Case Settled: Yahoo v. NFL Players Association
Yahoo! Inc. v. Nat’l Football League Players Association, Inc. et al. United States District Court for D. Minn. Case No.: 0:09-cv-01272-PJS-FLN, Filed June 1, 2009 On July 7,…
VIDEO GAME LAWSUITS
Updated: May 29, 2011 VIDEO GAME LAWSUITS To assist you in your research and review of the cases, this post will serve as a continuously updated index of the cases we’re tracking.…
Conan the Mushroom King
CONAN THE MUSHROOM KING So we’ve noticed some buzz on the Internet lately about the backdrop to Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show set. The guys at Serious Lunch posted the backdrop, and what…
Case Settled: Zynga v. CLZ Concepts (Filed 2/27/09, N.D. Cal.)
Zynga Game Network had filed suit on February 27, 2009 against CLZ Concepts, Jeff Chen and James Zhang asserting copyright infringement. Yesterday a settlement conference was held, and the parties appear to…
New Case: Yahoo! Inc. v. National Football League Players Association, Inc. et al.
Yahoo! Inc. v. Nat’l Football League Players Association, Inc. et al. United States District Court for D. Minn. Case No.: 0:09-cv-01272-PJS-FLN, Filed June 1, 2009 Continuing the trend of fantasy sports…
News: bits and, well, more bits…
Two items of note, one of which is in two parts: 1) Square Enix reportedly kills Chrono Trigger fan project based on alleged copyright infringement. 2) Duke Nukem Forever news…2.1) 3 minutes…
News: Patent Arcade author handles one of the highest profile virtual law cases.
The San Francisco Chronicle ran a nice article today about virtual law, including quotes from yours truly. The high point (at least in MY opinion): But some attorneys set up virtual offices…
News: Pirate Bay Operators Found Guilty
On a related note… If you haven’t already heard, the four men connected to The Pirate Bay, the world’s most notorious file sharing site, were convicted by a Swedish court Friday of…
New Case: Dream Games v. PC Onsite (9th Cir) [C]
Dream Games of Arizona Inc. v. PC Onsite 9th Cir., No. 07-15847, 4/2/2009 This is a placeholder post until we can review and provide more info. But in brief… (From BNA): A…
Case Update: MDY v. Blizzard
The creator of a software bot designed to allow users of Blizzard Entertainment Inc.’s World of Warcraft to continue playing the online role-playing game while away from their computers remains on the…
THE FAMILY GUY v. JIMINY CRICKET (Copyright Fair Use)
Bourne Co. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. et al. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. March 16, 2009 Ok, the case isn’t REALLY Peter Griffin versus a…
News: Sheperd Farey/AP Copyright Dispute Images
This isn’t exactly video game related, so I won’t take up much of your time, but if anyone was looking for a side-by-side comparison of the Shepherd Farey Obama poster next to…
Case: Zynga v. CLZ Concepts (filed 2/27/09, ND Cal.) [copyright]
Zynga Game Network on February 27, 2009, filed suit against CLZ Concepts, Jeff Chen, and James Zhang asserting copyright infringement. The case is 3:09-cv-00854-EMC in the District Court for the Northern District…
CASE SETTLED: Square Enix v. various sword retailers
On February 24, 2009, Square Enix settled another lawsuit. According to its press release, the lawsuit named at least four national wholesalers of unlicensed sword replicas and their principals that have infringed…
Case: Capcom v. MKR (ND Cal. 2008)
Capcom Co., Ltd. et. al. v. The MKR Group N.D. Cal. 2008 (by Shawn Gorman) While relatively short lived, this legal battle provides several insights for both video game producers and their…