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Video Game Law Blog
Current issues in video game law.
| In a clear case of art imitating art, the February 8 episode of Law& Order Special Victims Unit dealt with teenagers who were apparently inspired by their favourite gangster-lifestyle video game [read more]Monday, 14 February 2005 | David Spratley |
| Citing links between juvenile violence and video games, Washington D.C.'s municipal government has announced that it wants to ban sales of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. Stores [read more]Monday, 14 February 2005 | David Spratley |
| Take Two Interactive has entered into further semi-exclusive baseball agreements by signing long-term deals with MLB Properties and MLB Advanced Media, two key Major League Baseball licensing firms [read more]Monday, 14 February 2005 | David Spratley |
| The Governor of Missouri recently banned video games from Missouri prisons. He didn't like the idea of allowing Missouri's most violent inmates to play games simulating murders and carjackings [read more]Thursday, 27 January 2005 | Chris Bennett |
| China has banned the sale and distribution of 50 video games. Some of the games are pirated and others violate Chinese gaming regulations which outlaw games that "hurt national dignity" [read more]Thursday, 27 January 2005 | Chris Bennett |
| Talk about bad break-ups. A woman is facing criminal charges in Japan after deleting her ex-boyfriend's data on "Lineage", a popular online fantasy game. The woman wasn't [read more]Thursday, 27 January 2005 | Chris Bennett |
| There's more to watch out for online than upset ex-girlfriends. A new Trojan horse called "LegMir-Y" is also out to steal usernames and passwords for Lineage. And as it turns [read more]Thursday, 27 January 2005 | Chris Bennett |
| 3D Realms has shut down development of an amateur mod for Half-Life 2 which was meant to recreate Duke Nukem 3D. 3D Realms, which developed the classic Duke Nukem 3D, is currently working on [read more]Thursday, 27 January 2005 | David Spratley |
| Take 2 Interactive has reached an agreement in principle with the Major League Baseball Players Association to develop and publish baseball video games. Under this seven-year deal, Take 2 will [read more]Thursday, 27 January 2005 | David Spratley |
| Microsoft has filed a US patent application for a system that will help consumers determine whether their PCs can run a particular piece of software. The system involves a "capability tool", [read more]Thursday, 27 January 2005 | David Spratley |
| Sony has also filed a US patent application, this one to do with wirelessly connecting portable game machines (ie Sony's new handheld PSP) with various Internet-connected devices. The application [read more]Thursday, 27 January 2005 | David Spratley |
| A new US patent might describe key elements of the XBOX2, including a system of multiple processors which work together to generate realistic geometry while simultaneously managing other routine [read more]Tuesday, 18 January 2005 | Chris Bennett |
| A jury has awarded Immersion Corp. $82 million in damages after deciding that the rumble feature in Sony's Dual Shock controllers violates two US patents owned by Immersion. Sony was also [read more]Tuesday, 18 January 2005 | Chris Bennett |
| A Texas court has ordered that Microsoft, Sony and others temporarily stop selling "The Guy Game", which contains topless images of the plaintiff. At the time the photos were taken, [read more]Tuesday, 18 January 2005 | Chris Bennett |
| The governor of Illinois has proposed new state legislation prohibiting the sale or rental of excessively violent and sexually explicit video games to children younger than 18. The proposed legislation [read more]Tuesday, 18 January 2005 | David Spratley |
| Electronic Arts continued its trend of signing exlusive licence agreements with everyone under the sun (except for us, apparently, but we haven't given up hope) by announcing an unprecedented [read more]Tuesday, 18 January 2005 | David Spratley |
| Sports giant Reebok has signed a multi-title sponsorship agreement with Electronic Arts, under which Reebok's products will be included in various EA sports games. Reebok sees this as a natural [read more]Tuesday, 18 January 2005 | David Spratley |
| (This is an archived case summary)
Davidson & Associates v. Internet Gateway, et al
US Court of Appeal for the 8th Circuit (2005) No. 04-3654
The plaintiffs do business as Blizzard Entertainmen [read more]Saturday, 1 January 2005 | David Spratley |
| First-person shooter "Postal 2" has been banned by the Office of Film and Literature Classification in New Zealand, in part because of the game's use of urine in association with degrading [read more]Thursday, 16 December 2004 | Chris Bennett |
| On a similar note, Illinois is considering legislation to regulate the sale and rental of explicit video games. The legislation would make it a crime to sell or rent such games to minors.
Coverage [read more]Thursday, 16 December 2004 | Chris Bennett |
| Blizzard Entertainment recently won its lawsuit against Internet Gateway Inc. and various individuals who reverse engineered Blizzard's software and protocols to create the bnetd project, a free [read more]Thursday, 16 December 2004 | Chris Bennett |
| 321 Studios Inc., whose Games X Copy software allowed users to make backup copies of copy-protected PC games, has agreed never to make or sell software that lets users create copies of computer games [read more]Thursday, 16 December 2004 | David Spratley |
| Three DC-area video game stores were raided recently, resulting in the seizure of equipment and the arrest of two employees. The charge modifying Xbox consoles so that they could play pirated [read more]Thursday, 16 December 2004 | David Spratley |
| Half-Life 2 maker Valve has hit back at players who obtained pirated copies of its popular new game. To be able to play, players must set up an account on Steam, Valve's online gaming community [read more]Thursday, 16 December 2004 | David Spratley |
| Several major video game publishers have been sued for patent infringement in respect of their 3D graphics display techniques. The U.S. patent in question protects a system for 3D spherical panning [read more]Tuesday, 23 November 2004 | Chris Bennett |
| Microsoft has begun checking its Xbox Live users' consoles for mods, refusing to let modified consoles participate in online games. Microsoft says the purpose of this new policy is to reduce [read more]Tuesday, 23 November 2004 | Chris Bennett |
| Marvel Enterprises Inc. sued NcSoft Corp. and Cryptic Studios Inc. in regard to their massively multiplayer game "City of Heroes". Marvel claims that the character customization functionality [read more]Tuesday, 23 November 2004 | Chris Bennett |
| The Supreme Court of India recently ruled that off-the-shelf computer software is a "good", which means it's subject to sales tax in India. The plaintiff unsuccessfully argued that [read more]Tuesday, 23 November 2004 | Chris Bennett |
| Scottish publisher Traffic Management recently released JFK Reloaded, a game that allows the player to recreate the assassination of JFK. We suspect people's opinions about the game may divide [read more]Tuesday, 23 November 2004 | Chris Bennett |
| Screenwriter Roger Avary has sued Microsoft Corp. and games publisher ResponDesign Inc. for $30 million plus punitive damages. Avary claims that the yoga game "Yourself! Fitness", recently [read more]Tuesday, 23 November 2004 | David Spratley |
| EA has made an offer to buy all the outstanding shares of Swedish developer Digital Illusions CE, known for its Battlefield and Rallisport Challenge series.
Coverage at http://shorl.com/balimytetuta [read more]Tuesday, 23 November 2004 | David Spratley |
| Two new rival DVD formats are preparing for hostilities similar to those that occurred between VHS and Beta in the 1980s. Both formats -- "Blu Ray", which is backed by Sony, and "HD [read more]Tuesday, 23 November 2004 | David Spratley |
| A California law firm is attempting to certify a class action on behalf of Electronic Arts employees who claim that EA owes them unpaid overtime pay. The dispute revolves around whether EA improperly [read more]Tuesday, 23 November 2004 | David Spratley |
| The Beijing Haidian District People's Court has heard its first lawsuit brought by game developers against their employers. Two game developers who worked on a game but were not listed as [read more]Tuesday, 23 November 2004 | David Spratley |
| A disgruntled Xbox owner has started an action against Microsoft in the Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming that his Xbox lost its ability to read discs after less than a year of use. The action [read more]Thursday, 4 November 2004 | David Spratley |
| Video games are growing in popularity and pulling audiences away from more traditional forms of entertainment such as movies and television. And where audiences go, advertisers are quick to follow [read more]Wednesday, 3 November 2004 | David Spratley |
| World Wrestling Entertainment has sued video game publisher THQ and its joint-venture partner Jakks Pacific Inc. in response to what the WWE calls a "commercial bribery scheme". WWE [read more]Wednesday, 3 November 2004 | Chris Bennett |
| (This is an archived case summary)
Washington State introduced legislation penalizing the distribution of violent video games to minors. Video game manufacturers, distributors, retailers and software [read more]Thursday, 15 July 2004 | David Spratley |
| (This is an archived case summary)
Sony manufactured and sold PlayStation games on CD-ROMs for which it owned the copyright. To protect its copyright, Sony imbedded an "access code" [read more]Thursday, 24 June 2004 | David Spratley |
| (This is an archived case summary)
The Court considered whether a licence authorizing the use of a patent to make and sell a product protected a third party purchaser from liability for patent [read more]Friday, 28 May 2004 | David Spratley |
| (This is an archived case summary.)
321 Studios is the maker of “DVD Copy Plus”, a product that makes backup personal copies of movies on DVD. A U.S. federal court in California ruled [read more]Thursday, 19 February 2004 | Chris Bennett |
| (This is an archived case summary.)
This case challenged the constitutionality of an ordinance of St.Louis County, which made it unlawful to knowingly sell, rent, make available, or permit the [read more]Tuesday, 3 June 2003 | Chris Bennett |
| A long running dispute between the World Wresting Federation (the "Federation") and the World Wide Fund for Nature(the "Fund") over the use of the initials "WWF," in a logo referred to as the "Scratch" [read more]Thursday, 27 March 2003 | Dani Lemon |
| (This is an archived case summary.)
Morrison alleged that the POKEMON trade-mark caused reverse confusion with its MONSTER IN MY POCKET mark, and applied for summary judgment. That application [read more]Wednesday, 1 January 2003 | David Spratley |
| (This is an archived case summary)
James et al.v.Meow Media et al.,
2002 FED App. 0270P (6thCir.),
US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 00-5922 (August 13, 2002)
On December [read more]Tuesday, 13 August 2002 | David Spratley |
| (This is an archived case summary)
Sony manufactured and sold PlayStation games on CD-ROMs for which it owned the copyright. To protect its copyright, Sony imbedded an "access code" [read more]Friday, 26 July 2002 | David Spratley |
| (This is an archived case summary.)
In this case the court denied a summary judgment application on the grounds that the defendant required full discovery in order to defend itself against [read more]Tuesday, 1 January 2002 | David Spratley |
| On November 22, 1997, thirteen-year-old Noah Wilson died when his friend Yancy stabbed him in the chest with a kitchen knife. Noah's mother, Andrea Wilson, sued Midway Games, Inc., alleging that [read more]Tuesday, 1 January 2002 | David Spratley |
| (This is an archived case summary)
Nintendo wanted to have an opportunity to question the family doctor of a child who allegedly developed epileptic seizures after playing Nintendo games. The [read more]Wednesday, 28 November 2001 | David Spratley |
| (This is an archived case summary)
The plaintiff association brought a freedom of speech challenge to an Indianapolis ordinance that restricted access to anyone under 18 to arcade games that were [read more]Wednesday, 21 March 2001 | David Spratley |
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