Lawyers in Canada: Davis LLP - Legal Advisors Since 1892

"Kölner Dom" in Second Life: Copyright Infringement?

To the inhabitants of Cologne, their "Dom" is very dear – and legend says that tourists calling the building "Cathedral" have found themselves thrown into the Rhine. So the judges of the District Court of Cologne will have been very pleased that they have not just rendered what is probably the first German judgement on copyright of Second Life architecture, but that this case refers to the great Cologne landmark.

The applicant claimed copyright in certain textures of the virtual "Kölner Dom", which was partly designed by her, and partly designed by the defendant. While the textures were designed to make the virtual building look like the real one, and photos were taken to achieve this aim, the applicant claimed that her work was protected under copyright law, as she had to adapt colors, brightness, and perspective. After a rather long elaboration of the various types of "work" which can be protected under copyright law, the court found that the textures were not suffiently original for copyright protection.

The underlying contracts between the parties have not been part of the dispute, presumably because they were not very clear on the subject.

This article was kindly contributed by Andreas Lober at SCHULTE RIESENKAMPFF in Frankfurt.

Minnesota Video Game Law Not Dead

If Minnesota's video game legislation were a Monty Python character, right about now it would be saying "I'm getting better ... I think I'll go for a walk." Which is another way of saying that the legislation, while down, is not dead yet.

Back in March, a 3-judge panel of a US Federal Court of Appeal upheld a permanent injunction against the legislation (see our previous post).

Minnesota has now requested a new hearing on the matter which, if it occurs, will take place before the entire Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. This full hearing could be possible because of certain statements in the decision of the 3-judge panel. The video game industry can argue that there should NOT be another hearing, so it's not yet clear if there will be another hearing. If there is a new hearing, both sides will be able to present their cases again.

Coverage at GameSpot.

Activision Settles Guitar Hero Suit

Hard to find time to blog, what with the steady torrent of press releases and marketing hype on this GTA IV-eve. Apparently, an ever-growing list of concerned citizens would like to remind you that, unlike Trix, GTA IV is definitely not for kids.

In other news, Guitar Hero publisher Activision has reportedly settled a class-action suit brought on behalf of frustrated purchasers of the Wii version of the game, who claimed that the sound was outputting in mono only. The lawsuit accused Activision of deceptive marketing practices after the game was advertised as being compatible with Dolby Pro Logic II. Despite early denials by Activision, the company has since admitted the problem and is offering to replace the faulty discs with freshly re-mastered ones. They are also offering a free GHIII faceplate. The replacement program runs until August 31, 2008 and covers the US only.

Coverage at Gamespot.

Submitted by Michael Mjanes

No Bully for Brazil?

A Brazilian court has ordered that sales of Rockstar's "Bully" game be suspended, apparently on the grounds that any virtual violence that takes place in a virtual school setting is not acceptable.

Brazil has been in the news for banning YouTube (for a while, at least) because of one particular video. Perhaps the "Bully" ban will be as short-lived.

Coverage at GameSpot.

Arizona game violence law struck

Earlier this month, Arizona passed a new law that would have made game companies responsible for any felony or violence committed by an individual who was being influenced by dangerous or obscene materials including video games. Not surprisingly, the law was recently struck down.

Coverage here (1up).

Video Game Trade War?

The governments of Canada and the United Kingdom are engaged in a increasingly heated dispute about the success of the Canadian video game industry. In particular the U.K. government has accused Canadian governments of unfairly subsidizing video game developers through tax credit programs.

These programs, which have been set up by various provincial governments including British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario, have been very successful in helping build the Canadian video game industry.

We can attest to the importance of these programs as we have several clients who have relied on a provincial tax credit programs to attract investors.

The success of the programs has now caught the attention of foreign governments who are alleging that the tax credits amount to an indirect subsidiary.

After a lengthy war of words the U.K. government has ratcheted up the dispute by making a formal complaint to the European Commission.

While the generally glacial pace of trade disputes suggest its unlikely that the various provincial programs are in any imminent danger, one wonders if eventually the current model of tax credits will have to eventually be overhauled or even replaced.

Coverage at Vancouver Sun and Game Politics

Online game ratings in Germany

Germany is known to have some of the strictest rules for youth protection in computer and video games, which have brought the world interesting features such as green blood.

Whilst these are a nightmare for the creators of first person shooters especially, online games have been pretty much spared: The law requiring an official rating before the game can be sold without too many restrictions applies to games distributed on storage media only. Consequently, operators of games distributed online only currently do not worry too much about youth protection.

This situation may change, though. At the Munich Gaming conference, the issue was discussed. As always, stricter rules have been demanded, and some speakers wanted an independent body online games. It remains to be seen whether a new body for the assessment of online games will be installed, or whether the USK (which is already rating box games) will take over the task. Also, whether such ratings will be compulsory soon is not sure yet, but seems likely.

However, the mere discussion puts online games into the focus, and this means that game publishers or operators should better respect the existing rules. Already now, a company offering online games has to appoint a “youth protection officer” (§ 7 Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag) and comply with several other rules, which are nothing short of prohibitive for 16+ games (§ 5 Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag). Any infringement of these rules can be fined up to EUR 500,000. And they also apply to operators abroad as long as they target the German market.
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This article was kindly contributed by Andreas Lober at SCHULTE RIESENKAMPFF in Frankfurt.

Video Game Law Cases and Case Summaries

We've recently updated our chart of video game law cases. It includes brief summaries of many of the key cases dating back to the 1980s. Check it out here. There's also a link in the right margin of our video game law blog's main page.