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Video Game Law Blog
Current issues in video game law.
| The “Something Awful” website has apparently posted a link on its site to a pornographic cartoon featuring Jade Raymond, spokesperson for Ubi’s Assassin’s Creed. According... [read more]Wednesday, 21 November 2007 | Chris Bennett |
| It's been a while since we've posted anything in our ongoing Star Wars vs. Star Trek debate. Probably that's because we have great difficulties finding any law-related aspects to the debate... [read more]Wednesday, 21 November 2007 | Chris Bennett |
| All within a few days, Singapore announced that it was banning the science fiction RPG "Mass Effect", then announced that the ban was lifted and that the game will be issued an M18 rating... [read more]Monday, 19 November 2007 | David Spratley |
| A San Francisco Comcast subscriber is suing Comcast,the US' No. 2 broadband carrier, for breach of contract and bad faith dealings, claiming Comcast is violating net neutrality principles by slowing... [read more]Monday, 19 November 2007 | Dani Lemon |
| The BBC is reporting that a Dutch teenager is in jail facing theft charges after stealing 4,000 Euros worth of virtual furniture from the teen networking site Habbo Hotel.
Habbo Hotel users create... [read more]Thursday, 15 November 2007 | Dani Lemon |
| Atari has announced that it will no longer carry out game development. Instead, as set out in its official statement, the company will focus on "title acquisition, sales and marketing, and physical... [read more]Thursday, 15 November 2007 | Tudor Carsten |
| A Georgia (USA) resident has started a class action suit against Microsoft, claiming that Microsoft improperly allowed the man's son to subscribe to Xbox Live using the man's debit card, and... [read more]Thursday, 15 November 2007 | David Spratley |
| For advertisers, at least. Media giant NBC Universal has announced that it will start selling ads into IGA Worldwide's inventory of game titles. Industry commentators note that NBC Universal is... [read more]Thursday, 15 November 2007 | David Spratley |
| The ESRB has investigated the Manhunt 2 hacking/content issue (see our previous posthere), and has upheld the game's current M rating. The ESRB concluded that the content that is accessible by... [read more]Thursday, 15 November 2007 | David Spratley |
| Atari, Inc. announced that its net loss for the first quarter ended June 30, 2007 was $11.9 million. By comparison, Atari’s loss for the first quarter ended June 30, 2006 was $7.3 million.
The... [read more]Tuesday, 13 November 2007 | Michael Coburn |
| Our Dave Spratley is frequently accosted by paparazzi and admirers as he goes to and from work. Now things will no doubt get worse: Business in Vancouver recently quoted him in an article regarding... [read more]Tuesday, 13 November 2007 | Chris Bennett |
| Isn’t it kind of like getting sued? You know you’ve really hit the big time when someone takes the time to hack your software? Or was this just a stunt to promote game sales? Seriously... [read more]Tuesday, 13 November 2007 | Sarah Dale-Harris |
| The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been busy investigating video game companies including Take-Two Interactive, Activision and Electronic Arts. The investigation into EA’s stock... [read more]Thursday, 8 November 2007 | Chris Bennett |
| Game publisher Atari Inc. has announced that it is in danger of losing its licence to the Dragonball Z franchise.
In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Atari disclosed... [read more]Monday, 5 November 2007 | Michael Coburn |
| Back in July we mentioned a Florida lawsuit by Eros LLC, who sells "virtual adult-themed objects" in Second Life (see previous post). Eros sued someone for selling unauthorized copies of... [read more]Thursday, 1 November 2007 | David Spratley |
| It appears that patent issues between Activision’s new Guitar Hero III title and Konami’s Guitar Freaks may have been resolved.
The 9 patents listed on the Official Xbox Magazine demo... [read more]Wednesday, 31 October 2007 | Tudor Carsten |
| Our very own Dani Lemon was recently featured in a Canadian Lawyer article about life as a video game lawyer. She says she likes it. Go figure!
Click here for the article. [read more]Tuesday, 30 October 2007 | Chris Bennett |
| Activision has announced that the latest entry in its popular Guitar Hero franchise will feature several real-world brands. Activision has entered into agreements with various well-known musical instrument... [read more]Thursday, 25 October 2007 | David Spratley |
| In 2006 a US district court judge held that fantasy baseball leagues can use player names and stats without permission (see our previous post).
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has now upheld... [read more]Wednesday, 17 October 2007 | David Spratley |
| Rockstar's "Manhunt 2" ran into rating troubles some months ago (see our previous posts here and here). The game received an "Adults Only" rating from the ESRB, meaning that... [read more]Wednesday, 10 October 2007 | David Spratley |
| Jack Thompson, well known for taking on the video game industry, appears to have filed documents in the Florida courts against Microsoft and Best Buy claiming that Halo 3 (about to be released) is... [read more]Monday, 24 September 2007 | David Spratley |
| In the wake of several virtual property-related disputes in Second Life, Linden Lab has beefed up its Terms of Service to include an out-of-court settlement procedure in the hopes of reducing dispute... [read more]Monday, 24 September 2007 | Dani Lemon |
| Like similar laws enacted by other states, Oklahoma's law seeking to ban the dissemination to minors of compter or video games containing any depiction of "inappropriate violence", has... [read more]Tuesday, 18 September 2007 | Tudor Carsten |
| Game Politics has an interesting entry about infamous anti-game attorney Jack Thompson's allegation that he is depicted in Grand Theft Auto IV (currently under development).
Thompson says... [read more]Tuesday, 18 September 2007 | David Spratley |
| The American Federation of Musicians, a musicians’ union, is allowing its officers to enter into agreements with video game publishers to use video game music in trailers, advertisements, soundtracks... [read more]Thursday, 13 September 2007 | Chris Bennett |
| RIM and Atari have been squabbling over two Blackberry games ("BrickBreaker" and "Meteor Crusher"). Atari thinks these games infringe its copyright in "Breakout" and... [read more]Wednesday, 12 September 2007 | David Spratley |
| The Office québecois de la langue fran¸aise and the Entertainment Software Association of Canada officially made public the agreement reached in connection with the availability in Quebec... [read more]Tuesday, 11 September 2007 | Pablo Guzman |
| A Chinese firm, Founder Electronics, has sued Blizzard for infringing on its copyright by using five of its fonts in Blizzard's popular World of Warcraft game. Founder is seeking damages of 100... [read more]Monday, 10 September 2007 | Tudor Carsten |
| Here's an article published in the Lawyers Weekly this week, in which we discuss some of the virtual law going on in Second Life. The article was written by freelance writer Luigi Bennetton. [read more]Tuesday, 4 September 2007 | Chris Bennett |
| A recent editorial in the Shanghai Daily News calls for the Chinese government to ban trading in virtual property, mostly because that trade is fuelled by "an underground network of theft"... [read more]Thursday, 30 August 2007 | David Spratley |
| After initially warning Atari, Inc. last month, Nasdaq has again notified the software publisher that it is in danger of being de-listed from the exchange.
The latest warning arose after Atari... [read more]Thursday, 30 August 2007 | Michael Coburn |
| Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.'s ("Take-Two") troubles with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") continue as it was recently served with two "'Wells... [read more]Thursday, 30 August 2007 | Michael Coburn |
| Here's a nice little blurb about our Video Game Law practice. Wow... that guy sure looks cool playing video games in his suit...
Link to National Article [read more]Wednesday, 22 August 2007 | Chris Bennett |
| Quebec Government Minister Christine Saint-Pierre stirred things up in Quebec today by her declaration to Le Soleil newspaper that all video games coming to Quebec would have to be made available... [read more]Thursday, 16 August 2007 | Pablo Guzman |
| Recent reports alleged that Metallica filed suit against Harmonix and Red Octane on the grounds that Guitar Hero III and Rock Band violate Metallica's copyright in its music. This of course led... [read more]Thursday, 16 August 2007 | David Spratley |
| Epic has filed a Motion to Dismiss Silicon Knights (“SK”) mid-July lawsuit and a cross-claim, alleging that SK’s lawsuit is merely a strategy, designed to force Epic to renegotiate... [read more]Wednesday, 15 August 2007 | Pablo Guzman |
| In 1995, OJ Simpson was acquitted in criminal court of murdering Ron Goldman. Two years later, Goldman’s family won a civil suit against Simpson. The court awarded the family over $33 million... [read more]Wednesday, 15 August 2007 | Chris Bennett |
| In March 2004 Nintendo filed a new US patent application excitingly titled "Game System and Game Information Storage Medium Used for Same", for what looks to be a small hand-held device... [read more]Tuesday, 7 August 2007 | David Spratley |
| Following the issuance of a permanent injunction, California Governor Schwarzenegger's 2005 video game violence law will never go into effect, unless the Governor is successful in his projected... [read more]Tuesday, 7 August 2007 | Pablo Guzman |
| A while ago we mentioned a Florida lawsuit against Microsoft, alleging that Xbox360s scratch discs to the point that the discs are unreadable (see here).
Another similar lawsuit was launched in... [read more]Friday, 3 August 2007 | David Spratley |
| US Customs agents recently conducted dozens of raids of homes and businesses to seize mod chips that allow pirated versions of games to be played on gaming consoles. The mod chips were apparently... [read more]Friday, 3 August 2007 | Chris Bennett |
| Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent, has filed a $1 million lawsuit against Traffix Inc., an internet advertising company. The claim alleges that an on-line advertisement mini-game called "Shoot the... [read more]Thursday, 2 August 2007 | David Spratley |
| Two former executives of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. ("Take-Two") have plead guilty to misdemeanor charges involving falsifying company records in connection with backdated stock... [read more]Wednesday, 1 August 2007 | Michael Coburn |
| Our Video Game Law Group was recently featured in the Vancouver Sun, Business in Vancouver and The Lawyers Weekly. Here are the links:
Vancouver Sun article is here.
The Lawyers Weekly article... [read more]Wednesday, 1 August 2007 | Chris Bennett |
| The ESRB is continuing to crack down on publishers and developers who aren't complying with Advertising Review Council guidelines when marketing their videogames. 3D Realms is the latest in a... [read more]Tuesday, 24 July 2007 | Dani Lemon |
| The rash of Xbox360 failures is well known (and the reason behind Microsoft's recent extension of the 360's warranty). Now another alleged hardware problem is causing problems for Microsoft... [read more]Thursday, 19 July 2007 | David Spratley |
| A new rating scheme has been announced to cover online gaming via consoles, PCs and mobile phones. An extension of the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) rating system, the PEGI Online scheme will... [read more]Thursday, 19 July 2007 | Tudor Carsten |
| Just weeks after Sega's Mind Quiz for the Nintendo DS was pulled from the British market for using the word "spastic", Nintendo UK has recalled all copies of Mario Party 8 for the Wii... [read more]Thursday, 19 July 2007 | Tudor Carsten |
| Midway Games Inc., along with Chief Executive David Zucker, Chief Financial Officer Thomas Powell and three other executives have been names as defendants in a lawsuit. While not a class action, the... [read more]Monday, 16 July 2007 | Michael Coburn |
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