Fun and games have become serious business as evidenced by the rapidly expanding, multi-billion dollar, global computer and video game industry. The relatively new entertainment medium has been growing exponentially and so, too, have its legal difficulties. This new casebook, with its problems and exercises, deals with all aspects of this fascinating phenomenon, including: Product History and Development, Intellectual Property, Commercial Exploitation, and Regulation. The cases guide the reader down a colorful path of disputes involving such familiar hardware names and game titles as: Magnavox, Gameboy, Nintendo, Playstation, Pong, Pacman, Space Invaders, Tetris, Tomb Raider, Frogger, Galaxian, Asteroids, Donkey Kong, Pete Rose Baseball, and Doom. The casebook is suitable as a primary text for both classes and seminars. "What this book is and what this book isn't both matter. Computer and Video Game Law is not a collection of regurgitation in which authors explain the minutia of a few big cases to people with a cursory interest. It is a compendium of cases, and an excellent compendium at that. It has big cases with big names like Nintendo and Sony battling over trademarks and copyrights. It has small cases such as the one in which a martial artist sued over the use of his image in a bestselling game. I wish this book had existed when I wrote my book on the history of video games. I spent hundreds of dollars doing the research for my chapter on video game trials and acquired not even a third of the case material contained in this book." -- Steven L. Kent, Game Historian, Author of The Ultimate History of Video Games

Video Game Law is aimed at game developers and industry professionals who want to better understand the industry or are in need of expert legal guidance. Given the rise in international competition, the increasing complexity of video game features, and the explosive growth of the industry in general, game developers can quickly find themselves in serious trouble, becoming vulnerable to copyright infringement claims, piracy, and even security breaches. Not every video game company has the financial resources to retain in-house counsel–which Video Game Law seeks to address by discussing many of the common pitfalls, legal questions, and scenarios facing the industry. S. Gregory Boyd, Brian Pyne, and Sean F. Kane, the most prominent, sought after, and respected video game attorneys in the country, break down the laws and legal concepts that every game developer and industry professional needs to know in order to better protect their game and grow their company. KEY FEATURES: • Provides a solid understanding of intellectual property (IP) concepts and laws, including copyright, trademark, trade secret, and other protections that apply to video games and how each can be employed to protect a company’s unique and valuable IP • Explores cutting edge legal issues that affect the gaming industry, including gambling, virtual currency, privacy laws, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, tax incentives, and relevant piracy laws • Provides an overview of legal and privacy vocabulary and concepts needed to navigate and succeed in an industry that is constantly growing and evolving • Provides illustrative examples and legal concepts from the video game industry in every chapter

From the most trusted name in law comes this essential guide to the financial, health, and family issues affecting the baby boomer generation.

The multi-billion-dollar global video game industry has been growing exponentially and so, too, have its legal difficulties. This casebook features problems, exercises, and sample contracts that cover all aspects of this fascinating phenomenon, including: Product History and Development, Intellectual Property, Marketing, Gambling, Sex and Violence, Virtual Worlds, and Regulation. The cases guide the reader down a colorful path of disputes involving familiar hardware names and game titles, including: Game Boy, Wii, PlayStation, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Tetris, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Donkey Kong, and Doom.

Video Game Law, 2nd Edition addresses the overlapping and emerging issues relating to IP, freedom of speech, employment, defamation, privacy, licensing and torts as they arise within the context of the video games industry, offering unique legal analysis and guidance unavailable elsewhere."--Pub. desc.

The U.S. video game industry revenue has continued to grow to a total of $36 billion in both hardware and software sales, more than doubling in less than a decade. Fueling this growth at breakneck speed is the evolution of technology. With the rapid expansion of the video game and immersive entertainment industry and technology's continued evolution, intellectual property law plays an increasingly prominent role in this arena. Game developers routinely wrestle with all aspects of IP law and need informed legal counsel on a multitude of issues, including end-user license agreements, ownership of user-generated content, the scope of copyright protection, remedies for trade secret appropriation, approaches for simulating reality without running afoul of existing trademark rights of real-world companies and people, and more. Providing a one-of-a-kind aid for counseling clients about the issues involved in the industry, the second edition of Computer Games and Immersive Entertainment covers a broad range of topics to help lawyers develop creative solutions to protect their clients while still engaging the players and end-users. Topics include: - Contracts, including EULAs, TOS, and TOU agreements- Copyrights- Patents- Trademarks- Trade secrets- Rights of publicity- International considerations, and more

Business is an important part of making games and the legal aspects have also become significant. Business and Legal Primer for Games explores the major legal and business issues involved in game development with a particular focus on starting a business. The book contains practical introductory sections on business and legal problems that members of the development community are often confronted with. These problems include business structure, contracts, employment law, taxation, and IP. Those seeking to start their own game development company will receive invaluable information regarding getting started, basic business operations, marketing, licensing intellectual property, and exit strategies. Business and Legal Primer for Games is the ideal starting point with any who has ever wanted to start a game business and an excellent reference of information for those who already are involved in game development.

This report analyzes the classification that each country has adopted for video games, and provides, in the final section, a tentative classification of these complex works, considering their nature, the elements they are made of and the creative process.

This book introduces undergraduates and computing industry professionals to basic legal principles and the peculiarities of legal issues in cyberspace.

This book analyzes the effect of policy on the digital game complex: government, industry, corporations, distributors, players, and the like. Contributors argue that digital games are not created nor consumed outside of the complex power relationships that dictate the full production and distribution cycles, and that we need to consider those relationships in order to effectively "read" and analyze digital games. Through examining a selection of policies, e.g. the Australian government’s refusal (until recently) to allow an R18 rating for digital games, Blizzard’s policy in regards to intellectual property, Electronic Arts’ corporate policy for downloadable content (DLC), they show how policy, that is to say the rules governing the production, distribution and consumption of digital games, has a tangible effect upon our understanding of the digital game medium.