We wanted to let everyone know that we have a new book in the works, tentatively titled "The Business of... Video Games!" This is a self-help introduction to legal issues that smaller, startup, and independent developers face, from intellectual property to contracts to managing risk to business formation to publishing. If you are "in the industry" and might be willing to review an advance copy and provide a quote about the book in exchange for a free copy once the book is published (tentatively scheduled for July/August 2011), please send me an email (rdannenberg -at- bannerwitcoff -dot- com).

Further to the previous post on the Supreme Court’s decision in Bilski v. Kappos, here is a link to an article discussing potential impacts of the decision on the gambling industry. The article quotes Shawn Gorman and Charles Miller of Banner & Witcoff, LTD’s Chicago Office. Free registration at gamingcompliance.com is required to view the article.

The Patent Arcade is pleased to announce that a new book co-edited by our own Ross Dannenberg (i.e., me), and partly authored by our own Steve Chang, is now available for purchase from the ABA website:

BUY YOUR COPY TODAY!!! (the authors do not receive any royalties for this book--all proceeds benefit the American Bar Association's IP Section)

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 Virtual Worlds: A New Frontier in Intellectual Property Law

By Ross A. Dannenberg, Steve Mortinger, Roxanne Christ, Chrissie Scelsi, and Farnaz Alemi - Editors.

Will provide publication/purchase info when available.

A colleague from across the pond, David Musker of RGC Jenkins, forwarded to me an interesting (and humorous) article that he wrote back in 2007. It's a funny tongue-in-cheek perspective on the technical effect test used in Europe with respect to patentability of business method and software patents. The article uses the fictitious world of "Wasted Life" to illustrate his points, and instead of using business methods, the allegedly patentable (or unpatentable) subject matter is BEER. A good read.

Enjoy the article here.

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 of Stockholm, Sweden announced its verdict in the so-called ‘‘Pirate Bay case’’1 against four individuals associated with a file-sharing website and service called The Pirate Bay, directed at the file-sharing community. The court found all four guilty of contributory copyright infringement, and each was sentenced to one year in prison. In addition to imprisonment, the defendants were ordered to pay damages in the amount of 30 million Swedish kronor ($3.6 million, 2.7 million Euros) to a handful of entertainment companies, including Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Bros, EMI and Columbia Pictures, for the infringement of 33 specific movie, music and gaming titles.

Read the entire article here.

I recently wrote a series of short articles for LinuxInsider regarding IP issues as they arise in virtual worlds and video games. Each article was necessarily short, so there wasn't room to go into a lot of detail, but it provides some basic IP information regarding patents, copyrights, and trademarks for those that are interested:

The Rocky Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds, Part 1: Trademarks (Nov. 12, 2008)
The Rocky Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds, Part 2: Patents (Nov. 19, 2008)
The Rocky Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds, Part 3: Copyrights (Nov. 26, 2008)

Ever wonder what the basic principles are for protecting your video game based on intellectual property law? Steve and I wrote this article, recently published on Gamasutra, that provides a brief introduction to what you need to know to help protect your game and your brand.

Download PDF version.

I recently wrote a short article regarding Film Sanitization, the practice of removing objectionable content from a movie without the copyright owner's consent. Groups remove the sex, violence, nudity, language, drug use, etc., to create versions suitable for "families and children." This raises various copyright issues, discussed in my article, which you can download and read here. The initial conclusion is that those who sanitize films without the copyright owner's consent do so at their own risk.

Similar issues could very well arise with respect to video games, except that it's harder to remove just the objectionable content from a video game without the help and assistance of the game's developer, as evidenced by the "Hot Coffee" exploit for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. In any event, some issues to ponder, and you might just find the attached article an interesting, if brief, read.

FilmSanitization.pdf

Still trying to wrap your head around intellectual property? The following video game IP resources are provided for your use. Please keep in mind that all articles and publications are for informational purposes only, and are not intended as legal advice. Always consult an attorney with fact-specific questions if you have a specific scenario you need assistance with. Ross Dannenberg can be reached at (202) 824-3153, or rdannenberg bannerwitcoff com, and Steve Chang can be reached at (202) 824-3154, or schang bannerwitcoff com if you would like to discuss a specific issue or need legal advice.

Books:

• The American Bar Association's Legal Guide to Video Game Development, Ross Dannenberg (Editor and Principal Author), available for purchase at the ABA web store. Contributors include Shawn Gorman, Andy Mu, and Rajit Kapur.
• Computer Games and Virtual Worlds: A New Frontier of Intellectual Property Law (available for purchase from the American Bar Association web site), with editing and contributions by Ross Dannenberg and Steve Chang.

Publications:

• IP Rights in Virtual Worlds, by Ross Dannenberg
  
• Hey, That's MY Game! IP Protection for Video Games, by Ross Dannenberg & Steve Chang
  
• Film Sanitization, by Ross Dannenberg
• The Vital Role of Patent Law in the Gaming Industry, by Steve Chang
  
• Top Ten [types of] Video Game Patents, by Ross Dannenberg & Steve Chang
• Copyright Preregistration of Video Games, by Marc Cooperman & Michael Krashin
• Patent Mythconceptions, by Ross Dannenberg & Steve Chang
• Preserving Patent Rights, by Ross Dannenberg
• IP Primer, by Ross Dannenberg & Jordan Bodner

TOP TEN VIDEO GAME PATENTS
by Ross Dannenberg & Steve Chang

When the editors at Gamasutra asked us to prepare a list of the top ten video game patents, we initially thought "Hey, no problem, that will be easy." As we’ve dug into this in a little more detail, we realized that what we signed up for was no easy task, because there are quite a few issues that make it difficult to simply whip up a list of the top 10 video game patents.

First, what makes a patent a video game patent? Is it a video game patent if it describes video game play methods? What about hardware? Audio/video processing techniques? There are endless patents that may be utilized in some form or another when playing a video game.

Second, what determines whether a patent is a good patent or a bad patent? Its coolness factor? Financial worth? Something else entirely?

Third, how do you compare patents that cover completely disparate technologies from completely different times? How do you compare the original Pong patent with a patent for giving "kudos" based on driving style? The coup de grace then is this: how do you rank patents that each derive merit from a different one of these metrics?

The fact of the matter is you can’t, because there are many ways in which patents can be valuable. Some patents are widely licensed and bring lots of licensing revenue to its owners; other patents introduce a key technological advance that becomes an industry standard; and other patents possess a certain je ne sais quoi, the “IT” factor of a really neat idea.

Needless to say, given these complexities, this list is fairly subjective, and we would be blown away if no one disagreed with us...

Read the entire article at Gamasutra.com.

As promised in my previous post regarding a general introduction to IP, linked below you will find a previously published article regarding the preservation of patent rights. This article may be particularly useful for software developers and programmers working on video games and video game software. As you may know, certain actions that you do or don't take may have an adverse affect on your patent rights, and this article discusses those issues and provides a more in-depth introduction to patent law and patent rights in the United States (with a brief introduction to foreign patent rights). Due to the length of the article, it is available in PDF format only. Happy reading.

Please email me for a copy of the article.

Ross Dannenberg & Jordan Bodner, www.BannerWitcoff.com, are partners with the Washington, D.C. office of Banner & Witcoff, Ltd., an intellectual property law firm. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors, and should not be attributed to Banner & Witcoff, Ltd. or any of its clients. THIS ARTICLE IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE, NOR DOES IT ESTABLISH AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP WITH ANYONE. Seek advice of counsel to discuss your own situation. Our contact info is below.

Marc Cooperman and Michael Krashin recently penned an article discussing preregistration of copyrights as an additional form of protection for video games. When video game software is pirated or leaked before the game's initial release, copyright preregistration provides an addition avenue of protection for video game developers. Their article discusses the basics of preregistration as well as some of the remedies preregistration provides.

Download the article here. (PDF)

Gamasutra.com is presently running an article which Steve Chang and I wrote as their feature article:
Today's feature, subtitled 'Top Mythconceptions on Patent Protection of Video Games' and from IP lawyers Ross Dannenberg and Steve Chang, addresses the sometimes controversial area of software patents from a lawyer's perspective:

"Our informal review of the records at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) revealed a relative dearth of patent applications for the video game industry, especially considering how technology-dependent the video game industry is, and given its size in terms of annual sales. Why is that? Patents, by their very nature, grant the right to exclude your competitors from stealing the fruits of your labor, and yet this powerful tool appears to be overlooked by the majority of the industry. In an effort to answer this question, we set out below to dispel what we see as the top myths surrounding patent protection of video games, and hope to encourage innovative game developers to take steps to protect their valuable innovations."
Read the entire article on Gamasutra.com:

R. Dannenberg & S. Chang, It’s Just a Game, Right? Top Mythconceptions on Patent Protection of Video Games, Gamasutra.com, May 31, 2005

Alternate Link 1

Alternate Link 2

PDF Version