Video game law gives us the opportunity to do what we love: talk about the law, games, and the law of games. Listen to Critical Lawsuit – our new and experimental podcast – where we discuss what we find interesting in the world of video game law and what we think it means. Be prepared for nerdiness.
This week in video game law
News this week:
- John Cleese upset about Australian “Faulty Towers Dining Experience” (2:06)
- Blizzard partners with Scholastic to produce World of Warcraft: Traveler (4:26)
- UC Irvine offers e-sports scholarship for League of Legends players (5:20)
- E-sports at the Olympics? (6:04)
- Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition had to be reverse engineered (9:32)
And our main topic:
- How the law prevents us from preserving old games for academic and historical study (starts at 11:00)
Talk to us about games
This is a weekly podcast, so bookmark this page and come back again next week!
If you have any suggested topics or questions that you would like us to cover, you can send these to Nick via email or Twitter, or to Kevin via email or Twitter. We’d love to hear from you.
If you are a game developer, read about our insights or get in touch to find out how we can help you.
Video game law as we see it
You can listen to us below, on Soundcloud, or on iTunes.
Listen to things we’ve discussed before
Week 5: Licencing your creative content – Marvel Studios case study (starts at 15:55)
- Trendy Entertainment sues Ark: Survival Evolved developer for breach of restraint of trade (2:00)
- That Dragon Cancer developer pulls Let’s Plays for copyright violations (4:52)
- Valve loses Australian case: must offer refunds for digital goods (7:41)
- Muslim fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov asks EA to change his character’s Christian post-match celebration in UFC2 (13:00)
Week 4: Film and Publications Board – Why do we classify? (starts at 13:32)
- Jim Sterling sued $10 million by Digital Homicide for negative reviews (2:28)
- Lindsay Lohan granted leave to proceed with case against Rockstar Games for using her likeness in GTA5 (5:41)
- Virtual reality developers warn against producing horror games for VR (9:10)
- Film and Publications Board in talks with Netflix regarding classifications and possible suspension of service in South Africa (11:41)
Week 3: User Generated Content under the Film and Publications Draft Online Policy
- Vodacom sued for “advanced airtime” idea (3:12)
- RAGE trademark dispute (4:50)
- Disney, Wargaming and Activision will not attend E3 (7:12)
- Emmys open up categories for short-form online media (10:27)
- Copyright and the US presidential elections (13:17)
- Close of Lionhead Studios (14:59)
Week 2: The Film and Publications Amendment Bill and Draft Online Policy
- Patreon’s takedown procedure (2:40)
- EA’s abandoned attempt to trademark “Ghost” (4:30)
- Riot Games’ new requirements for League of Legends e-sports teams (5:44)
- Tidal music streaming service sued, ironically (8:23)
Week 1: Finding our feet
- The Activision Blizzard acquisition of King (10:40)
- An indie lawsuit, Seggie v Roofdog Games Inc (23:05)
- A new EU Online Consumer Dispute mechanism (29:20)
- Nintendo’s take-down of a Youtube fan video (33:40)
Interested?
If you are interested, please complete the form on the right or enquire now. We will contact you to find out more about your requirements and give you a quote.
