Reports emerged this week that allegedly that Apple is now longer making games which have been removed from the App Store available for re-download by existing purchasers. Cue Internet consternation. But what’s the actual legal position? Continue reading Can Apple stop you re-downloading a delisted game?
Category: Distribution
Can you pirate your own video game?
Hotline Miami 2, the forthcoming sequel to the excellent indie game Hotline Miami (note: I wrote that in bold, underline and italics to show how much I mean it), has been denied classification in Australia (another victim of the relatively restrictive local age rating system there). So its developer instead just told Australian fans to pirate the game for free, attracting no small amount of games press in the process (hello, Streisand Effect). So, I thought I’d write a little post on the subject of what happens legally if a developer pirates, or encourages piracy of, its own video game? Continue reading Can you pirate your own video game?
Digital resale rights in the EU: the state of play
What happens when you decide that you no longer want an e-book, film, tv episode, music track or video game which you bought and downloaded? What happens if you decide you want to give it to a friend, relative or just someone who wants to buy it from you? We’re in the middle of trying to find out the answer to that question. It’s being argued out by consumers with businesses and it’s also now attracting the attention of the legal system. I thought my readers in the games and digital creative industries might like a practical summary on what’s been happening recently. Here we go…
Continue reading Digital resale rights in the EU: the state of play
An international legal guide to games development and distribution
Last year I gave a lecture at the Gamer Tech Law conference in Seattle with the rather ambitious title of “Going Global: legal and business issues for international games development and distribution”. As you can imagine, that’s a lot to cover – even in a lecture directed at other lawyers. Anyway, below is the lecture I delivered, in which I talked the audience through international angles on: contracts, IP, distribution structures, consumer protection, advertising, age ratings and privacy. Enjoy! Continue reading An international legal guide to games development and distribution
The legality of second hand software sales in the EU
The second hand sale of physical and digital software has effectively been declared legal, according to a judgment published by the Court of Justice of the European Union today. This has the potential to have a real impact on the way that software is sold and consumed – but at the same time the case raises more questions than it answers, so we’re really not in a clear cut situation at all. Read on for more details… Continue reading The legality of second hand software sales in the EU
Games Law Update: May 2012
Hi everyone – sorry for a delayed May games law update. Blame the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee which gave us a 2 day national holiday here in the UK (maybe it’s disloyal to blame the Queen? Oh well). Here goes: Continue reading Games Law Update: May 2012
Are second hand software sales legal?
The second hand sale of software excites lots of emotive debate: is it a good thing for consumers by giving them choices at more flexible price points, or is it killing publishers? Both? While that debate continues to rage, a couple of recent legal cases have got me thinking: are second hand software sales actually legal? Interestingly, one is a US case and the other is a European Union case, so here’s the Transatlantic perspective… Continue reading Are second hand software sales legal?
Games Law Update: April 2012
Hi everyone – here’s your dollop of games law news over the last month, curated by yours truly…
Lawsuits:
- The big daddy in games lawsuits approaches: the Infinity Ward/Activision/EA lawsuit apparently has a trial date set of May 29th 2012. Regular readers will know I’ve been following this lawsuit with great interest for some time. Get ready for a settlement soon or (more likely, in my view) some serious fireworks…
- An author is suing Ubisoft for allegedly plagiarising his novels in creating the Assassin Creed series of games. Unfortunately, regardless of the legal merits, this has resulted in a small disaster for the author – including being Amazon bombed. It’s a useful reminder that the fallout from a lawsuit isn’t just legal – it can hurt you in the PR department just as much. Continue reading Games Law Update: April 2012
Games Law Round-Up: February and March 2012
Sorry – this is two months’ worth of games law news updates, since GDC got in the way of finalising the February update. Still, what a couple of months it’s been! Here we go… Continue reading Games Law Round-Up: February and March 2012
Some thoughts about SOPA
I don’t need to tell you all what the US Stop Online Piracy Act is about, because the Internet has talked about nothing else for the last few days (or at least, those parts of the Internet which haven’t been closed in protest against SOPA). It caused a great, great deal of controversy, far more than the UK’s Digital Economy Act ever did. Now it has been put on ice until “consensus” can be reached.
This is a short post with some thoughts from me about SOPA. For anyone who might be in doubt, I was opposed to SOPA, for the reasons I set out below. That said, I thought it might be helpful to actually read SOPA and give you some legal comments about it. Here goes…