We now have some authoritative clarification about the legal status of modchips in the EU for the first time. As longstanding readers of this blog will know, I’ve been writing about modchips for some time. Here’s a quick recap of the latest position. What are modchips? Essentially, a modchip is a technology which permits you to circumvent restrictions… Continue reading Modchips now legal in the EU (as long as they’re not naughty)
Category: Copying/Cloning
Some thoughts on game trademarks, King and Candy Crush
This blog (and Gamer/Law generally) represents my personal views, not that of my employer. The games press and sections of the games community has got hot under the collar (again) over trademark law. This time around, it’s about news that King.com, maker of Candy Crush Saga and other games, is seeking to trademark ‘Candy’. Cue lots… Continue reading Some thoughts on game trademarks, King and Candy Crush
Spry Fox settles with 6Waves – does it matter?
Spry Fox and 6Waves have settled their legal dispute over allegations that 6Waves had cloned Spry Fox’s game Triple Town. News of the lawsuit received great attention and no small amount of oppobrium directed at 6Waves. News of the settlement has received similar fanfare. But does this really matter to the wider games or software… Continue reading Spry Fox settles with 6Waves – does it matter?
Tetris wins the first legal victory against clones
The Tetris Company has won a court case against the developer of an iOS Tetris clone – this is a really significant legal development in fighting clones, so I’m quite excited about it. The case is here and is reported on extensively by the 1709 copyright law blog (via Rosie Burbidge – thanks!), which I recommend you read,… Continue reading Tetris wins the first legal victory against clones
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:
Game cloning: recent legal developments
My employer, Osborne Clarke, held its biannual Interactive Entertainment Legal Forum (a networking event and training session for inhouse games lawyers from UK and Europe) last month. I spoke about the difficult topic of game cloning, non-literal copying and recent legal developments regarding it. What actually is the law about game cloning in the UK… Continue reading Game cloning: recent legal developments
Games Law Round-Up: January 2012
There’s so much going on these days in games law, I don’t have time to write about everything sadly. So, I thought that every month or so I’d do a round-up of the notable developments. Here’s the first one – let me know what you think… It has been a BUSY start to the year… Continue reading Games Law Round-Up: January 2012
Demystifying copyright and games
This post was originally published on GAMESbrief. If you want to protect your games, you need to understand copyright law. It’s that simple. The problem is that many people get pretty hot under the collar about copyright law and think it does a lot more than it actually does. So, this post is about what… Continue reading Demystifying copyright and games
WoW Glider: what actually happened in the courtroom
Last week I wrote an analysis of the Blizzard/WoW Glider case, which got a decent amount of press on the mainstream games sites and led to an awesome debate/flame war/hilarity in the comments to my original post – see here. One (anonymous) poster wrote up a tongue-in-cheek script for what might have happened in the… Continue reading WoW Glider: what actually happened in the courtroom
Thoughts on the WoW Glider appeal
A US appeal court has upheld the illegality of WoW Glider, a high-profile and profitable bot for Blizzard’s World of Warcraft (hat-tip to Nic Suzor). The case is important both for its implications for bot use generally in MMOs as well as for a number of other legal points for games companies which come out… Continue reading Thoughts on the WoW Glider appeal