Law of the Game 2.0

There's still some cleaning up to do, but by and large, Law of the Game Phase 2.0 has begun. And that means you should be visiting www.lawofthegame.com rather than here. Yes, Law of the Game has been relatively quiet as of late, and while I've been busy speaking (rather than blogging), this new era of the blog aims to fix that. But what does that mean? A few things:
1. I, Mark, will be moving into more of an Editor-in-Chief role and less of an author role.
2. Law of the Game will have a small staff of writers putting together new content. This is something the Wordpress platform handles much better than Blogger does, and so that was a driving reason behind the move.
3. Law of the Game will be a lot more active as a result of points 1 and 2 above.

 In the mean time, I will continue cleaning up some of the tag issues that arose from moving from Blogger to Wordpress, while also adding some new areas to the site. You should already be able to see the new branding and new look. With a little more time and effort, everything will be up and at 100% efficiency.

This also means something else to my readers who may be lawyers or law students looking for some exposure. I'm currently seeing a handful of writers to be official Law of the Game contributors. Some of those slots are filled, but others remain open. If you are interested, please e-mail me at mark at lawofthegame dot com. Be sure to include a bio and a writing sample. Again, this is only open to law students or licensed attorneys, and content (for now) will be limited to English language (although covering non-US jurisdictions is acceptable).

 I would be remiss not to thank Zack Bastian, the original Law of the Game contributor, for his work over the past few years. It was actually his contributions that made me decide to move Law of the Game in this direction. As for this Blogger site, I will continue to update it with as much content as I can keep up with, but it will by and large be the same as the content on LawoftheGame.com. Our first contributor posts should be coming in the next few days, so stay tuned!

6th Annual Penn Intellectual Property Group Symposium - Live Stream

I will be speaking at the Penn IP Law Group Symposium on Friday, March 29, 2013.  They'll be live streaming starting at 2 pm eastern at this link, so be sure to check it out.  More information on the symposium is available at the conference site.

Game Business Law 2013

Game Business Law 2013 will be here in just over a month. It will be held January 24-25, 2013, at SMU Law School, as it has been since the conference started.

I will be moderating a panel on crowdfunding and Kickstarter this year, but all of the sessions are looking very strong. The iniital program has been posted, for those interested in attending.

The past four Game Business Law conferences have been truly excellent, and I would recommend that anyone involved in the industry consider attending.

International Bar Association: Dublin

For any readers who might be attending the International Bar Association Annual Conference in Dublin, I will be speaking in two sessions, Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. More information on the sessions is below.

The global ‘gamification’ of online gambling
Joint session with the Leisure Industries Section and the Technology
Law Committee.
Session Co-Chairs
Trevor Nagel White & Case, Washington DC, USA
Gabrielle Patrick iSeed, London, England; Vice-Chair, Electronic
Entertainment and Online Gaming Subcommittee
Gamification, and online gambling, are among the booming global
phenomena of the past decade. Given the highly polarised reactions to
gambling across different jurisdictions, yet the boost it can provide to
governmental coffers in these trying economic times, few are surprised
that online gambling has generated both political controversy and a
plethora of cross-border regulatory and legal issues. This session initially
explores these critical issues through the eyes of major online gambling
companies. The second segment will be interactive and include a
debate between an online gaming hacker and a representative of a
gaming /gambling company. Hot topics to be discussed will include
both the commercial and legal implications of:
• recent trends in online gambling - products, channels and
geography;
• laws, enforcement and operators’ duty;
• regulation internationally - the past and the future;
• is harmonisation of online gambling laws feasible in the EU?
• cross-border payments issues;
• compliance issues and cybersecurity;
• management of players’ accounts and fraud;
• privacy expectations and regulation in a digital existence; and
• ‘pathological’ gambling and public policy issues.

Speakers:
Andrew Algeo Paddy Power, Dublin, Ireland
Peter Cercone Playtech, Tel Aviv, Israel
Marcus Clinch Eiger Law, Taipei, Taiwan
Mark Methenitis Metro PCS Wireless, Richardson, Texas, USA
Diane Mullenex Ichay & Mullenex Avocats, Paris, France; Senior
Vice-Chair, Communications Law Committee
Brendan O’Connor Malice Afterthought, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Cornices, cupolas and copyrights: protection and infringement of architectural copyrights
by remote sensing, media use, virtual worlds and construction changes
Joint session with the Art, Cultural Institutions and Heritage Law
Committee and the Space Law Committee.
Session Chair
Souichirou Kozuka Gakushuin University, Tokyo, Japan; Website
Officer, Space Law Committee

This session will examine the validity of architectural design
copyrights, and the potential infringement by remote sensing
imagery, incidental or deliberate use in media and social media, and
by construction variance, remodelling or demolition. The architect
of a striking new building has copyrighted its design. To the
architect’s distress, the design is now being copied and modified.
Images from space are widely distributed; print and online media
capture and replicate the image in film, virtual worlds, and other
incidental uses. During construction and renovation, the design has
been modified. In this session, our mock architect will prosecute a
copyright infringement case against these industries. Participants
will hear the evidence and arguments and act as jurors to decide
the fate of the architect’s claims.

Speakers:
Helen Conlan Bird & Bird, London, England
Jean-Frédéric Gaultier Olswang, Paris, France; Senior Vice-Chair,
Media Law Committee
Roberto Hernández García COMAD, Mexico City, Mexico; Latin
America Regional Officer, Anti-Corruption Committee
Mark Methenitis MetroPCS Wireless, Richardson, Texas, USA
Peter Polak Fiebinger Polak Leon & Partners, Vienna, Austria
Massimo Sterpi Jacobacci & Associati, Rome, Italy; Chair, Art,
Cultural Institutions and Heritage Law Committee

New Law Review Article

I just had a new article published in Cybaris, the Intellectual Property Law Review at the William Mitchell College of Law.  The piece is titled "Intellectual Property 2.0: Revisiting the Copyright and Trademark System for a Digital Reality."

It's available for download here.  The full listing of articles can be found here.

Many thanks to the staff over there for everything, particularly Brian Bender, the co-Editor-in-Chief.

ABOSG and DIGDA - Saturday, May 19

I just wanted to make everyone aware that this Saturday, there are two events at the NTEC in Frisco. I will be speaking in the first, and moderating the panel in the second.  My understanding is both are open to the public at large, but you need to register on Eventbrite.

A Bunch of Short Guys
10-noon
The Business of Animation
Panel discussion with local experts in entertainment law, freelance and contract employment, taxes, tips and tricks:

• all professional animators
• freelancers
• students

Solid ground information needed after the initial starry eyed dream begins.


Dallas IGDA
2-4
Big changes in State and City Incentives Learn about the increase in money for you and decrease in effort on your part!

Speakers:

• Evan Fitzmaurice, Director Texas Film Commission, Office of the Governor
• Trish Avery, Executive Director of Screen Actors Guild For Houston and DFW
• Janis Burkland, Director of the Dallas Film Commission

Both events are at:
NTEC
6170 Research Road
Frisco, TX 75034
(972) 987-1400

Hope to see some of you there!

Dallas IGDA - Crowdfunding and Kickstarter

For anyone in the Dallas area, the Dallas IGDA is hosting an event on crowdfunding and Kickstarter on April 11, at the Fox and Hound in Richardson. More details can be found here. Please feel free to come out and join us if you can!

Game::Business::Law 2012

I will be moderating a panel at the rapidly approaching Game::Business::Law 2012 in January. The preliminary program has been posted to the GBL site. My panel is titled "Paying and Playing," and will be in the afternoon of the first day. One of the most exciting additions this year is the funding forum on the afternoon of day 2, facilitated by the Texas Entrepreneur Network.

I encourage anyone interested to check out the GBL site. The event will be January 25-26, 2012, and held at the SMU Dedman School of Law again this year. SMU's Dedman School of Law and Guildhall, in conjunction with The Center for American and International Law, always put together a great program.

Hope to see many of you there in a few weeks!

A Step Forward for Law of the Game

As I’m sure many of you have noticed, the amount of time I’ve been able to dedicate to Law of the Game over the past few months has diminished greatly. Between a new professional role and some other publication opportunities I’ve had presented, there simply hasn’t been time for Law of the Game content.

A long-time friend and reader contacted me about this very predicament, and I think we’ve come up with an exciting idea for 2012. He will be writing some content which will be posted on Law of the Game, starting in January.

I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce Zack Bastian, a third year law student at George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C., and the first official outside contributor to Law of the Game.

Happy Holidays from Law of the Game

Happy Holidays to all of my readers from Law of the Game.

I know the second half of 2011 has been relatively quiet for a number of reasons, but I have some exciting things in store for 2012. Stay tuned!

Questions for Me? Come to SGC!

I mentioned a while back that I would be likely back at SGC this July, but I didn't provide many other details. Now that the preliminary schedule is up, I can say with some certainty that I will be back at SGC with a panel on July 3 (Saturday). While this year won't be another epic debate, it should still be a lot of fun. The session will be "The Law and Our Digital Life," and the focus is on you. After all, there are a lot of legal issues facing simple internet dwellers as well as those with aspirations to publish content, whether those be videos or games or other material.

If you're not going to be at SGC this year, don't lose all hope. To make this session as big and diverse as possible, I've also started a thread on the ScrewAttack forums asking for more input on what people want to hear about. My plan is to get through as much of that thread and as many of the audience questions as I can in the time I have. So if you've got a question and can't make it, be sure to head over to the ScrewAttack forums and get the question in the thread.

See you all at SGC!

Game::Business::Law 2010 Video

I just wanted to take a moment to link to the video of the panel I moderated at Game::Business::Law 2010 back in January.

In unrelated news, GDC10 last week was a great conference, and thanks to anyone who I met there who may be checking out the blog. Some of the discussions I had have given me some great ideas for piecess both on Law of the Game and Joystiq, so look forward to seeing some new articles very soon.

Law of the Game on Twitter

I'm pleased to announce that Law of the Game is now on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LawoftheGame. While I don't expect the feed to be extremely active, it will contain short thoughts from conferences as I attend them and links to the latest Law of the Game and LGJ content, which may be more convenient for some than following via RSS or e-mail subscription.

Speeches Galore in 2010

There are quite a few speaking engagements already lined up throughout 2010. Here's a quick overview if you're hoping to catch up with me at an event this coming year.

Game::Business::Law 2010 - January 27-28, 2010, SMU Law School, Dallas TX
I will be moderating a panel in the afternoon on January 27. More details are available on the conference site as well as on Law of the Game.

Business of Animation Part II: Legal and Financial Advice - January 30, 2010, Collin County Community College, Dallas, TX
I will be on a panel sponsored by A Bunch of Short Guys, a Dallas-based animation guild.

GDC 2010 - March 9-13, 2010, San Francisco, CA
I will be presenting two sessions at the GDC Summits this March, and information on both sessions can be found here.

SGC 2010 - July 2-4, 2010, Dallas, TX
Yes, it sounds like I will be returning to SGC. For those hoping for another big debate, I hope you're not being let down, but this year's session will probably just be me. More details are forthcoming.

International Bar Association Annual Conference - October 3-8, 2010, Vancouver, Canada
I'll be participating on a panel about the nexus between the leisure industry and technology that should be very interesting.

While this year is already looking pretty busy, I'm sure additional events will come up as the year progresses. As I have more information about these and other conferences I'll be speaking at, I'll be sure to post that information on Law of the Game.

Game::Business::Law 2010 and Other 2010 Events

I wanted to take a moment to remind you that Game::Business::Law 2010 is coming up in January, and seats are limited. More details can be found here, and I will be moderating what is shaping up to be an excellent panel on the intersection of legal and financial issues on digital distribution. The panel includes speakers:

Robin Bynoe, Senior Counsel, Charles Russell, LLP
Sean F. Kane, Kane & Associates LLC
Jeffrey A. Levenstam, Partner, International Tax Services, Ernst & Young, LLP

Game::Business::Law was outstanding last year, and I expect it will be excellent this year as well. If you are interested in attending, please be sure to register soon as space is limited.


2010 is looking to be a busy year for speaking, and more details on other 2010 events will be posted on Law of the Game as details become available. I certainly hope to see at least some readers at all of the conferences throughout the year, including GDC2010 where I will be presenting at both the Social and Online Game Summit and the iPhone Games Summit.

And, as a note from me to all of you, I sincerely hope you all have a happy holiday season and a great new year.

Reminder: The Big Debate is This Weekend!

I just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that the big debate between Jack Thompson and me is this coming Saturday, July 4, 2009, at 4 pm in Dallas, TX, at the ScrewAttack Gaming Convention. The convention is at the Westin Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport, starting this Friday and ending on Sunday.

They've updated the event page to note that it will be on the main stage in Trinity VI. Be sure to get there early, space is limited. I'm looking forward to seeing all the g1s at the event. I'm still waiting to hear from Craig, but I imagine I will be around the convention on Friday and Saturday before the debate.

A Video and An Announcement

First, I wanted to let everyone know that video from the Play-Machinima-Law conference at Stanford Law School is now available online. For those looking to view the panel I was on, here is the direct link.

Second, some of you may have noticed a few small changes on Law of the Game, and they hint at the announcement that I'm formally making in this post. The Vernon Law Group has officially joined Munck Carter, LLP. I had been waiting for the press release to appear, but now that our bios have been at least partially moved to the new site, I thought it was appropriate to make an 'official' announcement on Law of the Game. For those who may be concerned about the move's impact on this blog, rest assured Law of the Game and LGJ will continue in essentially the same manner they have in the past.

Feature on State Bar of Texas Blog

A recently posted article on the State Bar of Texas blog about Machinima Law features me fairly prominently. While there is a bit of a misquote with regard to the origin of machinima (it should say Quake, not Halo, though Halo certainly popularized it), it's an interesting piece. I really do think Texas is the unofficial machinima capital, since id and RoosterTeeth (the source of Quake and the most successful machinima studio) are both based in the state.

Check it out.

Reminder: Speaking at Play-Machinima-Law Conference at Stanford

As a reminder, I've been invited to speak on a panel at the Play-Machinima-Law Conference at Stanford on April 24-25, 2009. I will be on the The Rules of Play: The Role of the EULA and other issues in Machinima Creation and Distribution panel, which is at 1:15 pm on Friday, April 24th. If you're in attendance, please come by and say hello.

Speaking at Play-Machinima-Law Conference at Stanford

I've been invited to speak on a panel at the Play-Machinima-Law Conference at Stanford on April 24-25, 2009. I will be on the The Rules of Play: The Role of the EULA and other issues in Machinima Creation and Distribution panel, which is at 1:15 pm on Friday, April 24th. If you're in attendance, please come by and say hello.