News of the Week; September 9, 2020

GAMES

1. Apple is now seeking damages from Epic Games over breach of contract
2. Apple goes on offensive in Epic Games lawsuit: Apple’s official login system will work with Fortnite “indefinitely” but users are encouraged to update Epic accounts
3. Apple pauses plans to end ‘Sign In with Apple’ support for Epic Games accounts
4. Apple says Epic’s Fortnite payment scheme “is theft, period.”
5. Epic is attempting to have Fortnite reinstated on the App Store
6. Epic asks court to force Fortnite back onto the iOS App Store
7. Epic Games wants court order to reinstate Fortnite on iOS: Unreal firm files another preliminary injunction to “stop Apple from retaliating” during antitrust case
8. Plaintiff Epic Games, Inc.’s Notice Of Motion And Motion For A Preliminary Injunction And Memorandum Of Points And Authorities In Support Thereof
9. Google distances itself from Epic versus Apple legal dispute
10. Google requests court not connect it to Apple vs Epic: Firm says it has yet to be officially served a complaint, but will challenge “based on circumstances unique to Android”
11. Epic Games commits to live concert series in Fortnite: Company has constructed a state-of-the-art soundstage in Los Angeles to host events
12. ‘Fortnite’ Spins Up ‘Spotlight’ Series Of Weekly In-Game Concerts
13. Data Transmission Patent Asserted Against Amazon and Blizzard is Partially Invalidated
14. Amazon imagines a genre-blended New World for MMOs: Scot Lane describes how action RPGs, survival titles, and Twitch influenced the PvP combat of Amazon’s upcoming foray into the MMO space
15. Abdin v CBS: Second Circuit affirms dismissal of copyright action alleging that Star Trek: Discovery series infringed Tardigrades video game, holding that parties’ works are not substantially similar as matter of law.
16. Paradox QA staff allege poor treatment: Company’s shutdown of publishing QA department last year leads to report of mismanagement, ignored concerns
17. EA removes intrusive ads from UFC 4 following fan complaints
18. EA removes new in-game ads from UFC 4 after player complaints: Publisher patched in promos that flashed on screen during action replays
19. Coffee Stain expands Levelling the Playing Field to fund racially diverse studios: Publisher also makes its third investment through the program, in Happy Broccoli Games
20. Indian dev unveils FAU:G in the wake of government’s PUBG Mobile ban: Ncore Games’ new title will feature current Chinese-Indian border dispute as a setting
21. PUBG responds to India’s ban on PUBG Mobile: PUBG Corp withdraws license to run PUBG Mobile in India from Tencent, will self-publish franchise instead
22. Cloud gaming revenue to reach $585m in 2020: Revenue generated by the cloud gaming market is expected to reach $4.8 billion by 2023
23. Sony May Just Be Loosening The Reins As Gaming Brings In A Plurality Of Its Revenue
24. Marvel’s Avengers shows how a “beta” can be a pitfall | Opinion: Early reviews express surprise at the full game being good after disappointing “beta” weekends — suggesting a gigantic failure on the publisher side
25. Marvel’s Avengers defeats Tony Hawk and NBA to claim No.1 | UK Charts: But it’s the biggest Tony Hawk’s game since its heyday
26. Game Creator Has His YouTube Video Of Game Demonetized Over Soundtrack He Also Created
27. What’s wrong with the games industry, and how to fix it: At Devcom, Kate Edwards highlighted the main issues affecting game creators, and what the industry can do to address them
28. Remaining Lab Zero staff laid off following dev exodus
29. Lab Zero Games lays off remaining employees: Skullgirls studio turns to redundancies following staff exodus over alleged behaviour of owner Mike Zaimont
30. Kotaku UK shutting down: Rights reverting to G/O Media as Future Publishing decides not to renew licensing deal
31. Duke Nukem throws a spanner in the Gearbox | 10 Years Ago This Month: Borderlands studio revives Duke Nukem Forever, dooming itself to a decade (and counting) of legal battles
32. Madden NFL 21 sells 20% more copies in first week than last year’s game: EA’s latest football sim tops early numbers of a predecessor that had produced “the most successful year in franchise history”
33. Colin Kaepernick returns to Madden NFL: EA Sports makes free-agent quarterback available for the first time since Madden 18
34. Colin Kaepernick hits the field in Madden NFL 21 without actual NFL deal
35. Microsoft Flight Simulator: 1 million pilots so far, flying 1 billion miles
36. Microsoft Flight Simulator attracts 1 million players in just over two weeks
37. Report: Nintendo boosting Switch production to meet consumer demand
38. Report: Nintendo increases Switch production targets again – Platform holder wants to make 30m units this year as it asks devs to get games 4K ready
39. Nintendo’s next Mario Kart title is a mixed reality racer set in your living room
40. Super Mario 3D All-Stars brings three high-res ports to Switch
41. Super Mario 3D All-Stars is already Amazon’s second biggest game of 2020: Nintendo release is behind only Animal Crossing on the US storefront less than a week since its announcement
42. Barrage of games coming for Super Mario Bros.’ 35th anniversary: Nintendo reveals limited time release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars with four more Mario products debuting by March
43. Nintendo eShop policy change gives shoppers more time to cancel pre-orders
44. With profit and revenue on the rise, CD Projekt heaps praise on The Witcher 3
45. The Witcher 3’s next-gen debut promises free upgrade for current-gen owners
46. CD Projekt Red confirms next-gen version of The Witcher 3: New version of the blockbuster RPG will be sold as a standalone product, but available as a free update to existing owners
47. Wargaming UK rebrands as DPS Games to reflect global growth
48. What can the games industry learn from Netflix and Spotify?: During our recent Changing Channels conference, experts discussed the impact of subscriptions on the world of entertainment
49. Cloud gaming not ready for disruption – Report: Juniper Research sees streaming game services as a subset of a subscription service market that will hit $8 billion in 2023
50. Can influencer-branded game stores work?
51. Game Discoverability Now: Are the ‘store wars’ really upon us?
52. Microsoft confirms next-gen pricing and launch dates, touts new financing options
53. The compact Xbox Series S launches Nov 10 with promises of ‘next-gen performance’
54. Xbox Series S confirmed by Microsoft after next-gen Xbox price leak
55. Xbox Series S finally announced, priced at $299: Official video shares specs, console will launch November 10 and is digital only
56. Microsoft confirms $499 Xbox Series X for Nov. 10
57. Xbox Series X will sell for $499: Console launches November 10 with pre-orders starting September 22; All Access subscription price is $35 monthly for two years
58. Xbox’s next-generation strategy threatens to disrupt the console business l Opinion: Xbox Series S and Game Pass could change console gaming forever. Maybe.
59. EA Play is being added to Game Pass Ultimate at no extra cost
60. EA Play added to Xbox Game Pass at no extra cost: Ultimate and PC subscribers will gain access to over 60 of the FIFA publisher’s titles
61. Xbox All Access seems like one of the best deals in gaming
62. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla bumps up release date to match next-gen Xbox launch
63. GameStop continues to post heavy losses amid pandemic, end of console cycle: Retailer saw an adjusted net loss of $92 million in Q2, though global e-commerce sales spiked
64. GameStop will close another 400 to 450 stores this fiscal year: It’s already closed 388 stores year-to-date
65. Despite pandemic and its reboot, GameStop says it’s ready for next-gen demand
66. CI Games opens internal studio Hexworks to develop Lords of the Fallen 2
67. Wasteland 3 | Critical Consensus: InXile’s warmly received new RPG is a sign that Microsoft’s run of studio acquisitions is starting to pay off
68. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 PC impressions: No pretending for this Superman
69. Marvel’s Avengers | Critical Consensus: The critics found much to like in Crystal Dynamics’ campaign, and rather less in Square Enix’s ambitions to make its own Destiny
70. Shenmue returns again—this time as a Crunchyroll, Adult Swim anime
71. The Soulcalibur still burns | Why I Love: Namco’s Dreamcast fighter ushered in the era of better-than-arcade ports and built friendships in competitive communities that last to this day
72. Masterpiece: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
73. From Pong to Civilization: How I made “one more turn” work on consoles
74. Esports Milestone: Guild Esports Looks For London Stock Exchange Listing
75. David Beckham-backed Guild Esports sets sights on London IPO: Esports firm eyes £50m valuation when it floats on the London Stock Exchange later this year
76. Facebook Gaming Signs Esports Pro ‘King’ Richard Nelson (Exclusive)
77. Esports team brings University of Waterloo athletics into the digital age: UW will compete in Rocket League, Overwatch and League of Legends
78. Changing the game: women in esports
79. As Esports Go Mainstream, Some Important Lessons for Brands
80. Rocket League drops PS Plus and Switch Online services for online play: Psyonix’s game will remove paywall from multiplayer on PlayStation and Switch when it transitions to free-to-play
81. Facebook halts Oculus Quest sales in Germany amid privacy concerns
82. Blog: Dynamic map elements in RTS games
83. Blog: The hidden art of pacing – Part 2
84. Blog: Building Cogmind’s ambient soundscape
85. Blog: A Neon Climber postmortem
86. Blog: A launch postmortem of Dungeons of Edera
87. Video: Cultivating female talent in big-budget studios
88. Video: How a newbie solo dev landed their game on Xbox Game Pass
89. Video: Inside the physical animation of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
90. Video: Using project management to tame the chaos of game dev
91. Don’t Miss: Deaf accessibility in video games
92. Don’t Miss: What was it like developing for the Dreamcast?
93. U.S. Patent no. 9,582,147: Inserting game objects through contactless communication
94. In Major Blow To Sony’s Upcoming PlayStation 5, Microsoft Announces PlayStation 6
95. Gaming historian Curt Vendel dies at 53: Atari Museum founder, Atari Flashback designer, and “an unquestioned giant in computer history” died unexpectedly August 30

DIGITAL

1. TikTok Employee Files Motion That Could Mark First Judicial Look At Trump’s Executive Order
2. White House Supposedly Blocked Walmart From Buying Tiktok Because It Would Prove Its Rationale For Forcing A Deal Was Bullshit
3. If We’re So Worried About TikTok, Why Aren’t We Just As Worried About AdTech And Location Data Sales?
4. Trump Gets Mad That Twitter Won’t Take Down A Parody Of Mitch McConnell; Demands Unconstitutional Laws
5. Bill Barr’s ‘Antitrust Crackdown’ Of Google Is Going To Be A Weaponized Farce
6. There’s a partisan schism over the timing of a Google antitrust lawsuit
7. Google Updates Ad Policies Related to “Sensitive Events”
8. Right-wing media thrives on Facebook. Whether it rules is more complicated: Untangling the influence of right-wing media is hard, especially with limited data.
9. Facebook Moves to Limit Election Chaos in November
10. Facebook Says it Will Limit Election Advertising in the Week Before the U.S. Election
11. Facebook Paying Users To Shut Down Their Accounts For Science Ahead Of The 2020 Election
12. Facebook Watch Hits 1.25 Billion Monthly Users, Company Says
13. Facebook complains, Apple responds: iOS 14’s big privacy change gets postponed
14. Facebook’s plan to prevent election misinformation: Allowing it, mostly
15. There Are Many Serious Concerns About Facebook. Why the Australia News Fight Isn’t One of Them (Michael Geist)
16. It’s Time To Regulate The Internet… But Thoughtfully
17. Pentagon’s review of controversial $10B contract was a sham, Amazon claims
18. E-commerce: Amazon held liable for damages caused by defective product sold on its online marketplace
19. Amazon Is Strictly Liable for Marketplace Items, Reinforcing That Online Marketplaces Are Doomed–Bolger v. Amazon (Eric Goldman)
20. In China, GitHub Is a Free Speech Zone for Covid Information: As COVID news was increasingly trapped behind the Great Firewall, the programming platform became a refuge from censorship. It may not last long.
21. China plans new data policy in response to Trump admin’s “bullying”
22. Court Denies TRO Seeking to Remove Facebook’s “Russia State-Controlled Media” Label–Maffick v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
23. Another Roundup of Online Contract Formation Cases (Eric Goldman)
24. GOP Senators Release Latest Truly Stupid Section 230 Reform Bill; Would Remove ‘Otherwise Objectionable’; Enable Spamming
25. The Copia Institute’s Comment To The FCC Regarding The Ridiculous NTIA Petition To Reinterpret Section 230
26. 512(f) Claim Fails in the 11th Circuit–Johnson v. New Destiny Christian Center (Eric Goldman)
27. Twibel Lawsuit Fails–Ganske v. Mensch (Eric Goldman)
28. The User Always Loses: How did the Internet get so bad?
29. Content Moderation Case Studies: Stopping Malware In Search Leads To Unsupported Claims Of Bias (2007)
30. Intermediary Liability And Responsibilities Post-Brexit
31. E-Voting App Maker Voatz Asks The Supreme Court To Let It Punish Security Researchers For Exposing Its Flaws
32. UK government’s Digital Services Tax misses its target: Apple and others share the weight of 2% tax aimed at major tech firms with developers, sellers, and advertisers
33. Big tech companies want to help get you back in the office: They are offering services to track employees, arrange tests, and record results.
34. Legal Concerns With Influencers’ Tattoos On Social Media: The Ball Is Still In The Air, And The Ink Is Not Dry
35. Made-For-Kids YouTube Content Seeing Big Year-Over-Year Growth
36. YouTube TV Scores NFL Carriage, Launches New ‘Sports Plus’ Add-On
37. David Blaine’s ‘Ascension’ Soars To 770K Concurrent Viewers, Making It YouTube’s Most-Watched Live Original
38. YouTube To Produce Originals Supporting Indie Music Venues Affected By COVID
39. YouTube, ‘Glamour’ To Premiere Docuseries About Triumphs, Tragedies Of Women’s Gymnastics (Trailer)
40. In Latest Stunt, MrBeast Gifts Nascent YouTuber 1.7 Million Subscribers — And Counting
41. FTC Sues Celebrity Endorsers Over Their Role in Alleged Deceptive Advertising Campaign
42. Snapchat Launches Permanent Public Profiles, Audience Analytics (Exclusive)
43. Rooster Teeth’s Podcast Network ‘The Roost’ Inks Ad Sales, Merch, Distro Deal With CollegeHumor
44. Vimeo Revamps User Profiles To Help Video Professionals Nail Down Job Prospects
45. TikTok Competitor Triller Forms Advisory Board With Top Female Music Execs
46. TikTok Partners With 20 Tech Providers To Help Advertisers Create, Measure Their Campaigns
47. Former TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer Seems Like A Baller. Maybe He Left Because He Didn’t Want To Have A Boss.
48. Senate Banking Committee Shows Continued Interest in Cryptoassets
49. Academic Study Says Open Source Has Peaked: But Why?
50. Alternatives for the Internet: A Journey into Decentralised Network Architectures and Information Commons
51. The world to come: A digital dystopia – One of the few certainties of our time is that digital platforms will continue to thrive. The only question is quite how far their logic will penetrate our lives.
52. Augmented reality could be the geology classroom’s killer app
53. What If Technology Belonged to the People?: We need non-market, publicly-owned alternatives to big tech. Here’s how we get it.
54. A field comes of age: tracking research on the internet within communication studies, 1994 to 2018
55. Exclusion and inclusion in identification: regulation, displacement and data justice

A.I.

1. A Face-off: New Privacy Class Actions target facial recognition software
2. How to gather Data Legally for training AI Data Model?
3. Reliance on Machine Translations Warrants Denial of IPR Petitions 
4. Artificial Intelligence and Trends in Patenting
5. Students, Parents Figure Out School Is Using AI To Grade Exams And Immediately Game The System 
6. NIST Outlines a Set of Principles for Explainable AI
7. New Regulatory Guidance in the UK on AI and Data Protection
8. A Light Touch Regulatory Framework for AI
9. A Light Touch Regulatory Framework for AI – Part 2: Classification of AI Solutions

COMMUNICATIONS

1.  Canadian Heritage Minister Guilbeault Says Social Media Sites Linking to News Content Without Payment is “Immoral” (Michael Geist)
2. As Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault Plans Link Taxes and Internet Content Regulation, Where Is Navdeep Bains? (Michael Geist) 
3. America Needs To Stop Pretending The Broadband ‘Digital Divide’ Isn’t The Direct Result Of Corruption
4. AT&T’s current 5G is slower than 4G in nearly every city tested by PCMag 
5. AT&T Is Astroturfing The FCC In Support Of Trump’s Dumb Attack On Social Media 
6. Ajit Pai touted false broadband data despite clear signs it wasn’t accurate
7. Pai FCC Ignored Falsely Inflated Broadband Numbers To Pat Itself On The Back
8. FCC identifies promising opportunities to expand spectrum resources for unmanned aircraft systems
9. FCC Dismisses Petition for Reconsideration of Reexamination of Noncommercial Licensing Policy – Next Step, Window for New Applications?
10. FCC Proposes $163,912 Fine Against BarrierFree for Overstating its Broadband Deployment
11. Top memory and display suppliers drop Huawei after new US restrictions
12. What’s New in 5G – September 2020
13. Taking 5G to work, in offices, and on the factory floor—will it help? 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1.  Access Copyright and York U File Responses in SCC (Howard Knopf)
2. The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency(“Access Copyright”) And -York University: Response Of York University To Application For Leave To Appeal Of The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency
3. The Copyright Board’s New $757,548.50 (+?) Website – Finally an Apparently Functional Search Engine – but Otherwise Disappointing at Best and Problematic at Worst – And Still NO CANLII Presence (Howard Knopf)
4. Can’t “Shake It Off” Yet: Court Denies Taylor Swift’s Motion to Dismiss Copyright Infringement Lawsuit 
5. Music Choice v. Copyright Royalty Board: D.C. Circuit determines that Board erred in determination that services offered were categorically excluded from lower royalty rate for pre-existing service providers set forth in DMCA.
6. Not Your Grandfather’s Internet Royalties? DMCA Favorable Rates Might Apply to Internet Offerings 
7. Ninth Circuit: Under the “Asserted Truth Doctrine” (f/k/a “Copyright Estoppel”) Authors of Nonfiction Cannot Later Claim a Work is Fictional to Pursue a Copyright Case
8. Astor-White v. Strong: 9^th Cir. affirms that, after three amended complaints, plaintiff was still unable to plausibly allege defendants copied or appropriated protectable expression from TV series Empire.
9. Jackson v. Roberts: 2nd Cir. affirms that right of publicity claim brought by 50 Cent against Rick Ross, based on Ross’s sampling of 50 Cent’s hit song “In Da Club” in a promotional mixtape, is preempted by Copyright Act.
10. No Remix: Copyright Act Preempts Right of Publicity Claim
11. A Copyright Suit against Netflix’s Stranger Things 
12. Bain v. Film Independent, Inc.: Court dismisses claims against actress, finding her use of portions of film not yet widely released in her acting reel to be transformative fair use.
13. Michael Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin et al., Case No. 20-142 (S.Ct. 2020)
14. What 11th Circ. Guitar Ruling Means for Copyright Litigants 
15. Do Those Plans Infringe on My Plans? Depends Where You Are
16. The Next Register Of Copyrights Must Realize That Copyright Serves The Public 
17. Out of the Ordinary: Requirements for Describing Goods and Services in Canadian Trademark Applications 
18. “Terrible Towel” Lawsuit a Good Reminder to Consult a Trademark Lawyer
19. Honda and Microsoft caught in a trademark race 
20. Apples and Prepears: The perception of protective brands 
21. The Queen is not amused, The Royal Butler is refused (via Passle) 
22. Goodwill Hunting
23. Nike are successful in registering FOOTWARE (via Passle)
24. Tiffany v. Costco: Descriptive words over trademark exclusivity 
25. Competitive Keyword Advertising Still Isn’t Trademark Infringement, Unless…. –Adler v. Reyes & Adler v. McNeil (Eric Goldman) 
26. Influencer marketing and TM infringement
27. USPTO prioritises certain COVID-19-related trademark and service mark applications 
28. No trade secret protections for information discussed via open zoom call 
29. Playing Fair: Protect Trade Secrets from Business Partners
30. Don’t Play Chicken With Court Orders: COVID-19 Is No Excuse for a Terminated Franchisee to Continue Using the Franchisor’s Intellectual Property and Trade Secrets
31. Use of Infringing Product, Misappropriated Trade Secrets May Continue – for a Licensing Fee
32. A UDRP case involving a .CEO domain
33. Purposive test applies to construction of patent claims: Federal Court
34. A significant Federal Court decision supporting patent eligibility of software inventions in Canada
35. Second Kick at the Can: Post-Grant Proceedings Involving Canadian Patents
36. Judge Rakoff Refuses to “Ice” Diamond Patent Inequitable Conduct Allegations
37. Unwired Planet v Huawei and Huawei/ZTE v Conversant [2020] UKSC 37
38. Exclusion Orders: How an International Trade Commission Investigation Can Protect Patented Products from Infringing Imports
39. Spotlight: standard-essential patents in United Kingdom
40. The Federal Circuit Expressly Declares that Juries Determine the Standard-Essentiality of Patent Claims 
41. Trapped: insufficiency deals the final blow to Regeneron’s ground-breaking transgenic mouse patents 
42. Patent Office Issues Binding Memorandum Concerning Use Of Applicant Admitted Prior Art 
43. Using patents to establish alternative business models, built around licensing

PRIVACY

1. Saskatchewan Introduces New Legislation: The Fiduciaries Access to Digital Information Act
2. A New Privacy Law for Ontario? Towards a “Made-in-Ontario” Response to Global Developments
3. How Bill 64 Will Impact The Research Sector
4. Government’s ‘Reverse’ Warrant Rejected By Two Consecutive Federal Judges
5. The FBI botched its DNC hack warning in 2016—but says it won’t next time
6. FBI Horrified To Discover Ring Doorbells Can Tip Off Citizens To The Presence Of Federal Officers At Their Door
7. Online voting vendor Voatz urges Supreme Court to limit security research
8. UK Privacy Regulator Issues Code for Online Services Likely to be Used by Children
9. Eyes Everywhere: Amazon’s Surveillance Infrastructure and Revitalizing Worker Power
10. NSA spying exposed by Snowden was illegal and not very useful, court says
11. Ninth Circuit Says NSA’s Bulk Phone Records Collection Was Illegal, Most Likely Unconstitutional
12. Another Florida Appeals Court Says Compelled Passcode Production Violates The Fifth Amendment
13. Uber Criminal Complaint Raises the Stakes for Breach Response
14. Individual Criminal Liability for Failure to Disclose Data Breach Establishes a New Level of Risk for Companies and Executives 
15. Pandemic Surveillance and Racialized Subpopulations: Mitigating Vulnerabilities in COVID-19 Apps 
16. Unique Cyber Vishing Threat Emerges 
17. President Trump Signs Into Effect a Policy for Space Cybersecurity 
18. How Are Governments Reacting to the Invalidation of Privacy Shield?
19. Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield No Longer Considered Adequate by Swiss DPA 
20. What Is the Worst Type of Online Privacy Policy … and Why Does it Matter? 

CREATIVITY

1. Moritz v. Universal City Studios LLC: Denys arbitration of dispute concerning Fast & the Furious spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw, holding arbitration provisions in prior production contracts for franchise did not cover spinoff. 
2. Council of Europe issues media freedom alert over UK government blacklisting of investigative journalists: Formal warning comes as government claims environmental protesters are a threat to press freedom
3. Trump’s Paris art “shopping spree” caused staffers a headache and lessons to learn about checking provenance
4. California musicians rejoice as governor ratifies new legislation on employment classification
5. New California Law Makes it Easier for Certain Musicians, Writers, Photographers and Content Providers to Be Deemed Independent Contractors
6. French Government To Make Insulting Mayors A Criminal Offense

Jon