News of the Week; September 23, 2020
GAMES
- Voodoo wins plagiarism lawsuit against Zynga-owned Rollic Games: Judge rules that Istanbul-based firm’s Wood Shop copies key elements of Voodoo carpentry game Woodturning
- Supercell ordered to pay $8.5 million for infringing Gree’s patents: Texas jury found Clash Royale developer infringed four patents, fine could be increased by up to three times
- Nintendo sued for planned obsolescence over Joy-Con drift: French organisation found controllers suffer from premature wear of the electronic circuits and an airtightness defect
- UK Government launches call for evidence on loot boxes: Inquiry seeks to examine concerns over whether randomised monetisation mechanics can lead to problem gambling
- FTC Group Up On Loot
- Apple presses court to deny Epic’s request for lift on Fortnite ban: iPhone maker reiterates argument that this situation is of Epic’s own making, says Fortnite firm is “a saboteur, not a martyr”
- Epic Games: Fortnite is doing fine, actually
- Clash of Game Companies: Lessons learned from GREE and Supercell Dispute
- Microsoft set to acquire Bethesda parent ZeniMax for $7.5B
- Microsoft purchases Bethesda Softworks in industry-changing acquisition
- Microsoft buys ZeniMax Media and The Elder Scrolls dev Bethesda for $7.5 billion
- What happens to Bethesda’s multi-platform games under Microsoft?
- Bethesda x Xbox – what does it mean for ‘regular’ game devs?
- Xbox buys Bethesda parent ZeniMax for $7.5bn: Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo exclusivity agreements to be honored, future releases to be decided on a case-by-case basis
- ZeniMax Media won’t be the last of Microsoft’s game dev acquisitions
- Microsoft is open to still more games acquisitions – CEO Satya Nadella: “We will always look to grow inorganically where it makes sense”
- Frictional Games’ Amnesia: The Dark Descent, A Machine for Pigs are now open source
- Report: Trump admin looking into Tencent’s US gaming investments
- Report: Riot Games, Epic Games come under US Gov’t scrutiny over Tencent ties
- Trump administration reportedly questions Epic, Riot about Tencent investment: Both companies said to have received letters from Committee on Foreign Investment in the US following executive order against WeChat
- Epic leads $15m funding round in Manticore Games: Core platform “exemplifies” the user-generated future of video games, Epic says
- Epic is offering $10 coupons to Rocket League players that use the Epic Games Store
- Activision says Call of Duty account hack reports are false: Publisher assures it investigates all privacy concerns, but reiterates that players should protect online accounts
- Games industry a “prime target” for cyber attacks: Data shows there were 3,072 DDoS attacks in games over the course of one year
- Ubisoft Bows To Monster Energy To Rename An Upcoming Game Horribly
- Ubisoft apologises after male-only Assassin’s Creed promo video: Publisher has since re-edited and released a version showcasing the female protagonists of the best-selling series
- Hammer drops on hackers accused of targeting game and software makers
- BTS To Debut Exclusive “Dynamite” Music Video Inside ‘Fortnite’
- Nintendo 3DS discontinued
- Nintendo winds down 3DS production after almost a decade
- The end of the 3DS marks an inflection point for portable gaming
- A fond farewell to the weird and wonderful Nintendo DS
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars beats Avengers to No.1 | UK Charts: Nintendo’s compilation celebrating Mario’s 35th anniversary is the third biggest launch of the year in the UK
- You can now stream your Xbox One games to your Android phone for free: Microsoft opens up Xbox remote play streaming to everyone with new Android app beta
- The new Xbox App for smartphones will create a ‘unified Xbox experience’
- We are in possession of a working Xbox Series X
- Xbox Game Pass has topped 15 million subscribers
- Google debuts first Stadia Makers recipients in pitch for indie support
- Microsoft still determined to get Xbox Game Pass on iOS: Xbox boss Phil Spencer also says the platform holder plans to “leave ZeniMax alone” following $7.5 billion acquisition
- Microsoft’s Game Pass now has over 15m subscribers: That’s up from 10 million as of April 2020
- Xbox chief Phil Spencer confident xCloud will gain iOS support
- Microsoft wants to replenish more water than it consumes by 2030
- Microsoft commits to becoming “water positive” by 2030: The company wants to replenish more water than it uses by the end of the decade
- China is ready for the PS5 and Xbox, even if Sony and Microsoft aren’t ready for China | Opinion: Imported next-gen consoles are already available for pre-order in China, says Apptutti’s Daniel Camilo
- Spider-Man Remastered won’t get physical PS5 release: PS4 save files from Marvel’s Spider-Man also won’t carry over to the PS5 version
- PlayStation’s Jim Ryan: “We want to give gamers certainty that they’re buying a true next-generation console”
- PlayStation 5 backwards compatible with most PS4 titles, but nothing older: System will not be able to play PS3, PS2, or PS1 games
- Sony makes it official: PlayStation 5 won’t natively support PS1, PS2, PS3
- PlayStation 5 already selling out at some retailers: Sony will open direct pre-orders by invitation tomorrow
- PS5 retailers have many fewer Digital Edition systems for preorder
- Sony promises more PS5 pre-order stock for retailers: Platform holder apologises for confusion after major stores sold out one day before pre-orders were supposed to begin
- PlayStation 5 demand and miscommunication cause pre-order chaos
- SIE has now successfully tested thousands of PlayStation 4 games on PS5
- Sony sees another three to four years of life in the PlayStation 4
- Amazon is telling those who pre-ordered PS5s they may not get them at launch: Cautionary email cites “high demand” as retailers, Sony sell out of pre-orders
- Apparent prototype photos show Sony’s canned “PlayStation phone” followup
- Editor roundtable: As next-gen heats up, which game console has the edge?
- NPD analyst says higher next-gen prices shouldn’t hurt sales
- Firing the starting pistol on the next generation | Opinion: The details of November’s launches are now in the wild — for once, this will be a console race with no clear winner from the start
- Game streaming start-up Playco lands $100m in Series A funding: Zynga co-founder, ex-DeNA director, Game Closure co-founder and senior producer raise money for browser-based approach
- CD Projekt “shortened” Cyberpunk’s campaign over length complaints: Too many players failed to reach the end of The Witcher 3’s story, so Cyberpunk 2077 will take less time to finish
- The average cost to acquire a mobile game user plummeted this year: Liftoff – But the cost to convert that user into a paying player has been on the rise over the last two years
- Metacore gets €25m investment from Supercell: Finnish studio has rebranded from Everywear Games, and launched its first game today
- Unity valued at $13.7 billion following $1.3 billion IPO
- Unity valued at $13.7bn after successful IPO: Engine provider raised $1.3 billion through sale of shares on New York Stock Exchange
- Nanobit acquired by Stillfront in $100 million deal
- Stillfront Group acquires Nanobit for at least $100 million: Acquisition expands Stillfront’s portfolio into narrative lifestyle RPGs
- Keywords acquires development studio Heavy Iron for $13.3 million
- Keywords splashes $13.3m on Heavy Iron Studios acquisition: Co-development studio most recently worked with Crystal Dynamics on Marvel’s Avengers
- Bandai Namco acquires Unknown 9 developer Reflector Entertainment
- Bandai Namco acquires Unknown 9 developer Reflector Entertainment: Purchase of Montreal developer continues publisher’s goal to produce 50% of its content outside of Japan
- Core dev Manticore Games raises $15 million, thanks in part to Epic Games
- Bunch raises $20m toward multiplayer social platform expansion: Investment led by General Catalyst, included Take-Two, Ubisoft, Supercell, EA, and Riot
- Beyond COVID-19: Lessons from an unprecedented global challenge: EGDF president and ISFE chairman are encouraged by the industry’s response to crisis, but the way forward is far from certain
- Football Manager 2020 sees 1 million players in first days of Epic Games Store free week
- Free Football Manager scores 1m new players on Epic Games Store: The 2020 entry in Sports Interactive’s football management sim franchise is currently free on Epic’s shop
- Hades has sold over 1 million copies in under two years
- Spellbreak hits 5 million players in under three weeks
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars | Critical Consensus
- Luck is a failing strategy for developers | Opinion: Leverage Partnership’s David O’Connor shares a cautionary tale about indies whose first game was a smash hit
- Digital Schoolhouse expands to Nigerian classrooms with Kucheza partnership: Kucheza Games will help UKIE-backed initiative deliver computer science lessons in Nigeria
- Avatars and artists: Musical mash-ups in gaming
- Riot signs deal for League of Legends toys: Multi-year agreement with Paw Patrol toy maker Spin Master should see action figures hit shelves in fall of 2021
- Twitch Experiments With Intrusive Ads That Piss Off Its Most Important Asset, Its Talent
- Twitch’s Most-Subscribed Streamer, ‘NickMercs’, Re-Ups With FaZe Clan For 3 More Years
- Mobile Premier League raises $90m in funding: The esports mobile gaming platform is looking to expand outside of India
- Legend of Grimrock leaves no stone unpressed | Why I Love: Worm Jazz developer Yu He explains how the 2012 dungeon crawler was designed to draw players in
- Directing The Outer Worlds’ first narrative expansion The Peril on Gorgon
- Q&A: Why Apex Legends players are so in love with Skull Town
- Blog: Game composers and the importance of themes – Part 4
- Blog: Why 2021 will be a landmark year for cloud gaming
- Blog: What does cross-platform mean to you?
- Blog: Rules for a future-proof 2D render order
- Blog: Combating toxicity in online games
- Blog: Designing a thrilling enjoyable arcade experience for VR
- Blog: How to better represent older characters in your game
- Don’t Miss: Inside the development of Supergiant Games’ Hades
- Don’t Miss: The evolutionary process of building Rayman Origins
- Don’t Miss: How Prey gives players space to tell their own stories
- Don’t Miss: How Supergiant Games adds new deities to Hades’ pantheon
- Don’t Miss: Ray Muzyka’s Baldur’s Gate II postmortem
- Video: Everything you wanted to know about unionizing your workplace
- Video: Preventing online harassment in games by studying social media’s failures
- Video: Behind Riot Games’ Player Dynamics design philosophy
- Video: How company leaders can tackle systemic inequality in the game industry
- Video: How Pendragon went from side project to full Arthurian adventure
- Video: How the Duolingo team balances profits and ethical design
- NantWorks, LLC v. Niantic, Inc.
- U.S. Patent no. 9,555,334: System and method for managing virtual worlds mapped to real locations in a mobile-enabled massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG)
- U.S. Patent no. 9,561,433: Providing event rewards to players in an online game
DIGITAL
- Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World: How much longer are we going to allow its platform to foment hatred and undermine democracy?
- StopHateForProfit Campaign Enlists Celebrities for 24 Hour Facebook and Instagram Freeze
- Facebook vows to restrict users if US election descends into chaos
- Facebook warns privacy rules could force it to exit European market
- Google could face federal, state antitrust suits next week, reports say
- Google Maps gets a COVID-19 layer
- Companies can track your phone’s movements to target ads
- Experts Say Internet Shutdowns Don’t Thwart Protests
- The TikTok ‘Deal’ Was A Grift From The Start: Accomplishes None Of The Stated Goals; Just Helps Trump & Friends
- Everything we know so far about Oracle not actually buying TikTok
- Blowback Time: China Says TikTok Deal Is A Model For How It Should Deal With US Companies In China
- China Calls TikTok Deal ‘Extortion’; Says It Will Not Approve
- Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction Saying That The US Cannot Block WeChat, Says The Ban Raises 1st Amendment Concerns
- Court blocks Trump’s WeChat ban from taking effect today
- Executive Orders on Pause: WeChat and TikTok Bans Temporarily Suspended
- Commerce Department’s Ban on WeChat and TikTok Mobile Applications Delayed on Eve of Implementation
- WeChat Executive Order Enjoined Because (Of Course) It’s Unconstitutional–WeChat Users v. Trump (Eric Goldman)
- Walmart and Oracle Deal with TikTok and WeChat Lawsuit Delay Commerce’s Ban on Transactions with WeChat and TikTok
- Details Of Unconstitutional WeChat/TikTok Ban Actually Would Make Users Of Those Apps Less Secure, Not More
- US Commerce Department Identifies Prohibited Transactions Involving WeChat and TikTok
- US-EU-UK Export Controls and Sanctions Alert The Commerce Department Announces Prohibitions on TikTok and WeChat – September 2020
- Department of Commerce Notices on Prohibited Transactions Relating to WeChat and TikTok
- TikTok Bans Ads For Diet Pills And Fasting Apps, Restricts Other Weight-Related Ads To Users 18+
- Impending WeChat ban won’t actually ban users from WeChat, DOJ says
- WeChat Users Fighting To Block Trump’s Executive Order Banning The App In The US
- Trump admin orders TikTok, WeChat gone from app stores on Sunday
- On The Podcast: Snapchat Really Is Planning To Take On TikTok
- Trump approves Oracle, TikTok deal “in concept”
- Trump Tentatively Approves Oracle, Walmart Deal For 20% Of TikTok
- Twitter Isn’t Liable for Defamatory Impersonation Account–Brikman v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
- Trump Still Hates The 1st Amendment: Meeting With State Attorneys General To Tell Them To Investigate Internet Companies For Bias
- Facial Recognition Database Vendor May Not Qualify for Section 230–Vermont v. Clearview
- Online Content Policy Modernization Act Duplicates Existing Senate Republican Proposal to Limit Section 230 Liability Protections
- Justice Department sends its Section 230 rewrite to Congress
- Authors Of CDA 230 Do Some Serious 230 Mythbusting In Response To Comments Submitted To The FCC
- Court Rejects Clearview’s First Amendment, Section 230 Immunity Arguments
- Senator Lindsey Graham Must Be Desperate For Donations; Announces Terrible Bill That Mashes Up Bad 230 Reform With Bad Copyright Reform
- California Cities Voting On Ridiculous Resolution Asking Congress For Section 230 Reform… Because Of Violence At Protests?
- Busting Still More Myths About Section 230, For You And The FCC
- Content Moderation Case Study: Twitter Freezes Accounts Trying To Fact Check Misinformation (2020)
- YouTube, Facebook, Twitter Agree To Adopt Shared Harmful Content, Brand Safety Policies
- YouTube Facing $3 Billion Class Action Suit In The U.K. Alleging Collection Of Underage User Data
- Former YouTube Content Moderator Sues Company After Developing Depression, PTSD Symptoms
- FTC Signals Intent to Focus on Use of Social Media Bots in Advertising
- Political Digital Ads: Disclosure, Free Speech, and Legislation
- Who Done It?: Royal Seas Cruises to Face Bench Trial on Issue of Arbitrability After Plaintiff Denies Visiting Website
- YouTube Bringing More Human Mods Back To Work After Coronavirus-Related Pause
- Patient dies after ransomware attack reroutes her to remote hospital
- $100,000 in bribes helped fraudulent Amazon sellers earn $100 million, DOJ says
- User-generated video sharing platforms subject to new obligations
- Content Moderation Case Study: Usenet Has To Figure Out How To Deal With Spam (April 1994)
- Instagram Doubles Maximum ‘Reels’ Length To 30 Seconds
- Wayback Machine and Cloudflare team up to archive more of the Web
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 9/21/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 9/21/2020
- YouTube Creators Are Taking A New Approach To Make Sure Their Fans Are ‘Good To Vote.’ And It’s Working.
- YouTube Feeds K-pop Fervor With Next Original Series—An Inside Look At Weeklong Convention KCON:TACT
- Mozilla Is Trying To Dissect YouTube’s Recommendation Algorithm Using Data Donated By Viewers
- Facebook Extends 4-Year-Old ‘Rights Manager’ Video Copyright Tool To Still Photography
- Quibi Reportedly Seeking A Buyer After Lackluster First Months
- Cryptocurrency: Theft and Asset Recovery
- Cryptocurrency Tax Laws & What to Know in 2020
- The First Cryptocurrency Bank
- UK Government Consultation on the Promotion of Cryptoassets
- Blockchain and Digital Assets News and Trends Achieving Digital Transformation and Securing Digital Assets
- OCC Issues Clarification on Stablecoin Custody Services
- Lenovo begins selling OEM Ubuntu PCs to the general public
A.I.
- The Cruel New Era of Data-Driven Deportation
- YouTube Will Now Harness Machine Learning To Auto-Apply Video Age Restrictions
- Bridging the Gap: Automated Facial Recognition Technology in Police Surveillance
- Cop arrests apparently sleeping Tesla driver going 93mph
- How algorithms discern our mood from what we write online: Researchers and companies are harnessing computers to identify the emotions behind our written words.
- Inventor or creator: How is AI’s rapid development influencing the evolution of IP protection?
- Lessons in ‘Ethics by Design’ from Britain’s A Level algorithm
- UKIPO launches ‘AI and IP Call for Views’
- AI inventors at the UKIPO and EPO
- Patently Obvious? AI as an Inventor After DABUS
- Artificial intelligences as extended minds. Why not?
- Artificial (un)intelligence and the U.S. military: Will they make better decisions than humans — or worse?
- Poverty Lawgorithms: A Poverty Lawyer’s Guide to Fighting Automated Decision-Making Harms on Low-Income Communities
- Current and future regulatory landscape for AI and machine learning in the investment management sector
- Are we being too hard on HAL? Some thoughts on the legal need for “explainable” artificial intelligence.
- Artificial Intelligence and Telework: Security Measures to be Taken
COMMUNICATIONS
- Why It’s Time to Reboot Canada’s Failed Digital Agenda (Michael Geist)
- “Get Money From Web Giants”: Why Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s Top Legislative Priority is Risky Business (Michael Geist)
- Trump Nominates Guy Who Wants To Police Speech Online To Be The Next FCC Commissioner
- DOJ Continues Its Quest To Kill Net Neutrality (And Consumer Protection In General) In California
- FCC Releases Draft Order Formalizing “Team Telecom” Process
- FCC Holds that Fax Broadcasters are Solely Responsible for TCPA Violations When They Deceive Advertisers
- Facebook and the United States Submit Briefs in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid
- Comcast shut off Internet to hundreds, saying they were illegally connected
- Verizon Buys Tracfone As U.S. Wireless Gets Even More Consolidated
- AT&T Whines That The T-Mobile Merger Consolidated Too Much U.S. Spectrum In One Place
- T-Mobile amassed “unprecedented concentration of spectrum,” AT&T complains
- T-Mobile hits back at AT&T and Verizon after spectrum-hoarding accusations
- AT&T Says It’s Eyeing ‘Wireless Discounts For Ads.’ But It’s Not Going To Be What You Think.
- The Geopolitics of 5G
- Major overhaul of UK telecoms regulation to go ahead by the end of December 2020
- Old TV set interfered with village’s DSL Internet each day for 18 months
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Mandatory copyright tariffs – Uncharted territories
- Nicki Minaj’s “Artistic Experimentation” with a Tracy Chapman Song “to Seek License Approval” Qualifies as a Fair Use Under Copyright
- LEGO Blocks Out ZURU in Copyright Dispute Over Minifigures
- Schwartzwald v. Oath Inc.: Court dismisses photographer’s copyright claim against HuffPost, finding media site’s altered reproduction of photographer’s viral “crotch shot” of Jon Hamm constituted fair use.
- Corbello v. DeVito: Court rules musical Jersey Boys did not infringe biography, holding musical depicts historical facts not protectable by copyright law and author cannot claim work was fictional for copyright protection.
- It’s September 21st And Demi Abejuyigbe Has Another Great September 21st Video For Charity, Marred By Copyright Takedowns
- Should an Advertising Agency Display Client Work on its Website After the Relationship Ends?
- Federal Court of Appeal does not disturb lower court’s finding of ‘use’ for hotel services
- Company Owning ‘Evel Knievel’ Rights Sues Disney Over ‘Toy Story 4’ Amalgam Parody Character
- Banksy’s “Flower Thrower”-n off the EUTM register
- Banksy’s trade marks at risk as artist loses legal battle over registration of Flower Thrower mural
- Controlling Black Lives Matter: the battle to trademark a movement
- No love for XOXO application
- Battle of the b(r)ands: Lady A vs Lady A
- USPTO Warns of Email Scam Targeting Trademark Owners
- “Brands will be more and more resource-challenged”: five predictions for the future of IP practice
- Dior loses PRETTY SAVAGE trademark dispute in the United Kingdom
- Cannabis, BLM and FCUK — dealing with moral objections to UK trade marks
- Economic link puts an end to lengthy dispute: Gugler France’s decade-long trade mark campaign
- Who will reign Supreme in the battle for the trade marks?
- Seventh Circuit Upholds $140 Million Compensatory Damages Award and Caps Punitive Damages at $140 Million in Trade Secret Case
- Guarding Trade Secrets and Rethinking IP Indemnity Risks in the New OSS/Open Source World
- Designer panel: is being copied ever good news?
- The Federal Court of Appeal Upholds $640 Million Accounting of Profits Award for Patent Infringement
- Federal Court finds a problem with problem-solution
- VirnetX v. Apple: Delay of Five Months Justifies Denial of Motion to Amend Judgment of More Than $400 Million
- Canadian Patent Office’s approach to computer-implemented inventions rejected by Federal Court
- COVID-19 and the compulsory licensing of patents
- Publication of Part of Complex Invention Does Not Prevent Joint Inventorship
- Justice Ginsburg’s Dissents – in Patent Law
- The Impact of Intellectual Property on Virtual Reality
- WIPO’s Global Innovation Index breaks new ground as brand value included for first time
- IP monitor: CIPO announces fee increases beginning January 1, 2021
- Blockchain & IPR a breakthrough collaboration
PRIVACY
- B.C. Court of Appeal confirms there is no “federal common law” privacy tort, but suggests the existence of a provincial privacy tort is an “interesting question”
- The Times They Are A Changin’ Canadian Privacy Law in the Private Sector
- Canadian privacy law reform is coming – are you ready?
- A tip from a kid helps detect iOS and Android scam apps’ 2.4 million downloads
- The fight over the fight for California’s privacy future
- The Uncertain “State” of US Data Protection Law: California Leads the Way
- Government Warns of New Cyber Threats Targeting U.S. Businesses
- USPS Regrets Its Transparency, Asks FOIA Requester To Remove 1,200 Pages It Forgot To Withhold
- New York AG Announces Settlement with Dunkin’ Regarding Data Breach Lawsuit
- House Passes Bill To Address The Internet Of Broken Things
- Telegram messages are a focus in newly uncovered hack campaign from Iran
- Portland Passes Ban On Facial Recognition Use By City Agencies And Private Businesses
- Preparing for the Next Front in Biometric Class Actions: Portland’s Facial Recognition Ban
- Californians: VOTE NO ON PROP. 24, The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) (Eric Goldman)
- OFAC sanctions Iranian cyber threat group
- Fourth Circuit Appeals Court Seems Skeptical That Baltimore’s Aerial Surveillance System Violates The Fourth Amendment
- Irish Data Case Against Facebook Could Complicate All Data Transfers to the US
- Impact of Swiss Privacy Shield Inadequacy Decision
- GDPR Hot Issues: Cookies, Data Transfers, and Enforcement Trends
CREATIVITY
- Human Rights Organization Issues Press Freedom Alert Over UK Government’s Refusal To Speak To Critical Journalists
- Return to upward trend seen in 2017 of defamation claims taken in the Circuit Court
- SDNY Relies on “Simple Reading” of Label to Dismiss False Advertising Claim
- Alan Dershowitz Files SLAPP Suit Against CNN; Says Not Airing More Of What He Said Is Defamation
- How do music festivals adapt to a pandemic? They Fest in Place, of course
- How To Avoid Acquiring Fake Art
Jon
News of the Week; September 16, 2020
GAMES
- Lawsuit over Atari 2600 Copycat Is Going to Trial
- Ubisoft renamed Immortals Fenyx Rising after trademark dispute: Upcoming game given current name after Monster Energy opposed trademark application for original title Gods & Monsters
- Twitch apologizes for offensive Hispanic Heritage Month emotes: Emote modifiers including sombreros and maracas “clearly missed the mark” and were inappropriate, streaming platform says
- Apple asks to block iOS Unreal Engine development in new court filing
- Apple claims Epic started legal battle to ‘reinvigorate interest’ in Fortnite
- Apple allows streaming games on iOS, but there’s a catch
- Apple’s updated iOS App Review Guidelines basically put the kibosh on Stadia, xCloud
- Ubisoft CEO issues apology for past misconduct ahead of Ubisoft Forward event
- Ubisoft CEO addresses abuse scandal, Elite Squad controversy: Yves Guillemot apologizes for failing to protect victims, condemns “anyone using our game as a proxy for hate or toxicity”
- Ubisoft adds Riders Republic, Prince of Persia remake to early 2021 lineup: Publisher plans Immortals Fenyx Rising and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World re-release for this holiday season, Rainbow 6 World Cup event next summer
- Private data gone public: Razer leaks 100,000+ gamers’ personal info
- Razer apologises for exposing 100,000 customers’ personal data
- Trans games professionals explore Tell Me Why’s landmark depiction of trans identity
- Darewise: “We have a social responsibility” to provide alternatives to game violence – Why the former AAA developers are focusing on social interactions and collaboration in Life Beyond
- Mediatonic’s plan to exile Fall Guys cheaters to a cheaters-only queue backfired
- Gaming engagement begins to return to post-pandemic levels in Europe: GameTrack survey finds that players spent an average of 1.5 more hours per week on games during lockdown
- EA to replace Origin with EA Desktop as services rebrand continues
- EA To Rebrand Its Origin Platform As It Bows Out Of The PC Gaming Platform Wars
- EA furthers its strategy for “frictionless,” “democratized” gaming
- Take-Two CEO questions cloud gaming hype, claims tech won’t be transformative
- Strauss Zelnick doubts cloud gaming will transform the industry: Take-Two CEO questions the logic that removing the console or PC dramatically expands gaming’s audience
- US labor agency finds merit in Kickstarter termination complaint: NLRB says union organizer has a case in claiming he was illegally fired by the crowdfunding platform
- Roblox launches digital civility curriculum to teach students about online safety
- Roblox wants to teach kids how to spot fake news and be safe online: Firm rolls out free ‘digital civility’ course with 20 hours worth of educational content
- Cloud streaming support is being added to over 150 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate titles
- Codemasters: “It would be naive to think costs remain the same” on next-gen – But CEO Frank Sagnier is optimistic as Dirt 5 is positioned as a key title in Xbox Series, PS5 launch line-up
- Series S redefines “next-gen” – and throws down a gauntlet to Sony | Opinion: Microsoft shows its commitment to disrupting the market as the $299 Series S questions the concept of console generations
- Xbox updates privacy settings, promises more transparency about data collection: Platform holder will no longer collect data from voice search, will allow users to opt-in to additional diagnostics sharing
- PlayStation 5 event: $499 with a disc drive, $399 without, on Nov. 12
- PlayStation 5 priced at $399 & $499, but it won’t see a cohesive global launch
- PlayStation 5 will cost $500, all-digital version is $400: Both consoles launch November 12 in select regions, November 19 worldwide
- Sony embraces increased next-gen software pricing: Demon’s Souls and Destruction All Stars will cost $70 as PlayStation 5 console exclusives
- Sony pushes back on reports that it’s reducing PS5’s launch availability
- Sony denies rumors that PS5 production has been cut over chip manufacturing issues
- Sony: “We have not changed the production number for PlayStation 5” – Hardware maker denies reports it has cut production by 4 million units
- Sony rolls out PS Plus Collection for PS5 launch: Subscribers will be able to download more than 15 PS4 games to play on the new console
- Sony reportedly using air freight to move PlayStation 5 to US retailers: Use of pricier transit could be due to factors including need for more production time, higher demand, COVID-19
- Analysis: Sony banks on PlayStation Studios to deliver winning console generation
- First-party PlayStation 5 games priced from $49 to $69, with some also coming to PS4
- GameStop reportedly preparing Xbox, PS5 payment plans: Struggling retailer aims to make next-gen consoles more affordable with its own alternative to Xbox All Access
- The Next Generation Of Video Game Consoles Could Be The Beginning Of GameStop’s Death
- Console options without disc drives could be GameStop’s final death knell
- Control snafu shows how one publisher is struggling with next-gen upgrades
- Report: Nintendo Switch has sold more than 15m units in Japan – While Animal Crossing New Horizons has apparently shifted more than 5.6m copies in the region
- Mario Kart Tour more than doubled Nintendo Account user base to 200m: Platform holder also planning more movies and TV projects, hints at next console
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars review: A bare-bones nostalgia warp zone – It’s no more and no less than three of the best 3D platformers ever made.
- Apple One subscription bundles Apple Arcade with other Apple services
- Apple bundles Apple Arcade in with other subscription services via Apple One: Individuals can get Apple Arcade, Music, and TV+ for $15/month
- Introducing Apple One, Apple’s subscription bundle answer to Amazon Prime
- Feds seize OnePlus Buds, mistaking them for “counterfeit” AirPods
- CBP So Confused It Seizes Clearly Labeled OnePlus Earbuds, And Falsely Claims They’re Counterfeit Apple Airpods
- Asobu: Putting Japan’s indies on the international map
- Asobu launches support initiative to help Japan’s indie scene flourish
- Gameloft looks to diversify with The Other Guys acquisition
- ViacomCBS sells Metacritic, GameSpot, others to Red Ventures in $500 million deal
- Niko Partners: 75% of China’s 720 million gamers live outside the biggest cities
- Addicting Games acquires Mope.io game: US site spends undisclosed seven-figure sum on browser and mobile title with 72 million players
- Black Desert Online has amassed almost $2 billion in revenue since 2014
- Black Desert Online has made $1.7bn in revenue to date: Pearl Abyss reports its five-year-old MMO has brought in around $700m in the last 17 months
- Slime Rancher tops 3 million sales in just over three years
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 sells 1 million copies in less than two weeks
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is the biggest UK launch for the series since 2003: With digital, it is probably the biggest launch ever
- Rocket League’s life as a free to play game starts September 23
- E-sports pros have “dream” jobs—but game publishers have all the power
- Ninja Returns To The Platform That Started It All — Twitch — In Exclusive, Multi-Year Deal
- Twitch Unveils ‘Versus,’ Which Lets Anyone Create, Manage, And Livestream Their Own Esports Competition
- Twitch Tests Automated Mid-Roll Ad Format To The Dismay Of Several Top Creators
- Guild Esports’ IPO Announcement
- Farming Simulator League: Bringing agriculture and gaming together
- Oculus users who violate Facebook rules may lose access to VR content: Violations can include using pseudonyms or providing an inaccurate date of birth
- Facebook to discontinue Oculus Rift S, will no longer develop PC-only VR hardware
- Facebook’s Oculus Quest 2 leaks ahead of official reveal
- Facebook leak reveals Oculus Quest 2 as a 4K standalone VR headset
- Oculus Quest 2 launches in October for $299
- Review: We do not recommend the $299 Oculus Quest 2 as your next VR system
- Ubisoft is making Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell titles for Oculus: Titles will be platform-exclusive, developed by Ubisoft’s Red Storm Entertainment
- Over 35 Oculus Quest games have generated revenue in the millions
- Facebook announces Oculus Quest 2, discontinues Rift and original Quest: New standalone headset ships October 13, costs $300 for a 64GB model, $400 for 256GB
- Embracer Group enters VR market with purchase of Arizona Sunshine dev Vertigo
- Koch Media acquires Vertigo Games for €50m
- Blog: Procedural map generation in The Riftbreaker
- Blog: A half-decade sales analysis of Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
- Blog: Designing non-violent games
- Blog: The road to Ruinarch – Part 2
- Blog: A King of Cards: Joustus deep dive – Part 1
- Blog: A deep dive into Dwerve’s dynamic 2D lighting
- Blog: The hidden art of pacing – Part 3
- Blog: Xbox goes for lock-in with All Access
- Don’t Miss: The making of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
- Don’t Miss: What did the devs of 2009 imagine video games would look like in 2020?
- Don’t Miss: The long shadow of Super Mario Bros.
- Don’t Miss: Spelunky and why it’s okay for game designers to be mean
- Don’t Miss: The challenges BioWare faced designing Mass Effect 3
- Video: Tips for jumpstarting creativity and finishing your games
- Video: Strategies for small developers launching their first game
- Video: Unearthing Japanese arcade history for historical preservation
- Video: Designing social play for Sky: Children of Light
- Video: Learn how to better use emotion in game design
DIGITAL
- Publishers Are Taking the Internet to Court: In a lawsuit against the Internet Archive, the largest corporations in publishing want to change what it means to own a book.
- Sweeping internal Facebook memo: “I have blood on my hands”
- Facebook’s latest hollow effort to fight climate change denial
- Trump vows not to extend TikTok deadline beyond September 15
- TikTok Rejects Microsoft Buy, Instead Names Oracle As “Trusted Tech Partner”
- Oracle’s TikTok non-acquisition seeks Treasury, White House approval
- Oracle, one of Donald Trump’s favorite companies, wins TikTok deal
- The TikTok Oracle Grift: Insiders Admit They Went Hunting For A Tech Company The President Liked
- Oracle Doesn’t Buy TikTok, But Gets A Lucrative Hosting Deal, And Trump & Friends Will Pretend This Means Something
- Court Refuses To Block Trump Exec Order On TikTok As Requested By TikTok Employee After DOJ Says He Can Still Get Paid
- TikTok Denies That Joining ‘Creator Fund’ Diminishes Views, Stays Mum On How Money Is Distributed
- YouTube Unveils TikTok Competitor ‘Shorts,’ Launching In Beta This Week
- NAD Clarifies Material Connection Disclosure Requirements for TikTok Videos Gone Viral
- TikTok Empress Charli D’Amelio Launches Account At Rival App Triller
- Insights: What TikTok’s Debacle Means For The World’s Fastest-Growing Social Media Site, And Everyone Else
- White House Insisted It Had 16,000 Complaints Of Social Media Bias Turned Over To The FTC; The FTC Has No Record Of Them
- Trump and Twitter are on likely showdown path with expanded misinfo rules
- Russian state hackers are targeting Biden and Trump campaigns, MSFT warns
- Rush Limbaugh downplaying hurricane Irma may have decreased evacuations
- Defying crackdowns, QAnon continues its relentless global spread
- Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Against Craigslist Moves Forward–ML v. Craigslist (Eric Goldman)
- PayPal Blocks Purchases Of Tardigrade Merchandise For Potentially Violating US Sanctions Laws
- Google faces US$3bn UK suit over use of children’s data: It’s the first class action suit in Europe brought against a tech firm on behalf of children, according to the claimants
- YouTube unlawfully violates kids’ privacy, new $3.2B lawsuit claims
- Blogger’s Descriptions of Domestic Violence Protected by Freedom of Expression
- Facebook To Limit The Number Of Digital Ads Businesses Can Run At Once
- Price gouging and defective products rampant on Amazon, reports find
- Amazon To Begin Hosting Podcasts, Sets Exclusive Series With DJ Khaled, Dan Patrick, More
- Could A Narrow Reform Of Section 230 Enable Platform Interoperability?
- Fight For The Future Wants To Help You Tell The FCC Where To Shove The NTIA’s Anti-Section 230 Petition
- An Interview on Why Section 230 Is On the “Endangered Watch List” (Eric Goldman)
- Content Moderation Case Study: Detecting Sarcasm Is Not Easy (2018)
- Content Moderation Case Study: Pinterest’s Moderation Efforts Still Leave Potentially Illegal Content Where Users Can Find It (July 2020)
- Content Moderation Case Study: Twitter Removes Account For Pointing Users To Leaked Documents Obtained By A Hacking Collective (June 2020)
- International Human Rights Law Is Not Enough to Fix Content Moderation’s Legitimacy Crisis
- The First Hard Case: Zeran V. AOL And What It Can Teach Us About Today’s Hard Cases
- Addison Cain Really Doesn’t Want You Watching This Video About Her Attempts To Silence Another Wolf Kink Erotica Author
- Addison Rae Heads To Hollywood With Starring Role In ‘She’s All That’ Remake
- Disney+ Adds Co-Viewing Feature ‘GroupWatch’
- Disney+ On Track To Surpass Sister Streamer Hulu’s U.S. Subscribers By 2024
- Instagram Testing ‘Reels’, ‘Shop’ Tabs On Homepage To Bolster Creators’ Livelihoods
- Logan Paul Says His ‘Maverick’ Merch Brand Made Between $30 And $40 Million In Its First Year
- Which NFL Teams Won The Offseason On Social Video?
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 9/14/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 9/14/2020
- YouTube Appeals To Advertisers With More Performance, Prediction Metrics For TV Ads
- YouTube’s New ‘Dynamic Lineups’ Ad Tool Lets Marketers Buy Against Granular Topics, Cultural Moments, More
- Revisiting the spectacular failure that was the Bill Gates deposition
- Gwyneth Paltrow’s pseudoscience Goop series renewed on Netflix
- Rooster Teeth, Michael B. Jordan Pledge To Increase Representation For Season 2 Of ‘gen:LOCK’
- False equivalencies: Online activism from left to right (Deen Freelon, Alice Marwick, Daniel Kreiss)
- Legal Aspects of Digital Transformation
- European Commission formally opens in-depth state aid investigation into Belgian virtual betting
- Wealthsimple Digital Assets Inc. Becomes Canada’s First Registered Crypto Asset Platform
- Nvidia to acquire processor and software design company Arm for $40 billion
- Nvidia buys ARM Holdings from SoftBank for $40 billion
- Nvidia will keep ARM licensing “neutral,” wants to license GPU tech, too
- Nvidia RTX 3080 review: 4K greatness at $699—and good news for cheaper GPUs
- Microsoft declares its underwater data center test was a success
- Zooming In On The Flaws Of Virtual Court
- The agile dream – contracting for uncertain outcomes
A.I.
- YouTube’s Plan to Silence Conspiracy Theories: From flat-earthers to QAnon to Covid quackery, the video giant is awash in misinformation. Can AI keep the lunatic fringe from going viral?
- Artificial Intelligence fuels TikTok’s popularity; but could that very asset prevent its sale?
- Safety driver in 2018 Uber crash is charged with negligent homicide: Prosecutors decided not to prosecute Uber in 2019.
- Tackling Bias Issues in Artificial Intelligence
- AI and algorithms: Why the human touch is important
- When to Give Legal Rights to AIs? When They Can Dream
- Are you ready (and protected) for the AI healthcare revolution?
- Artificial Intelligence in Construction: Part I
- Automakers and regulators must educate consumers on mobility AI
- UKIPO calls for views: AI and IP
- Another consultation on AI and opens … this time in the UK
- AI ruined chess. Now it’s making the game beautiful again
- War Stories: How Forza learned to love neural nets to train AI drivers
- Building AI to fight to the beat in roguelike shooter BPM: Bullets Per Minute
COMMUNICATIONS
- Court rejects Bell, Rogers appeals of CRTC decision on internet wholesale rates
- Court rejects Bell, Rogers appeals of CRTC decision on wholesale internet rates: Big telecom companies ordered to pay court costs for smaller ISPs on other side of case
- Weakening Net Neutrality: How the Government’s Internet Regulation Plan Abandons the Principle of Equal Treatment of Content Online (Michael Geist)
- No Policies on Real Issues and Harmful Policies on Non-Issues: How the Government Bungled the Internet Regulation File (Michael Geist)
- Trump replaces FCC member in bid to push through Twitter/Facebook crackdown
- FCC Formally Kills Rules That Would Have Brought Competition To The Cable Box
- Apparently The New Litmus Test For Trump’s FCC: Do You Promise To Police Speech Online
- AT&T wants to put ads on your smartphone in exchange for $5 discount
- AT&T hopes you’ll forget its years-long fight against accurate broadband maps
- Over At Politico, The AT&T Monopoly Gives Tips On Fixing A Broadband Problem It Spent Thirty Years Creating
- T-Mobile Merger Approval Violated Every Last One Of the DOJ’s Updated ‘Antitrust Principles’
- Verizon to buy TracFone, expanding big carriers’ control of prepaid industry
- New Google Fiber plan: $100 for 2Gbps, plus Wi-Fi 6 router and mesh extender
- NTIA Gives Green Light to FCC to Expand Commercial Use of Federal Mid-Band Spectrum
- The FCC Slated to Take Further Steps to Combat Robocalls
- Rule Banning Chinese Telecommunications Equipment Is Released
- 5G in rural areas bridges a gap that 4G doesn’t, especially low- and mid-band
- Yet Another Study Shows U.S. 5G Over Promises, Under Delivers
- Further clarity on the public benefit test and terms of a Code Agreement
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- In Another Instagram Embedding Decision, SDNY Finds Use of Image of Cardi B Fair
- Performing a DNA Test on Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts”: Joint Works and Derivative Works Under Copyright
- A Closer Look at a Troubling Anti-Scraping Ruling from Spring – Compulife Software v. Newman
- This Copyright Fair Use Opinion Discusses Jon Hamm’s Crotch 25 Times–Schwartzwald v. Oath (Eric Goldman)
- Publishing a Cropped Shot of Jon Hamm’s Crotch is Fair Use Under Copyright Law
- Moral rights: why should developers care?
- Schwartzwald v. Oath Inc.: Dismissal of photographer’s copyright infringement claim against HuffPost, finding media site’s altered reproduction of photographer’s viral “crotch shot” of Jon Hamm constituted fair use.
- This Week at The Ninth: Jersey Boys and Restroom Doors
- Jersey Boys Don’t Cry: No Copyright Protection for Facts “Based on a True Story”
- Corbello v. DeVito: Court rules that Broadway’s Jersey Boys did not infringe on plaintiff’s copyright of Tommy DeVito’s biography, holding musical depicts historical facts that are not protectable by copyright law
- Hall v. Swift: Court denies dismissal of claim over Taylor Swift’s song Shake It Off, holding that it cannot conclude merger doctrine applies, & plaintiffs sufficiently alleged protectable selection & arrangement to support claim.
- UMG Recordings, Inc. v. RCN Telecom Services: Court finds plaintiffs sufficiently pled contributory & vicarious infringement against ISP by alleging failure to terminate subscribers’ accounts after millions of copyright notices.
- Small photo credit removal may result in big damages
- Public Performance Rights (and Wrongs), the use of pop music in political campaigns
- Copyright Companies Want Memes That Are Legal In The EU Blocked Because They Now Admit Upload Filters Are ‘Practically Unworkable’
- Is It Broken and Should We Fix It? A Discussion of the Copyright Office’s Report on Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
- Trademark “Services” Online Finally Defined in Canada by Federal Court of Appeal
- Federal Court of Appeal Confirms Use of a Trademark with “Hotel Services” can be Established Without Brick and Mortar Hotels in Canada
- “I’ll Have the B.C. VQA, Sub-GI Certified Pinot” — Promoting B.C. Wines Through Legal Recognition of Our Unique Wine Regions
- AB InBev And Patagonia Trademark Dispute Will Proceed To Trial
- Brewery Industry Insight – Different Parties May Register the Identical Mark for Beer and Restaurant Services
- Craft Brewing Trade Mag Argues Beer Is The Most IP Product Ever, Ignores History Of The Industry
- Banksy’s Weakass Attempt To Abuse Trademark Law Flops, Following Bad Legal Advice
- A Right Royal Rejection: “Royal Butler” Trade Mark Application Denied in the UK
- The Unique Challenges Of Protecting A Law Firm Brand
- BMW v. Premier Alloy Wheels (UK): breach of settlement agreement purported to stop intellectual property infringement
- Pigment of our imagination? Colour trademarks could be inherently distinctive
- Colour Purple is not for Protection (via Passle)
- A Refresher on the Importance of Trademarks and Trade Dress in the Food and Beverage Industry
- Trade Mark success for the gymnastics National Governing Body
- Economies are battered but many major offices set for record trademark numbers
- Trade Secrets Regulations: interim injunction preventing use of confidential information
- ITC Administrative Law Judge Decision Implicates Scope of Trade Secret Protections
- An introduction to Trade Secrets: What they are and why they matter to your business
- Fact-Specific Inquiry: Deciding Between Trade Secret and Patent Protection
- Federal Court invalidates tadalafil dosage patent finding dose selection to be routine
- Patent Trial and Appeal Board obligated to articulate a satisfactory explanation for its actions
- Common Patent Misconceptions – Myth #4 – Disclosures
- Claim Construction and Prosecution History Estoppel Require Viewing Patent and Prosecution History as a Whole
- Less is more when seeking patent protection for chemical compounds possessing a therapeutic effect
- Essential guidance on patenting software-based inventions at the EPO
- Patent Infringement Suit Alone Does Not Justify Anonymous Filing
- A Brief History of Virtual Reality, in Patents
- I’m an academic, get me out of patents: Strategies for promoting patenting among academics and researchers
- IP due diligence – The art of leaving nothing to chance
- 3D printing and IP: Lessons from the EPO’s ‘Shaping Tomorrow’ conference
- Assistant Attorney General Describes “New Madison” Approach to Antitrust and Intellectual Property Law
PRIVACY
- Personal data handling and processing in Canada
- British Columbia Court of Appeal upholds certification of data breach class action
- Keeping Criminal Background Checks in Check: Privacy Law Limits on Employee Criminal Background Checks in B.C.
- Assessments Of Privacy-Related Factors: The New Bread And Butter For Quebec Organizations Processing Personal Information?
- Ninth Circuit Appeals Court May Have Raised The Bar On Notifying Defendants About Secretive Surveillance Techniques
- California Enacts the Genetic Privacy Information Act
- Portland adopts strictest facial recognition ban in nation to date
- Amazon Is Quietly Fighting Against a Sweeping Facial Recognition Ban in Portland
- FDPIC finds that Swiss-US Privacy Shield does not offer adequate level of data protection
- Schrems II fall-out: Irish DPC reportedly to order suspension of Facebook data transfers to the U.S.
- European Data Protection Board Forms Two New Taskforces to Address Schrems II Aftermath
- Privacy Shield invalidated and use of appropriate safeguards (including Standard Contractual Clauses) require case by case assessments (Facebook Ireland and Schrems)
- City of Portland Bans Private Entities From Using Facial Recognition Technologies
- California Legislature Passes Bill Requiring Social Media Companies to Obtain Parental Consent for California-based Children Under 13
- Private Eyes & Public Profiles: The Ethics of Using Social Media in Investigations
- New guidance on the concepts of controllers, processors and joint controllers
- F for Failure: Takeaways from the Cyberattack on Miami-Dade County Public Schools
CREATIVITY
- DOJ Tries To Step In To Trump Defamation Case To Get It Dismissed; Claims His Statements About Alleged Rape Were Part Of His Presidential Duties
- Third Circuit Strikes Down Transit Authority’s Ban on Political Advertising
- Don’t risk your health to see Tenet, which is uber-fun but still just a movie
- French language requirements in Québec: Part 4 – Public signs, posters and commercial advertising
- London’s largest Bronze Age hoard on show for first time
Jon
News of the Week; September 9, 2020
GAMES
- Apple is now seeking damages from Epic Games over breach of contract
- 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
- Apple pauses plans to end ‘Sign In with Apple’ support for Epic Games accounts
- Apple says Epic’s Fortnite payment scheme “is theft, period.”
- Epic is attempting to have Fortnite reinstated on the App Store
- Epic asks court to force Fortnite back onto the iOS App Store
- Epic Games wants court order to reinstate Fortnite on iOS: Unreal firm files another preliminary injunction to “stop Apple from retaliating” during antitrust case
- Plaintiff Epic Games, Inc.’s Notice Of Motion And Motion For A Preliminary Injunction And Memorandum Of Points And Authorities In Support Thereof
- Google distances itself from Epic versus Apple legal dispute
- 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”
- Epic Games commits to live concert series in Fortnite: Company has constructed a state-of-the-art soundstage in Los Angeles to host events
- ‘Fortnite’ Spins Up ‘Spotlight’ Series Of Weekly In-Game Concerts
- Data Transmission Patent Asserted Against Amazon and Blizzard is Partially Invalidated
- 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
- 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.
- Paradox QA staff allege poor treatment: Company’s shutdown of publishing QA department last year leads to report of mismanagement, ignored concerns
- EA removes intrusive ads from UFC 4 following fan complaints
- EA removes new in-game ads from UFC 4 after player complaints: Publisher patched in promos that flashed on screen during action replays
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Cloud gaming revenue to reach $585m in 2020: Revenue generated by the cloud gaming market is expected to reach $4.8 billion by 2023
- Sony May Just Be Loosening The Reins As Gaming Brings In A Plurality Of Its Revenue
- 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
- 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
- Game Creator Has His YouTube Video Of Game Demonetized Over Soundtrack He Also Created
- 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
- Remaining Lab Zero staff laid off following dev exodus
- Lab Zero Games lays off remaining employees: Skullgirls studio turns to redundancies following staff exodus over alleged behaviour of owner Mike Zaimont
- Kotaku UK shutting down: Rights reverting to G/O Media as Future Publishing decides not to renew licensing deal
- 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
- 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”
- Colin Kaepernick returns to Madden NFL: EA Sports makes free-agent quarterback available for the first time since Madden 18
- Colin Kaepernick hits the field in Madden NFL 21 without actual NFL deal
- Microsoft Flight Simulator: 1 million pilots so far, flying 1 billion miles
- Microsoft Flight Simulator attracts 1 million players in just over two weeks
- Report: Nintendo boosting Switch production to meet consumer demand
- 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
- Nintendo’s next Mario Kart title is a mixed reality racer set in your living room
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars brings three high-res ports to Switch
- 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
- 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
- Nintendo eShop policy change gives shoppers more time to cancel pre-orders
- With profit and revenue on the rise, CD Projekt heaps praise on The Witcher 3
- The Witcher 3’s next-gen debut promises free upgrade for current-gen owners
- 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
- Wargaming UK rebrands as DPS Games to reflect global growth
- 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
- 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
- Can influencer-branded game stores work?
- Game Discoverability Now: Are the ‘store wars’ really upon us?
- Microsoft confirms next-gen pricing and launch dates, touts new financing options
- The compact Xbox Series S launches Nov 10 with promises of ‘next-gen performance’
- Xbox Series S confirmed by Microsoft after next-gen Xbox price leak
- Xbox Series S finally announced, priced at $299: Official video shares specs, console will launch November 10 and is digital only
- Microsoft confirms $499 Xbox Series X for Nov. 10
- 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
- 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.
- EA Play is being added to Game Pass Ultimate at no extra cost
- 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
- Xbox All Access seems like one of the best deals in gaming
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla bumps up release date to match next-gen Xbox launch
- 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
- GameStop will close another 400 to 450 stores this fiscal year: It’s already closed 388 stores year-to-date
- Despite pandemic and its reboot, GameStop says it’s ready for next-gen demand
- CI Games opens internal studio Hexworks to develop Lords of the Fallen 2
- 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
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 PC impressions: No pretending for this Superman
- 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
- Shenmue returns again—this time as a Crunchyroll, Adult Swim anime
- 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
- Masterpiece: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
- From Pong to Civilization: How I made “one more turn” work on consoles
- Esports Milestone: Guild Esports Looks For London Stock Exchange Listing
- 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
- Facebook Gaming Signs Esports Pro ‘King’ Richard Nelson (Exclusive)
- Esports team brings University of Waterloo athletics into the digital age: UW will compete in Rocket League, Overwatch and League of Legends
- Changing the game: women in esports
- As Esports Go Mainstream, Some Important Lessons for Brands
- 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
- Facebook halts Oculus Quest sales in Germany amid privacy concerns
- Blog: Dynamic map elements in RTS games
- Blog: The hidden art of pacing – Part 2
- Blog: Building Cogmind’s ambient soundscape
- Blog: A Neon Climber postmortem
- Blog: A launch postmortem of Dungeons of Edera
- Video: Cultivating female talent in big-budget studios
- Video: How a newbie solo dev landed their game on Xbox Game Pass
- Video: Inside the physical animation of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Video: Using project management to tame the chaos of game dev
- Don’t Miss: Deaf accessibility in video games
- Don’t Miss: What was it like developing for the Dreamcast?
- U.S. Patent no. 9,582,147: Inserting game objects through contactless communication
- In Major Blow To Sony’s Upcoming PlayStation 5, Microsoft Announces PlayStation 6
- 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
- TikTok Employee Files Motion That Could Mark First Judicial Look At Trump’s Executive Order
- White House Supposedly Blocked Walmart From Buying Tiktok Because It Would Prove Its Rationale For Forcing A Deal Was Bullshit
- If We’re So Worried About TikTok, Why Aren’t We Just As Worried About AdTech And Location Data Sales?
- Trump Gets Mad That Twitter Won’t Take Down A Parody Of Mitch McConnell; Demands Unconstitutional Laws
- Bill Barr’s ‘Antitrust Crackdown’ Of Google Is Going To Be A Weaponized Farce
- There’s a partisan schism over the timing of a Google antitrust lawsuit
- Google Updates Ad Policies Related to “Sensitive Events”
- 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.
- Facebook Moves to Limit Election Chaos in November
- Facebook Says it Will Limit Election Advertising in the Week Before the U.S. Election
- Facebook Paying Users To Shut Down Their Accounts For Science Ahead Of The 2020 Election
- Facebook Watch Hits 1.25 Billion Monthly Users, Company Says
- Facebook complains, Apple responds: iOS 14’s big privacy change gets postponed
- Facebook’s plan to prevent election misinformation: Allowing it, mostly
- There Are Many Serious Concerns About Facebook. Why the Australia News Fight Isn’t One of Them (Michael Geist)
- It’s Time To Regulate The Internet… But Thoughtfully
- Pentagon’s review of controversial $10B contract was a sham, Amazon claims
- E-commerce: Amazon held liable for damages caused by defective product sold on its online marketplace
- Amazon Is Strictly Liable for Marketplace Items, Reinforcing That Online Marketplaces Are Doomed–Bolger v. Amazon (Eric Goldman)
- 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.
- China plans new data policy in response to Trump admin’s “bullying”
- Court Denies TRO Seeking to Remove Facebook’s “Russia State-Controlled Media” Label–Maffick v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- Another Roundup of Online Contract Formation Cases (Eric Goldman)
- GOP Senators Release Latest Truly Stupid Section 230 Reform Bill; Would Remove ‘Otherwise Objectionable’; Enable Spamming
- The Copia Institute’s Comment To The FCC Regarding The Ridiculous NTIA Petition To Reinterpret Section 230
- 512(f) Claim Fails in the 11th Circuit–Johnson v. New Destiny Christian Center (Eric Goldman)
- Twibel Lawsuit Fails–Ganske v. Mensch (Eric Goldman)
- The User Always Loses: How did the Internet get so bad?
- Content Moderation Case Studies: Stopping Malware In Search Leads To Unsupported Claims Of Bias (2007)
- Intermediary Liability And Responsibilities Post-Brexit
- E-Voting App Maker Voatz Asks The Supreme Court To Let It Punish Security Researchers For Exposing Its Flaws
- 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
- Big tech companies want to help get you back in the office: They are offering services to track employees, arrange tests, and record results.
- Legal Concerns With Influencers’ Tattoos On Social Media: The Ball Is Still In The Air, And The Ink Is Not Dry
- Made-For-Kids YouTube Content Seeing Big Year-Over-Year Growth
- YouTube TV Scores NFL Carriage, Launches New ‘Sports Plus’ Add-On
- David Blaine’s ‘Ascension’ Soars To 770K Concurrent Viewers, Making It YouTube’s Most-Watched Live Original
- YouTube To Produce Originals Supporting Indie Music Venues Affected By COVID
- YouTube, ‘Glamour’ To Premiere Docuseries About Triumphs, Tragedies Of Women’s Gymnastics (Trailer)
- In Latest Stunt, MrBeast Gifts Nascent YouTuber 1.7 Million Subscribers — And Counting
- FTC Sues Celebrity Endorsers Over Their Role in Alleged Deceptive Advertising Campaign
- Snapchat Launches Permanent Public Profiles, Audience Analytics (Exclusive)
- Rooster Teeth’s Podcast Network ‘The Roost’ Inks Ad Sales, Merch, Distro Deal With CollegeHumor
- Vimeo Revamps User Profiles To Help Video Professionals Nail Down Job Prospects
- TikTok Competitor Triller Forms Advisory Board With Top Female Music Execs
- TikTok Partners With 20 Tech Providers To Help Advertisers Create, Measure Their Campaigns
- Former TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer Seems Like A Baller. Maybe He Left Because He Didn’t Want To Have A Boss.
- Senate Banking Committee Shows Continued Interest in Cryptoassets
- Academic Study Says Open Source Has Peaked: But Why?
- Alternatives for the Internet: A Journey into Decentralised Network Architectures and Information Commons
- 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.
- Augmented reality could be the geology classroom’s killer app
- What If Technology Belonged to the People?: We need non-market, publicly-owned alternatives to big tech. Here’s how we get it.
- A field comes of age: tracking research on the internet within communication studies, 1994 to 2018
- Exclusion and inclusion in identification: regulation, displacement and data justice
A.I.
- A Face-off: New Privacy Class Actions target facial recognition software
- How to gather Data Legally for training AI Data Model?
- Reliance on Machine Translations Warrants Denial of IPR Petitions
- Artificial Intelligence and Trends in Patenting
- Students, Parents Figure Out School Is Using AI To Grade Exams And Immediately Game The System
- NIST Outlines a Set of Principles for Explainable AI
- New Regulatory Guidance in the UK on AI and Data Protection
- A Light Touch Regulatory Framework for AI
- A Light Touch Regulatory Framework for AI – Part 2: Classification of AI Solutions
COMMUNICATIONS
- Canadian Heritage Minister Guilbeault Says Social Media Sites Linking to News Content Without Payment is “Immoral” (Michael Geist)
- As Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault Plans Link Taxes and Internet Content Regulation, Where Is Navdeep Bains? (Michael Geist)
- America Needs To Stop Pretending The Broadband ‘Digital Divide’ Isn’t The Direct Result Of Corruption
- AT&T Is Astroturfing The FCC In Support Of Trump’s Dumb Attack On Social Media
- Ajit Pai touted false broadband data despite clear signs it wasn’t accurate
- Pai FCC Ignored Falsely Inflated Broadband Numbers To Pat Itself On The Back
- FCC identifies promising opportunities to expand spectrum resources for unmanned aircraft systems
- FCC Dismisses Petition for Reconsideration of Reexamination of Noncommercial Licensing Policy – Next Step, Window for New Applications?
- FCC Proposes $163,912 Fine Against BarrierFree for Overstating its Broadband Deployment
- Top memory and display suppliers drop Huawei after new US restrictions
- What’s New in 5G – September 2020
- Taking 5G to work, in offices, and on the factory floor—will it help?
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Access Copyright and York U File Responses in SCC (Howard Knopf)
- 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
- 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)
- Can’t “Shake It Off” Yet: Court Denies Taylor Swift’s Motion to Dismiss Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
- 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.
- Not Your Grandfather’s Internet Royalties? DMCA Favorable Rates Might Apply to Internet Offerings
- 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
- Astor-White v. Strong: 9th Cir. affirms that, after three amended complaints, plaintiff was still unable to plausibly allege defendants copied or appropriated protectable expression from TV series Empire.
- 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.
- No Remix: Copyright Act Preempts Right of Publicity Claim
- A Copyright Suit against Netflix’s Stranger Things
- 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.
- Michael Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin et al., Case No. 20-142 (S.Ct. 2020)
- What 11th Circ. Guitar Ruling Means for Copyright Litigants
- Do Those Plans Infringe on My Plans? Depends Where You Are
- The Next Register Of Copyrights Must Realize That Copyright Serves The Public
- Out of the Ordinary: Requirements for Describing Goods and Services in Canadian Trademark Applications
- “Terrible Towel” Lawsuit a Good Reminder to Consult a Trademark Lawyer
- Honda and Microsoft caught in a trademark race
- Apples and Prepears: The perception of protective brands
- The Queen is not amused, The Royal Butler is refused (via Passle)
- Goodwill Hunting
- Nike are successful in registering FOOTWARE (via Passle)
- Tiffany v. Costco: Descriptive words over trademark exclusivity
- Competitive Keyword Advertising Still Isn’t Trademark Infringement, Unless…. –Adler v. Reyes & Adler v. McNeil (Eric Goldman)
- Influencer marketing and TM infringement
- USPTO prioritises certain COVID-19-related trademark and service mark applications
- No trade secret protections for information discussed via open zoom call
- Playing Fair: Protect Trade Secrets from Business Partners
- 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
- Use of Infringing Product, Misappropriated Trade Secrets May Continue – for a Licensing Fee
- A UDRP case involving a .CEO domain
- Purposive test applies to construction of patent claims: Federal Court
- A significant Federal Court decision supporting patent eligibility of software inventions in Canada
- Second Kick at the Can: Post-Grant Proceedings Involving Canadian Patents
- Judge Rakoff Refuses to “Ice” Diamond Patent Inequitable Conduct Allegations
- Unwired Planet v Huawei and Huawei/ZTE v Conversant [2020] UKSC 37
- Exclusion Orders: How an International Trade Commission Investigation Can Protect Patented Products from Infringing Imports
- Spotlight: standard-essential patents in United Kingdom
- The Federal Circuit Expressly Declares that Juries Determine the Standard-Essentiality of Patent Claims
- Trapped: insufficiency deals the final blow to Regeneron’s ground-breaking transgenic mouse patents
- Patent Office Issues Binding Memorandum Concerning Use Of Applicant Admitted Prior Art
- Using patents to establish alternative business models, built around licensing
PRIVACY
- Saskatchewan Introduces New Legislation: The Fiduciaries Access to Digital Information Act
- A New Privacy Law for Ontario? Towards a “Made-in-Ontario” Response to Global Developments
- How Bill 64 Will Impact The Research Sector
- Government’s ‘Reverse’ Warrant Rejected By Two Consecutive Federal Judges
- The FBI botched its DNC hack warning in 2016—but says it won’t next time
- FBI Horrified To Discover Ring Doorbells Can Tip Off Citizens To The Presence Of Federal Officers At Their Door
- Online voting vendor Voatz urges Supreme Court to limit security research
- UK Privacy Regulator Issues Code for Online Services Likely to be Used by Children
- Eyes Everywhere: Amazon’s Surveillance Infrastructure and Revitalizing Worker Power
- NSA spying exposed by Snowden was illegal and not very useful, court says
- Ninth Circuit Says NSA’s Bulk Phone Records Collection Was Illegal, Most Likely Unconstitutional
- Another Florida Appeals Court Says Compelled Passcode Production Violates The Fifth Amendment
- Uber Criminal Complaint Raises the Stakes for Breach Response
- Individual Criminal Liability for Failure to Disclose Data Breach Establishes a New Level of Risk for Companies and Executives
- Pandemic Surveillance and Racialized Subpopulations: Mitigating Vulnerabilities in COVID-19 Apps
- Unique Cyber Vishing Threat Emerges
- President Trump Signs Into Effect a Policy for Space Cybersecurity
- How Are Governments Reacting to the Invalidation of Privacy Shield?
- Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield No Longer Considered Adequate by Swiss DPA
- What Is the Worst Type of Online Privacy Policy … and Why Does it Matter?
CREATIVITY
- 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.
- 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
- Trump’s Paris art “shopping spree” caused staffers a headache and lessons to learn about checking provenance
- California musicians rejoice as governor ratifies new legislation on employment classification
- New California Law Makes it Easier for Certain Musicians, Writers, Photographers and Content Providers to Be Deemed Independent Contractors
- French Government To Make Insulting Mayors A Criminal Offense
Jon
News of the Week; September 2, 2020
GAMES
- Want to Write a Story About Tardigrades in Space? Make It So!–Abdin v. CBS (Eric Goldman)
- Abdin v. CBS (USCA 2nd Cir., August 17, 2020)
- Bugs in Space? Star Trek Plotline Does Not Infringe Tardigrade Video Game
- Gaming emote litigation: plaintiffs test different causes of action as battle ensues over Fortnite emotes
- Atlanta Rapper Claims “Soul Jah Boi” Dance in NBA 2K19 Infringes His Copyright
- China-linked mobile games including PUBG Mobile have been banned in India
- Apple terminates Epic’s developer account as promised: However, Unreal Engine on iOS remains unaffected thanks to restraining order
- Apple has terminated Epic Games’ App Store account
- Apple terminates Epic’s App Store access following Fortnite dispute
- iOS users no longer able to update Fortnite following App Store altercation
- ‘Fortnite’ maker Epic faces uphill antitrust battle with Apple
- On Monopolies, Apple, and Epic
- Today, Apple made changes to its app review process to save face with devs
- App Store tweaks ease bug fix process, let devs pitch App Store Guidelines changes
- Ubisoft removes Black Lives Matter image from Tom Clancy game’s terror group
- Ubisoft apologizes after Tom Clancy mobile game co-opts BLM movement
- Ubisoft apologizes for ‘insensitive and harmful’ Elite Squad imagery: Publisher says it will remove “raised fist” from cinematic portraying protest movement as terrorist organization
- Marvel’s Avengers sets new beta download record on PlayStation
- Ubisoft (temporarily) suggests no PS1, PS2, or PS3 backwards compatibility for PS5
- 2K Games supports NBA protests in the wake of Wisconsin shooting: “We strongly support the players and leagues using their platform to demonstrate against the shooting of Jacob Blake”
- Fall Guys cheating loophole leads to blanket Family Sharing ban
- Consumers Sue Mobile App Maker Over Loot Boxes
- More Video Game Art Is Being Sanitized, Likely To Appease China
- Opinion: Why Ronald Reagan’s appearance in Call of Duty is drawing criticism
- Accessibility in games with AbleGamers’ Greg Haynes – GDC Podcast ep. 12
- Big Fish Games lays off 250 staff
- Xbox brings in Bungie veteran to keep delayed Halo Infinite on track: Joseph Staten, who worked on the original trilogy, now leading work on the upcoming shooter’s campaign
- 343 Industries appoints Halo veterans to ensure Infinite launches in 2021
- We need to take Steam wishlist quality more seriously
- Steam Labs’ latest experiment brings Chat Filtering to Steam and participating games
- Electronic Arts’ subscription service EA Play is live on Steam
- Unity debuts new tool to help devs submit games to multiple Android storefronts
- Microsoft Flight Simulator players are flying into Hurricane Laura: Virtual storm chasing
- Sony begins invite-only, one-per-customer PS5 pre-orders: But platform holder still offers no indication of release date or price
- Ratchet & Clank is the unlikely star of the PS5 line-up | Opinion: The 18 year-old series has become the poster child for what a new generation can do
- New PlayStation exclusives and first-party studios key in Sony’s PlayStation strategy
- Sony ponders potential PS to PC ports
- PlayStation 5’s paltry back-compat stance seemingly confirmed by Ubisoft
- Report: AT&T no longer looking to sell off Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
- European market generated €21.6 billion in revenue in 2019: The best selling game of 2019 in Europe was FIFA 20, the ISFE reported
- The finer points of Mario Kart 8 on the Switch, explained by a pro
- Rocket League won’t require PS Plus or Nintendo Switch Online after free-to-play shift
- Gamezop raises $4.3m in Series A financing: Funding round led by Bitkraft Ventures to be used toward Southeast Asian, Latin American expansion
- Deep Silver parent company Koch Media opens two publishing offices in Asia
- Koch Media opens publishing offices in Tokyo and Hong Kong: New subsidiaries will allow Koch to publish games in Japan, South Korea, China and Southeast Asia
- Crayta’s cloud-driven dream to democratize game development: Unit 2 Games and Crayta’s Indie Fund developers discuss the platform’s inception and hopes for an accessible future
- Craft, art, and science: Three ways of teaching game design – How can educational institutions best teach prospective designers in a way that prepares them for work in the industry?
- New Dragon Age still on track to exist, no release date given
- Incredible Ratchet & Clank gameplay demo reveals PS5’s SSD difference
- When should we expect launch prices and dates for 2020’s new consoles?
- UK Charts: Soft week for physical sales despite new releases – Madden and Project Cars fail to ignite boxed market as Animal Crossing reigns again
- Biden campaign launches official Animal Crossing: New Horizons yard signs
- Biden presidential campaign rolls out yard signs in Animal Crossing
- Animal Crossing Continues To Be An Innovative Playground As Biden Campaign Begins Advertising On It
- Sweden’s MAG Interactive acquires mobile trivia dev Sventertainment
- Planet Zoo dev Frontier has a new publishing label: Frontier Foundry
- CD Projekt Red climbs to record market cap on Witcher mobile AR game: Pokémon Go-style title drives 8% jump, leaves CDPR’s market cap €1b higher than Ubisoft
- Huuuge Inc. preparing for an IPO: Polish free-to-play gaming company looking to go public on the Warsaw Stock Exchange
- Eiyuden Chronicles Kickstarter raises more than $4.5m: Suikoden developers’ crowdfunding campaign for a new JRPG brings in site’s third highest video game total ever
- Keywords acquires game marketing agency Maverick for $4.7 million
- What hypercasual mobile game publishers look for in developers: Supersonic Studios’ Nadav Ashkenazy explains what it takes to get your hypercasual game published
- Shaping a warm welcome for wholesome games: Matthew Taylor and James Tillman explain how the Wholesome Games Direct came about, and why curating games based on feeling was a success
- Interactive storytelling platform Dorian raises $3.25 million in funding
- Tencent and Ziff Davis partner to relaunch IGN China: Chinese games giant will operate media outlet, site will be editorially independent of Tencent Group
- Leyou Technologies confirms ongoing acquisition talks with Tencent: If completed, Tencent will privatise parent of Warfare developer
- CAA Signs Prominent Gamers Alpharad And The Completionist
- StreamElements unveils recipients of Creator Diversity Fund: The $100,000 fund was divided between 20 Twitch content creators from underrepresented backgrounds
- David Dobrik Launches Twitch Channel By Giving Away $1,000 For Every ‘Warzone’ Win
- BitKraft Ventures raises $165m VC fund: The games- and esports-focused VC firm already has a portfolio of 50 companies
- Dota 2’s The International 10 prize pool has hit a record-breaking $34,396,000 (and counting): The most lucrative esports tournament ever held
- First Cycling Esports World Championships announced
- Game devs and eSport teams — how to protect your brand assets with trade marks
- Facebook Halts Sale of Rift & Quest in Germany Amid Regulatory Concerns
- Oculus halts headset sales in Germany: Facebook says it’s a temporary move and will continue supporting existing owners in the country
- Facebook renames its AR/VR studio collective to Facebook Reality Labs: Oculus Studios will retain its name, and Oculus branding remains
- Crusader Kings 3 | Critical Consensus: Paradox Interactive updates its defining franchise, and the critics are hailing the result as a potential Game of the Year
- Cyberpunk 2077 lands 5 awards including top honors at Gamescom 2020
- Cyberpunk 2077 tops Best of Gamescom awards: CD Projekt Red cleans up with five wins for upcoming title, including Best of Show, Best PC Game, and Best RPG
- Blog: The key features of stealth games
- Blog: Cloudpunk creator Marko Dieckmann talks cyberpunk, voxel art, and indie development
- Blog: The hidden art of pacing – Part 1
- Blog: Why knowing how to focus and not to scope creep is an essential skill
- Blog: Democratizing PySpark for mobile game publishing
- Blog: Finding retention influencers in Destiny
- Video: Robin Hunicke’s Q&A about working together, apart, in dynamic times
- Video: An inside look at the making of Hardspace: Shipbreaker
- Video: How procedural environmental destruction works in Control
- Video: Making the designer-writer collaboration work in game dev
- Video: Crafting the crafting system in Astroneer
- Don’t Miss: The nuts and bolts of Fable III
- Fall Guys costume auction raises $1 million for UK charity Special Effect
- Fall Guys bidding contest raises $1 million for SpecialEffect: Aim Lab, G2 Esports, Mr Beast, and Ninja won the Fall Guys bidding contest and will get in-game skins
- U.S. Patent no. 9,597,601: Method for displaying chat window applied to network game
DIGITAL
- French language requirements in Québec: Language used in commercial publications, including websites and social media
- Internet terms of use: Ninth Circuit enforces arbitration agreement accessible through browsewrap hyperlink
- Third Circuit Upholds Public School Student’s First Amendment Rights
- Infringing Polish Website Isn’t Subject to Personal Jurisdiction in the United States–AMA v. Wanat
- Why potential claimants should take care with DMCA takedown demands
- Are Changes to the DMCA on the Horizon?
- AT&T backs Trump plan, demands “neutrality” on Facebook, Amazon, and Google
- Hypocritical AT&T Makes A Mockery Of Itself; Says 230 Should Be Reformed For Real Net Neutrality
- Supreme Court To Courts And Federal Agencies Trying To Rewrite Section 230: Knock It Off
- Section 230 Preempts Another FOSTA Claim–Doe v. Kik (Eric Goldman)
- Lindsey Graham Says We Need To Get Rid Of Section 230 To Sue ‘Batshit Crazy’ QAnon. That’s Not How Any Of This Works.
- My Comment To The FCC Regarding The Ridiculous NTIA Petition To Reinterpret Section 230
- A Paean To Transparency Reports
- Content Moderation Best Practices for Startups
- Content Moderation Case Study: Amazon Alters Publishing Rules To Deter Kindle Unlimited Scammers (April 2016)
- Calif. App. Court (4th Dist) Rejects Jurisdictional Challenge in Website Accessibility Case
- TikTok CEO quits as company reportedly plans sale to Microsoft, Walmart
- Sway House TikTokers Bryce Hall, Blake Gray Charged With Throwing Parties In Violation Of L.A. Health Orders
- Native TikTok Tools May Create Liability for Brands and Influencers
- TikTok: now to the copyright and political issues
- Facebook threatens to block news-sharing in Australia
- Facebook Says It Will Block News Sharing In Australia If Murdoch’s Social Media Tax Becomes Law
- Trump administration forces Facebook and Google to drop Hong Kong cable
- Amazon deletes anti-union listing, watches workers’ “secret” social groups
- iOS 14 will “severely impact” monetisation opportunities, Facebook says: Changes in privacy policy on Apple devices could mean a 50% drop in ad-driven revenue coming from Facebook’s Audience Network
- Sordid genealogies: a conjectural history of Cambridge Analytica’s eugenic roots
- Top Republican deletes tweet with doctored Biden video footage
- The Market for Fake Reviews
- Facebook apologizes to users, businesses for Apple’s monstrous efforts to protect its customers’ privacy: New iOS update will rob people of personalized ads, wails antisocial giant
- Apple won’t let Facebook tell users about 30-percent Apple tax on events
- Facebook Will Open Beta Of VR Social Platform ‘Horizon’ To (Some) Public Users In Coming Weeks
- Facebook and Other Tech Giants ‘too Big to Fail’
- Australian Court Says Using a Zipper-Mouth Emoji Can Be Defamatory–Burrows v. Houda (Eric Goldman)
- Australian Court Says Zipper Mouth Emoji Might Be Defamatory
- Google Declines to Remove Ads that Contain Election-Related Misinformation
- Google Maps now shows traffic lights at intersections
- We Ran Our Online Election Disinformation Simulation Game And There’s Plenty To Be Worried About
- As Speakers At The RNC Whined About Big Tech Bias, You Could Only Watch The Full Convention Because Of ‘Big Tech’
- Elon Musk is one step closer to connecting a computer to your brain: Neuralink has demonstrated a prototype of its brain-machine interface that currently works in pigs.
- Brain-Computer Interfaces Are Coming. Will We Be Ready? (Rand Corporation)
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Insanely Stupid Lawsuit Against Facebook
- The internet of protest is being built on single-page websites
- Content Moderation Case Study: Facebook Responds To A Live-streamed Mass Shooting (March 2019)
- Snapchat Is The Biggest Media Company Whose Content You’ve Never Watched–But That’s About To Change
- Patreon Raises $90 Million At $1.2 Billion Valuation: “The Stigma Of The Starving Artist Is Going To Fade Away”
- Global Digital Pandemic Responses: Reflections on Four Country Case Studies
- Fairphone users can buy new camera without replacing the phone itself
- Xiaomi’s “third-generation” under-display camera looks nearly invisible
- Going all-in on remote work: The technical and cultural changes
- TikTok And Teespring Team Up For Creator Merch Sales Integration
- TikTok Tells Users To Treat Themselves With Second Wave Of Free ‘Small Gestures’
- China announces new export rules that could prevent sale of TikTok
- Franchesca Ramsey Tapped To Host IAB’s ‘Podcast Upfront’, Which Has Registered 2,500 Attendees
- Rhett & Link Launch ‘Vote Like A Beast’ Registration Campaign Ahead Of Presidential Election
- SuperBam To Reclaim 10 Billion Views’ Worth Of AdSense For YouTube, TikTok, Twitch Creators By End Of 2020
- YouTube Reverses MoistCr1TiKaL, Markiplier Community Guidelines Strikes, Says They Were “An Over-Enforcement Of Policies”
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 8/31/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 8/31/2020
- David Blaine’s Balloon-Powered YouTube Stunt Postponed To Sept. 2
- How to Approach Legal Issues With CGI Influencers — Keep in mind virtual endorsements and brand sponsorships
- In Savvy Brand Deal, Charli D’Amelio Gets Signature Drink On Dunkin’ Donuts Menu
- Emma Chamberlain Premieres ‘Styled By Emma’ Makeover Series On IGTV
- Netflix Un-Paywalls ‘Bird Box,’ ‘The Two Popes,’ First Ep Of ‘Stranger Things’ To Tempt More Subscribers
- What the History of TV Can Teach Us about Netflix
- “This is the day”: Disney+ announces The Mandalorian season 2 premiere date
- The evolution and accountability of Diversity and Inclusion within the tech industry
- ASA finds numerous code breaches following monitoring operation on children’s websites
- After Years of “Silencing, Repression, and Retaliation” at This Software Company, Workers Decided to Organize
- Risk Shifts in the Gig Economy: The Normative Case for an Insurance Scheme against the Effects of Precarious Work
- Collaboration Houses: How Technology & A Pandemic Have Created Entirely New Ways To Go To College
A.I.
- Algorithmic policing risks intensifying systemic racism, harm privacy and Charter rights: report
- To Surveil and Predict: A Human Rights Analysis of Algorithmic Policing in Canada
- Tesla with Autopilot hits cop car—driver admits he was watching a movie
- Algorithms and the impact of decisions made using AI
- Reckoning and Judgment the Promise of AI
- Computer Says No: Can Algorithms Be Fair?
- The Paradox of Algorithmic Transparency
- The politics of algorithmic governance in the black box city
- Google offers to help others with the tricky ethics of AI
- Remedies for Algorithmic Tacit Collusion
- Musk says that Neuralink implants are close to ready for human testing
- Facing Novel Legal Issues Concerning Facial Recognition Technology in 2020
- What do organisations thinking of using facial recognition software need to do following the Court of Appeal judgment in R (Bridges) v CC South Wales ?
- Faceoff! UK appellate court finds police use of facial recognition technology contravenes laws
- Court of Appeal hands down judgment in facial recognition case
- Automated facial recognition: a controversial future tool for fighting crime
- AI analysis: How traffic works in Cities: Skylines
- Algorithms and employment law: what do you need to know?
- Law and Tech Collide: Foreseeability, Reasonableness and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems
- SAL Law Reform Committee Reports on Artificial Intelligence
- Robot Will Take Your Job: Innovation for an Era of Artificial Intelligence
- NIST looks to shine a light on the ‘black box’ with its white paper on explainable AI
- NIST Seeks Comment on Proposed Framework for “Explainable” Artificial Intelligence
- Is AI part of the new sports media landscape?
- Philosophy in The Light Of AI
- Podcast: Explaining Artificial Intelligence with Terry Bergin QC and Quentin Tannock
- Don’t Miss: Bringing Washington D.C. to life – The AI of The Division 2
COMMUNICATIONS
- D.C. Circuit Casts Doubt on FCC’s Authority to Impose Merger Conditions
- Yet Another Study Shows U.S. 5G Is Far Slower Than Many Other Nations
- SpaceX seeks FCC broadband funds, must prove it can deliver sub-100ms latency
- U.S. Cable Broadband Monopolies Close In On 70% Broadband Market Share
- Small Satellite Operators’ C-Band Challenge Rejected by FCC
- Wireless Carriers Once Again Fight Efforts At More Accurate Wireless Availability Maps
- Bankrupt OneWeb gets FCC approval for another 1,280 broadband satellites
- AT&T Now Trying To Ditch DirecTV After Bungled Merger Spree
- AT&T reportedly trying to sell DirecTV after massive customer losses
- No Miracles Here: FCC Denies Wakefield’s Request to Vacate ViSalus Waiver Order But $925MM Judgment Still Stands
- Government Grant Recipients May Not Acquire Certain Chinese Telecommunications Products
- FAR Council Amends Interim Rule on Chinese Telecommunications Ban to Update Certification Requirements
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Arts On (the) Line: Copyright Protection of Digital Performances for Presenters, Agents & Managers
- Word To Politicians: “Please [Do] Stop The Music”
- Fleshing out the copyright in a tattoo
- Bad Faith Scraping of Photos carries a Big Cost
- Liability for Copyright Infringement Attaches if Conduct Exceeds Scope of License
- Regulations and the surge of software patent applications in the U.S.
- Grey Market Goods – Coty and Costco Battle it Out in Québec
- Tiffany v. Costco: the use of a trademark not as a trademark but in a descriptive sense
- Costco wins appeal against Tiffany – Tiffany and Co et al v Costco Wholesale Corp, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 17-2798.
- KFC Presses Pause on IT’S FINGER LICKIN’ GOOD Slogan
- Aldi, Brewdog Brand War Ends In The Best Possible Way: Collaboration
- Comparing Apples to Pears
- TENET: a twist in Time
- Beyoncé’s BLUE IVY CARTER Mark in the Pink as TTAB Dismisses Opposition
- The Terrible Towel Is A Formidable Foe: Steelers’ Licensor Sues Maker of Terrible Masks
- The Land Rover Defender: a classic shape certainly, but a “badge of origin”?
- Difficult terrain: trade mark protection for 3d shapes
- Don’t Fall Victim to Bogus Trademark Registries
- Food Industry Insight – Overcoming Trademark Genericism with D’Ingenuity and Le Creativity
- Why you should designate Canada – and a Canadian agent – in your next Madrid application
- The future of global licensing for digital standards?
- What’s in a name? Global brand owners make socially-conscious changes
- Strategic Considerations at the Intersection of Patent and Trade Secret Protection
- Delaware Court of Chancery: Companies Must Maintain Trade Secret Confidentiality in a Remote World
- Seventh Circuit Sends Health Care Software Company Plaintiff Back to District Court for $660 Million (or More) Reduction in Damages Award in Trade Secrets Case
- Pot Got Your Tongue? Company Alleges Former COO Disclosed Trade Secrets to Competitors
- You can’t do that! Federal Court quashes the “problem-solution” basis for rejecting claims
- No Solution? No Problem! The Federal Court of Canada puts a dagger in the “Problem-Solution” Approach to Patent Claims Construction
- “Problem-Solution” Claim Construction by Patent Office Does Not “Compute”
- Federal Court clarifies Canadian approach to subject-matter eligibility for computer patents
- Federal Court clarifies the assessment of patent-eligible subject matter in Canada
- What the Choueifaty Decision Means for Software Patents in Canada
- Court Dismisses Intel’s and Apple’s Federal and State Antitrust Claims Against Patent Assertion Entities, Albeit with Leave of Court to Amend the Complaint
- UK Supreme Court affirms courts’ rights on IP licensing issue
- Dismissal on Procedural Grounds May Bar Claims for Later Infringement Under Res Judicata
- Res Judicata on Procedural Grounds Precludes Similar Claims Arising After Prior Judgment
- Inventorship, Unlike a Claim, is a “Nose of Wax”
- Landmark UK Supreme Court decision grants UK courts power to set the global royalty rate for standard essential patents
- Unwired Planet v Huawei – UK courts can determine global FRAND licensing terms
- Unwired Planet v Huawei – Supreme Court decision
- Unwired Planet vs Huawei – is it a victory for SEP holders?
- U.K. Supreme Court Affirms Global FRAND Rate-Setting Procedure in U.K. National Courts
- UK Supreme Court Upholds Power of the UK Courts to Determine Global FRAND Licenses
- Last Week in the Federal Circuit (August 24-28): No Judicial Estoppel from Inventorship About-Face
- Pointed Tip is Not a Substantially Flat Surface
- Clear Claim Language Trumped Written Description in Construction
- USPTO Sued Over Discretionary Denials
- USPTO Issues Guidance on “Applicant Admitted Prior Art” in IPRs
- Canceled Patent Claims Do Not Entitle Former Patent Owner to a Refund
- Antitrust Plaintiffs Complain of Patent “Thickets”
- Upper and Lower Claim Limitations Leave Patent Owner Feeling Down
- How Administrative Law Became the Hottest Topic in Patent Disputes at the Federal Circuit
- Valuing Patented Inventions in Litigation
- 5 developments you may not have realised are potentially patentable
- In review: key recent IP developments and trends in Canada
- Intellectual Property Enforcement at the International Trade Commission
PRIVACY
- Ontario government launches consultations on establishing provincial privacy regime for private sector
- Ontario Government Seeks Input for Private Sector Privacy Legislation
- Privacy developments: OPC Privacy Guide for Businesses and Ontario privacy consultation
- China’s Efforts To Hide Its Muslim Concentration Camps Helped Reporters To Find Them
- The Fourth Amendment Downs ‘Video Voyeurism’ in Kraft SpaGate Case
- Can individuals claim damages for loss of control over their personal data
- U.S. Customs Opens Mass Searches of Data on Confiscated Traveler Smartphones, Computers
- Feds can’t ask Google for every phone in a 100-meter radius, court says
- Wait, Amazon’s New Wearable Needs to See Me in My Underwear?: Amazon says your semi-nude pictures will be automatically deleted from its servers after 3D body images are rendered.
- Amazon Halo will charge a subscription fee to monitor the tone of your voice
- The EU Is Launching a Market for Personal Data. Here’s What That Means for Privacy
- What Are GeofenceWarrants?
- Financial Data Aggregator Faces Consumer Privacy Suit over “Surreptitious” Collection of Banking Information
- U.S. issues warning on North Korean hackers targeting banks worldwide
- Bridgefy, A Messaging App Hyped As Great For Protesters, Is A Security Mess
- Mass Biometric Scanning Of Students Is COVID-19’s Latest Dystopian Twist
- If A College Is Going To Make COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps Mandatory, They Should At Least Be Secure
- Social Media Data Leak Raises Concerns Over Data Scraping
- Bad Faith Scraping of Photos carries a Big Cost
- CCTV and data privacy
- Hackers are exploiting a critical flaw affecting >350,000 WordPress sites
- Children’s Privacy Check-Up
- Back to School Special: But I’m Just an Ad Network! Am I Subject to Children’s Privacy Laws?
- Back to School Special: Is My Multi-Age Platform Subject to Child Protection Requirements?
- App Law and Future Changes to iOS Privacy
- The Dark Side of the Mooc?: the Rise of Edtech in Times of Covid-19: a Data Protection Challenge for Universities
- Remote Learning During Pandemic Brings Privacy Risks
- Schrems Strikes Again: Battery of New Data Privacy Complaints Raise Compliance Questions for EU-U.S. Data Transfers
CREATIVITY
- Judge Rakoff Clears Sarah Palin’s Defamation Lawsuit Against NY Times for February Trial
- Appeals Court Says Not Allowing Federal Officers To Pepper Spray Journalists Makes Law Enforcement Too Difficult
- The First Amendment Protects the Marketing Term “Vegan Butter”–Miyoko’s v. Ross (Eric Goldman)
- Covid Is Accelerating a Global Censorship Crisis
- Tinpot Administration Is Apparently ‘Building Dossiers’ On Journalists Who Criticize Trump
- Trump Wants To Replace FTC Chair Whom He Can’t Replace, Because The FTC Is Reluctant To Go After Trump’s Social Media Enemies
- How to (not) get rich quick: factors used to quantify damages awards in defamation cases
- Sixth Circuit Considers Public Employee’s Off-the-Clock Social Media Post in First Amendment Case
- Legal battle over artist’s legacy begins in London’s High Court
- TV Ratings for Biden and Trump Signal an Increasingly Polarized Nation: Fox News dominated ratings for the Republican convention, and MSNBC was the clear No. 1 for the Democrats’ gathering.
- Planning to Show a Toddler in Your Distilled Spirits Advertising?
- Burger King Wins “Whopper” of a Case: Federal Court Finds No Promise of Method of Preparation in Advertisements for Meatless Burger
- Picasso painting vandal who was “seeking fame” is jailed for 18 months
- “Stonehenge Lego” scale model reveals the pagan monument’s unique soundscape
Jon
News of the Week; August 26, 2020
GAMES
- On Appeal, ‘Star Trek Discovery’ Still Doesn’t Infringe On Video Game’s Copyright
- Judge issues restraining order protecting Unreal Engine development on iOS
- Temporary restraining order will protect Unreal Engine on Apple platforms
- Epic wins restraining order against Apple but Fortnite remains blocked: Judge says Epic has yet to demonstrate antitrust, but agrees that “serious questions do exist”
- Judge Rejects Epic’s Temporary Restraining Order Request For Fortnite (But Grants It For The Unreal Engine)
- Protection granted to Unreal Engine but not Fortnite following altercation with Apple
- Apple on Epic’s retaliation claims: ‘The emergency is entirely of Epic’s own making’
- Epic vs Apple judge decided in Apple’s favour in similar case: In 2013, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said plaintiffs failed to prove that Apple “deprived [them] of lower cost alternatives”
- Apple opposes Epic’s restraining order, says dispute is “completely avoidable”: iPhone maker claims damage to Fortnite and Unreal is self-inflicted, says Epic has not proved Apple is a monopoly
- Epic Games Moves Battleground From Mobile Phones to Courtroom With Antitrust Attacks on Apple and Google
- Epic Battles Apple: I Missed a Spot
- Epic Games turns Apple dispute into Fortnite event: Upcoming #FreeFortnite Cup will feature anti-Apple prizes as iOS users prepare to be blocked from updates
- Epic is hosting a Fortnite tournament themed around its legal battle with Apple
- Your iPhone copy of Fortnite is about to become out of date
- Game Discoverabilityland: Tim Epic vs. Tim Apple (also non-Tim news!)
- Microsoft backs Epic Games in legal dispute with Apple1
- Microsoft files statement supporting Epic Games against Apple: Xbox firm says Unreal Engine is “critical technology” and blocking it on iOS “will harm game creators and gamers”
- Microsoft backs Epic against Apple in legal fight over Unreal Engine on iOS
- Apple reaches $2 trillion market valuation as legal battle with Epic rages on
- Epic Games Sued By Company That Manages ‘Coral Castle’ In Florida Over New Fortnite Map
- Hitman 3 for PC to be Epic Games Store exclusive: IO Interactive’s title is set to release in January 2021
- Democratizing in-app purchase with direct payment: Following the Apple vs Epic dispute, Raymond Arifianto gives a crash course on how to implement in-app purchase with direct payment in your game
- Tfue And FaZe Clan Have Settled Their Lawsuits
- Devs exiting Lab Zero Games blame owner’s persistent pattern of misconduct
- Developers cut ties with Lab Zero, accuse lead designer of abuse, harassment: Skullgirls IP holder will work with former employees on future Skullgirls content without Mike Zaimont or Lab Zero
- Rocksteady’s response to claims of inaction outlines past and future anti-harassment plans
- Rocksteady responds to sexism accusations again: Batman Arkham studio says it addressed issues appropriately, has now hired external firm to interview current and former employees
- India’s prime minister appeals for games based on “Indian culture and folk tales”: Narendra Modi offered a rare display of government support for India’s emerging games industry
- Riot Games and Valve Win Over PalTalk’s Invalidated Patent Affirmed
- The Sinking City yanked from stores in dispute over publishing rights
- The Sinking City pulled from stores amid legal dispute: Developer Frogwares accuses publisher Nacon of missing payments, holding €1 million in royalties and claiming IP rights
- Copyright changes could limit in-game props, but might defeat clones | Opinion: Kostya Lobov warns that recent EU court decisions could drastically affect what is protectable by copyright
- Six ways to make your user-generated content game successful and lawsuit-free: Mythical Games’ Jamie Jackson detailed the dos and don’ts of user-generated content in a Devcom talk this week
- Activision Deletes And Replaces ‘Call Of Duty’ Trailer Worldwide Over 1 Second That Hurt China’s Feelings
- Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War trailer blocked in China: Activision replaces original version, featuring Tiananmen Square protest footage, with shorter edit worldwide
- A ‘cross-gen’ copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will cost $69.99
- The next Call of Duty will cost $70 on next-generation consoles
- Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War will cost $70 for next-gen console versions: Current-gen versions will be playable via backward compatibility, but will be missing enhancements
- Devolver apologises for cancelling legitimate keys during clampdown on Fall Guys scammers: Those affected will be able to reclaim copy of popular combat-free battle royale
- Fall Guys has surpassed 7 million sales on Steam
- Bilibili will publish Fall Guys on mobile in China
- Fall Guys is coming to mobile in China: Mediatonic confirmed Fall Guys will get a mobile release in China, but it looks like other territories will have to wait
- How Fall Guys’ bouncing, bumbling beans gave the game its soul
- How did Fall Guys get it so right?
- Fall Guys is now the most downloaded PS Plus game in history
- Loot Box Update
- FTC Staff Perspective Paper Offers Key Takeaways on Loot Box Workshop
- FTC Scrutinizes Loot Boxes – What are the Odds?
- Valve assures slow Flight Simulator downloads won’t affect refunds: Steam operator says lengthy install time will not count against store’s two-hour policy
- Ubisoft swaps physical games for digital on some upcoming Xbox CEs
- Ubisoft drops discs from Xbox collector’s editions: Premium SKUs for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs Legion and Far Cry 6 will include a digital code instead
- $60+ for a game is an “unfair price,” G2A study finds: 41% of the respondents said younger players were being “outpriced by gaming”
- Report: Latest Switch Pro rumors point toward early 2021
- Nintendo Switch Pro rumors resurface, this time expected in Q1 2021: Report says improved Switch model would feature better display, more interactivity
- Reports: “4K” Nintendo Switch revision slated for 2021 launch
- DMG launches accelerator for developers from marginalised backgrounds: Damage Labs Studio Startup is set to help founders from underrepresented identities in Canada
- Diablo 2: The human cost of making a classic: At Devcom, David Brevik recalled the “terrible grind” required to finish Blizzard North’s evergreen masterpiece
- BrainLeap launches games series aimed at children with attention difficulties: The Attention Arcade features six PC games that are controlled by eye movements
- Microsoft sells Halo masks to benefit frontline workers: For each mask purchased on Meta Threads, two additional ones will be donated to MasksforDocs
- 343 Industries squashes rumours of Halo Infinite dropping Xbox One: The new game will not be delayed any further and will support current-gen Xbox hardware
- 505 Games: There are “blockers” preventing free next-gen upgrades for Control – Publisher claims it was impossible to offer Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 versions without some players being left out
- PlayStation: Launching a console during a pandemic “is a massive challenge on every front” – PlayStation reveals its first PlayStation 5 ad
- PlayStation 5 devs explain how DualSense haptics will actually work
- Sony could detect PlayStation users based on how they hold a controller: New patent IDs unique controller positioning and movement between console users.
- Your PlayStation allegiance may determine whether you can preorder a PS5
- The silver linings in the clouds of 2020 | Opinion: Even as recession and schedule slippages bite hard in the coming months, some sectors have an opportunity to flourish
- Razer sees record-high revenues during pandemic: Peripheral maker says “stay-at-home trends” fueled first half sales up 25.3% to $447.5m as net losses were lessened to $17.7m
- Unity’s long-rumored IPO is finally moving forward
- March Capital establishes $60 million game investment fund
- March Capital launches $60m games startup fund: Investment firm form new entity to seek seed and series A financing opportunities
- Online gaming M&A levels up
- Polish games industry is worth nearly €500m: Game Industry Conference organizers report the country has 9,710 game dev staff employed across 440 studios
- Social game platform Hiber nets $2.25 million to accelerate development
- Hiber raises $2.2m to build out its browser-based game platform: Users have created over 300,000 games on Hiber so far in 2020
- Amazon Games and Smilegate enter exclusive publishing agreement: The pair will collaborate on a game to be released in 2021
- UK Charts PGA Tour 2K21 lands at No.2: And Animal Crossing New Horizons is No.1 again
- Ghost of Tsushima sold 1.9m digital units in July: And Pokémon Go’s Go Fest event just gave the game its best month since August 2016
- What the advent of 5G—mmWave and otherwise—will mean for online gaming
- Unity prepping an IPO: Engine maker declares intent to go public, reports net losses despite more than half of all mobile, PC, and cnsole games using its tech
- Unity Software Inc. Form S-1 (United States Securities and Exchange Commission)
- What did we learn from the Unity IPO filing?: Engine maker’s decision to go public gave details on how much it spent on recent acquisitions, CEO compensation, what happened with its sexual harassment suit, and more
- Gamers are logging millions of hours a day on Roblox: The platform, popular with tweens, allows developers to cash in on its success
- Mobile studio Colossi Games nets $650,000 to fund debut title
- Colossi Games raises $650,000 in pre-seed funding for new survival game: Cyprus-based studio hopes mobile survival RPG will push back against growing predictability in the genre
- Animal Talking: “It’s a hobby that spiralled wildly out of control”: At our Changing Channels conference, screenwriter Gary Whitta described the past, present and future of his Animal Crossing talk show
- The National Videogame Museum reopens this weekend: After fears that COVID-19 would mean permanent closure, UK museum to reopen with new safety precautions
- Amazon Games signs on to publish a Smilegate RPG game in the West
- Ring Fit Adventure set for official release in China: Tencent says Switch fitness game frequently imported during the pandemic will see a formal release early next month
- Harnessing the power of positive reviews: How Steam’s review system helped Size Five Games’ Dan Marshall to sell Lair of the Clockwork God
- The literal wandering adventures of The Wandering Band: Co-founders Ben Wander and Zach Mumbach share how they built an indie company culture centered on trust, self-knowledge, and personal adventures
- Twitch Unveils Chat’s Choice Awards, Where Each Streamer’s Chat Room Crowns Its Own Winners
- Smosh Games Launches Twitch Channel With Slate Of 3 Weekly Series
- How do you do, fellow gamers?—Burger King exploits Twitch for cheap ads
- Burger King’s ad agency frustrates Twitch streamers with “predatory” stunt: Oglivy uses text-to-speech chat bots to deliver ads during livestreams for $5 or less
- Spotify Sponsors ‘League Of Legends’ Esports, Will Produce Exclusive Original Podcasts
- NBA Star Ben Simmons Joins FaZe Clan As Investor, Global Ambassador
- Shots Studios Signs Content, Merch Partnership With Gaming Org ‘NRG Esports’ (Exclusive)
- Making the most of the esports opportunity
- Here’s Where Facebook “Guaranteed” Users Would Never Need a Facebook Account to Use Oculus Headsets
- Why the Facebookening of Oculus VR is bad for users, devs, competition
- Tone Deaf Facebook To Cripple VR Headsets Unless You Link It To Your Facebook Account
- Facebook renames its Oculus VR studio to Facebook Reality Labs: And Oculus Connect is now called Facebook Connect
- Facebook’s VR rebranding changes Oculus Connect to Facebook Connect
- Facebook has begun ghosting the “Oculus” moniker in its VR division
- Google AR app lets you place prehistoric creatures, Apollo 11 in your room
- Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Litigation Update: Virtual Immersion Technologies Asserts Virtual Reality Patent for the 43rd Time
- Lennon Image Technologies, LLC v. Ulta Beauty, Inc.
- Earthbound and the power of representation | Why I Love: Afterburner’s Robert Taylor explains how the classic Super Nintendo RPG taught him to read and inspired a career
- Making Blaseball, at our mercy: The Game Band discusses making a community game led by its fans, and their adaptation to Blaseball’s grand slam of popularity
- How do you make hitting something fun?: A panel of experts answered this burning question at Devcom, and gave advice on the skills you need to become a combat designer
- Video: Watch a GDC Summer game music concert from insaneintherain
- Q&A: Making an outer space roadtrip with Night School’s Next Stop Nowhere
- Blog: How to measure fun for game designers
- Blog: Utilizing shape language and symbols in level design
- Blog: The road to Ruinarch – Wishlist gathering and expectations
- Blog: The meta-responsibilities of a game writer
- Don’t Miss: The tricky history of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
- Don’t Miss: A game design deep dive into Rocket League’s rocket jumps
- Don’t Miss: Plumbing the secret depths of Bubble Bobble’s design
- Video: Enjoy this GDC Summer game music concert from pianist 88bit
- The best game-breaking speedruns of Summer Games Done Quick 2020
- All proceeds from Children of Morta’s latest DLC are being donated to charity
- Summer Games Done Quick raises over $2.3 million for charity
- Summer Games Done Quick raises $2.3m for Doctors Without Borders: SGDQ was fully digital this year, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
- U.S. Patent no. 9,649,568: Game system for changing a difficulty level of a game
DIGITAL
- Surprise: Report Claims Facebook Has Been Driving White House TikTok Animosity
- TikTok Sues Trump Administration, Reveals It Has 100 Million U.S. Users
- TikTok sues Trump to challenge US government restrictions
- TikTok Files Suit to Prevent U.S. Ban of its Mobile Application
- TikTok sues Trump admin., says ban is unconstitutional and political
- US administration takes on Chinese social media
- Tim Wu Joins The Ban TikTok Parade, Doesn’t Clarify What The Ban Actually Accomplishes
- The Clock is Ticking on TikTok, 90 Days to Divest
- LinkedIn sued by iPhone users for breach of data privacy
- Fourth Circuit Dramatically Expands Scope of Personal Jurisdiction for Website Operators
- Appeals Court: City Employee’s Horrific Facebook Posts About Tamir Rice Shooting Were Likely Protected Speech
- Does Facebook Still Sell Discriminatory Ads?
- iOS 14 privacy settings will tank ad targeting business, Facebook warns
- Facebook claims iOS 14 will harm developers that rely on ad-driven revenue
- Arizona State University Sues Facebook With Bogus Trademark Claim To Try To Stop COVID Parties Account
- After Lawsuit is Filed, Instagram Deletes Account Promoting Parties at Arizona State University
- Takeaways from The Weather Channel Settlement over Location Data Practices
- Two Suspects Arrested Following Brutal Hollywood Attack Against Three Trans Influencers Of Color
- The Future of American Industry Depends on Open Source Tech
- Content Moderation Knowledge Sharing Shouldn’t Be A Backdoor To Cross-Platform Censorship
- Content Moderation Case Study: Nextdoor Faces Criticism From Volunteer Moderators Over Its Support Of Black Lives Matter
- Content Moderation Case Study: US Army Bans Users For Asking About War Crimes On Twitch & Discord (July 2020)
- Content Moderation And Human Nature
- Washington Court Says First Amendment Protects Teen’s Emoji-Laden Rant About Her Mother
- Section 230 Protects Craigslist from Sex Trafficking Claims, Despite FOSTA–JB v. Craigslist (Eric Goldman)
- Court Orders Rightsowner to Withdraw DMCA Takedown Notices Sent to Amazon–Beyond Blond v. Heldman (Eric Goldman)
- Message Board Operator Isn’t Liable for Third-Party Posts (DUH)–East Coast Test Prep v. Allnurses (Eric Goldman)
- How I’m Teaching My “Internet Law” Course Online (Eric Goldman)
- Historic Charges: First Enforcement Action Filed by New York Department of Financial Services Under Cybersecurity Regulation
- The Conscience of Silicon Valley: Jaron Lanier warned us all about the evils of social media. Too few of us listened. Now, in the most chaotic of moments, his fears—and his bighearted solutions—are more urgent than ever.
- Napster sold for a song to UK virtual events company
- Apple market value tops $2tn: iPhone maker is first publicly-listed US company to reach this milestone
- Apple’s iOS 14 Requires New Opt-in Consent for Advertising Identifiers
- Apple apologizes to WordPress, no longer requires free app to add purchases
- US government built secret iPod with Apple’s help, former engineer says
- China trade war could push iPhone contractor Foxconn to build in Mexico
- Last-minute California ruling means Uber and Lyft won’t shut down today
- Former Uber security chief faces criminal charges for hiding 2016 breach
- Genealogy Giant Tagged for Iffy Auto-Renewal Policies
- Tesla stock reaches $2,000 amid soaring interest in EV companies
- Complex Launches First Tabletop Game Inspired By Hit ‘Hot Ones’ YouTube Series
- HBO Max cranks up the Widevine DRM, leaves Linux users in the cold
- A Chrome feature is creating enormous load on global root DNS servers
- Family Vlogger Landon Clifford, Of ‘Cam & Fam’ Channel, Has Passed Away At Age 19
- YouTube Terminates LeafyIsHere’s Channel For Repeated Violations Of Harassment Policies
- YouTube Took Down Most Videos Ever In A Single Quarter After COVID Altered Its Moderation Approach
- YouTube Unveils List Of Year’s Top ‘Direct Response’ Ads As Format Continues To Flourish
- YouTube Millionaires: Benji Krol Brings His 11 Million TikTok Followers To YouTube
- BTS Reclaims YouTube Record With 3 Million Concurrent Viewers For “Dynamite” Music Video Premiere
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 8/24/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 8/24/2020
- Los Angeles Cuts Sway House’s Power, Water To Stop Them From Having Parties
- Insights: Crunchyroll Shows How To Build A Giant Audience For A “Niche” Channel
- Back to School Special: Recordings, Photos, Kids, and Parental Consent
- Has The Pandemic Shown That The Techlash Was Nonsense?
- Blockchain and Digital Assets News and Trends
- Tech Company and its CEO charged for fraud and registrations violations in connection with a $5 million Initial Coin Offering
- US Justice Department seizes cryptocurrency from three terror finance cyber-enabled campaigns
- Calif. App. Court (1st Dist) Rejects Claims Against Digital Currency Exchange Regarding Unsupported Currency
- Twitter to SEC: FTC Steamed Over Violated Consent Decree
- The Ethics of Social Media “Friendship”
- The death of Legal Tech?
- Understanding DNS—anatomy of a BIND zone file
- How Zeynep Tufekci Keeps Getting the BigThings Right
- Pixel Pioneer Passes
A.I.
- Appeals court hands down the UK’s first judgment on automated facial recognition
- The term ‘ethical AI’ is finally starting to mean something
- Data-Informed Predictive Policing Was Heralded As Less Biased. Is It?
- British Grading Debacle Shows Pitfalls of Automating Government
- Regulation of Artificial Intelligence in Europe and Japan
- NIST Publishes Proposed Principles for “Explainable” AI Systems
- AI Standards Update: NIST Solicits Comments on the Four Principles of Explainable Artificial Intelligence and Certain Other Developments
- NIST Seeking Comments on Draft AI Principles
- NAIC adopts principles for trustworthy artificial intelligence in insurance that support the avoidance of proxy discrimination against protected classes
- AI: Security and Privacy Risks with Big Data
COMMUNICATIONS
- Bizarre Court Ruling Helps Cable Broadband Monopoly Charter Tap Dance Around Merger Conditions
- AT&T, T-Mobile fight speed tests that could prove their coverage maps wrong
- Commerce Department Further Restricts Huawei Access to U.S. Technology Abroad and Expands Reach of Entity List
- Zombie BlackBerrys! QWERTY BlackBerry Android phones are coming back
- Regulators Are Ignoring How Low Orbit Satellite Broadband Is Trashing The Night Sky
- Boys And Girls Club Backtracks After Folks Ask Why It’s Helping A Cable Monopoly Lobby The FCC
- FCC’s 5G Fast Plan Gains Momentum
- 5G in US averages 51Mbps while other countries hit hundreds of megabits
- The FCC begins streamlined processing of licensing applications for small satellites
- FCC Overhauls Its Broadband Data Collection Rules and Modernizes its Broadband Mapping
- FCC Seeks Comment on Developing 2021 Annual Broadband Deployment Report
- Running a friends-and-family promotion in Canada? Cruel, cryptic CASL strikes again
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- On the Barefoot Contessa, Peppermint Bark, and the Volitional Conduct Requirement for Copyright Infringement
- Virtual Reconstruction Of Ancient Temple Destroyed By ISIS Is Another Reason To Put Your Holiday Photos Into The Public Domain
- Mango v. Buzzfeed: On claim that media site violated DMCA by publishing photographer’s work without permission 2nd Cir. holds plain language of DMCA does not require evidence of infringement by third party.
- Buzz-sawed: Give Copyright Credit or Face Statutory Damages, Fees, Costs
- To Embed or Not to Embed?: A New Challenge to Embedding Images From Social Media
- Basset v. Jensen: Artist prevails on summary judgment against production company after her home used as set for pornographic films resulted in unauthorized use of her copyrighted works appearing in background.
- Waite v. UMG Recordings, Inc.: In class action involving termination of grants of copyrighted sound recordings, court rulrd that “gap grants” are terminable under Section 203 of the Copyright Act.
- Genius Media Group v. Google LLC: Court dismisses suit against Google for copying and using content from lyrics website Genius in search engine results, finding state law claims preempted by Copyright Act.
- In Da Courts: Second Circuit Affirms Lower Court Ruling in Rick Ross vs. 50 Cent Copyright Feud
- Copyright Troll Richard Liebowitz Reveals His Retainer Agreement: He Gets Most Of The Money
- Judge Recommends Copyright Troll Richard Liebowitz Be Removed From Roll Of The Court For Misconduct In Default Judgment Case
- Copyright Wars – Episode I: The Fandom Menace?
- Open Source Software: Litigation Windfall or Landmine?
- Copyright Board Ordered to Take a New Look at Streaming Services Rate Structure
- New Cost-Efficient Copyright Registration Option for Influencers and Bloggers
- Quebec Superior Court declines to issue a Norwich order to identify the supplier of grey market perfumes
- Apple Goes In Even Harder Against Prepear Over Non-Apple Logo
- Trademarks and the obligation of use
- Common misconceptions when managing trademarks internationally
- Defender vs. Grenadier
- Look into Local Connotations for Your Proposed Trademark
- Race to the Top: Trademark Litigation in the Equine Industry
- Second Circuit Vacates Tiffany’s $21 Million Win Over Costco
- Diamonds are Forever, but Tiffany’s $21M Trademark Win is Not
- Understanding the nuances of trademark use in various ARIPO jurisdiction
- Where’s my world trademark?
- How A Non-U.S. Trademark Applicant Establishes a Bona Fide Intent to Use in U.S. Commerce
- Brew Dog, Aldi Get Into Brand Battle With Good Nature, Not Cease And Desists
- As the craft beer market goes mainstream, how should brand owners go about protecting their trade marks?
- Danger on the Horizon: Detecting Early Signs of Trade Secret Theft by Competitors
- First Circuit Reverses Trade Secret Misappropriation Verdict Even Though Employee Stole Company Information
- Workplace Confidential: Preventing Former Employees from Using Your Trade Secrets
- No License, No Chips, No Problem: Ninth Circuit Vacates Injunction in FTC v. Qualcomm
- Unwired Planet v Huawei – Supreme Court decision
- Admitted Art Ruled Out as IPR Trial Ground Reference
- Black Box Structure Insufficient for MPF Element
- Standard Essential Patent Licensing Practices Do Not Violate Antitrust Laws
- Supreme Court decision in Unwired Planet v Huawei and Conversant v Huawei and ZTE
- Unwired Planet v Huawei and Conversant v Huawei & ZTE – Supreme Court Judgment 2020
- “Half-Liquid” is Wholly Indefinite
- Improved Method of Operating a Flow Cytometry Apparatus Is Not Abstract
- Standard Essentiality Is a Question for the Fact Finde
- Golden Rules for Drafting Enforceable US Claims
- Promoting the Progress of Science: How Clinical Stage Patent Strategies Can Bring New Pharmaceuticals to Market
- CJEU rules that “pay-for-delay” agreements may be anti-competitive
- Intellectual Property Intel: Understanding the Impact of Bankruptcy on a Company’s Most Valuable Assets
- Bipartisan “Advancing America’s Interests Act” Seeks to Curtail Intellectual Property Enforcement at the International Trade Commission
PRIVACY
- Responding to cyber-attacks – lessons for Saskatchewan municipalities from recent data breaches
- Ontario announces major privacy consultation – privacy laws in Canada’s two largest provinces may soon change
- Ontario signals the coming of commercial privacy legislation
- De-identify, Anonymize and De-index: New Verbs and New Obligations!
- Manufacturers of internet of things devices: guidance from the Canadian Federal Privacy Commissioner
- Massachusetts Top Court Says Cops Need Warrants To Engage In Long-Term Video Surveillance Of People’s Houses
- Unredacted suit shows Google’s own engineers confused by privacy settings
- VoLTE Flaw Lets A Hacker Spy On Encrypted Communications For A Measly $7,000
- “DeathStalker” hackers are (likely) older and more prolific than we thought
- Secret Service Latest To Use Data Brokers To Dodge Warrant Requirements For Cell Site Location Data
- Bridgefy, the messenger promoted for mass protests, is a privacy disaster
- The Battle Continues: 101 Complaints are Filed Against Companies Transferring Data to the United States
- Police Monitoring Of Social Media Sparks Concerns In Black And Brown Communities
- California Fusion Center Tracked Anti-Police Protests, Sent Info To 14,000 Police Officers
- College contact-tracing app readily leaked personal data, report finds
- Court of Appeal gives guidance on digital records held on electronic devices in criminal proceedings
- UK Says South Wales Police’s Facial Recognition Program Is Unlawful
- Have retailers disclosed whether they “sell” personal information?
- Uber ex-security chief charged with covering up data hack: Prosecutors say Uber attempted to hide a massive breach as a sort of favour hackers did to the company by identifying a flaw in its computer networks
- NSA Releases Helpful Guidance for Limiting Location Data Exposure
- The CCPA Regulations Are Now Final, But They’re Not Exactly What The Attorney General Proposed
- Frequently Asked Questions: Privacy and Cybersecurity Issues Arising from the Virtual Learning Environment
- Schrems II – What Next for International Data Transfers?
- Schrems II Could Disrupt US Courts’ Common Ground on eDiscovery and Data Transfers from Europe
- Do most retailers take the position that the use of third party behavioral advertising cookies is, or is not, the “sale” of personal information?
- Consumer Reports Study Shows Many ‘Smart’ Doorbells Are Dumb, Lack Basic Security
- DiceKeys creates a master password for life with one roll
CREATIVITY
- Class-action alleges that carrot cake containing “natural and artificial flavor” is deceptively advertised
- Oreo False Advertising Class Action Lacks Filling
- Archaeologists discover earliest British art on Jersey
Jon
News of the Week; August 19, 2020
GAMES
- FTC Issues Staff Perspective on Video Game Loot Boxes
- FTC Staff Issue Perspective Paper on Video Game Loot Boxes Workshop
- FTC Video Game Loot Box Workshop (Staff Perspective)
- ‘Fortnite’ Battles Big Tech: Why Epic Games Is Suing Apple, Google Over Their App Store ‘Monopolies’
- Epic Games v. Apple Inc. (Complaint for Injunctive Relief, August 13, 2020, United States District Court Northern District of California)
- Epic’s Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite video is an irresponsible piece of corporate propaganda | Opinion: Fortnite’s operator is demonstrating it’s fully prepared to weaponize its young audience of millions for its own monetary gain
- Insights: The Teachable Moments In The TikTok/’Fortnite’ Teenpocalypse
- Epic Games sues Apple to end what Epic calls ‘unfair and anti-competitive actions’
- Fortnite takes on Apple’s App Store in Epic antitrust battle royale
- The Fortnite App Store Battle: A Real Antitrust Conundrum, Or Just A Carefully Planned Out Contract Negotiation?
- Epic files suit against Apple after Fortnite pulled from iOS App Store
- Apple to revoke Epic’s dev tools, including those used for Unreal Engine
- Apple terminating Epic developer accounts, tools access: Epic files motion in US courts for a temporary restraining order in response
- Apple threatens to boot Epic and Unreal Engine off Mac and iOS
- Epic asks court to block Apple’s ‘retaliation’ as Fortnite, Unreal Engine face consequences
- Epic offers discount to Fortnite players on mobile, but only if they dodge platform fees
- Apple, Google pull Fortnite from App Store over Epic’s new in-app payment option
- Fortnite removed from App Store after it dodges Apple’s rule on direct payments: Epic Games has filed a legal complaint against Apple, taking the fight over the 30% cut to US courts
- Sensor Tower: Apple’s removal of Fortnite cuts off $1.2b in player spending – Data firm’s estimates show huge disparity in monthly spending between iOS and Android versions of Epic’s game
- Epic Games Deploys Viral #FreeFortnite Campaign As It Sues Apple, Google For Removing Game From App Stores
- Epic, Creator of Fortnite, sues Apple and Google Over App Store Altercation
- Florida landmark Coral Castle suing Epic Games: Company behind the tourist attraction demands damages and removal of in-game castle
- Apple eyes rolling Apple Arcade into bundles with other Apple-exclusive services
- Fortnite has also been kicked off of Google Play: And, as with Apple, Epic Games is now also suing Google for anti-competitive practices
- Epic Games is now also suing Google over ‘anti-competitive’ Android policies
- Epic’s battle for “open platforms” ignores consoles’ massive closed market
- In 2018, women came forward about misconduct at Rocksteady – and were ignored
- Rocksteady releases employee letter defending it from accusations: Multiple women who co-signed 2018 letter about sexism at Arkham Knight studio say recent report of management’s response misrepresented the situation
- Ex-Rocksteady writer asks for name to be left off Suicide Squad credits: Senior scriptwriter says she wrote the original 2018 letter alerting management to sexual harassment problems and was pushed out for it
- IGDA issues statement on human rights violations in Belarus: County’s recent disputed election spurred protests, with protesters reporting being arrested, beaten, and tortured
- Gree is suing Supercell for patent infringement in Clash Royale and Brawl Stars
- Infernal Technology and Terminal Reality Sue Ubisoft, Epic Games, Take-Two, Sony, Crytek, Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, and Electronic Arts for Patent Infringement
- Valve forbids developers to promote other platforms on Steam: Valve clarified that the new language on the FAQ was just a “reminder of existing rules for developers exploring the boundaries of the existing policies”
- Game refunds & the hidden costs of ‘getting to net’ on Steam
- Former Assassin’s Creed Valhalla creative director fired after misconduct investigation
- Ubisoft’s Ashraf Ismail fired following misconduct investigation: The creative director had stepped down from his role on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla in June
- New allegations show the cycle of abuse and misconduct runs deep at Ubisoft
- Creative Europe wasn’t aware of Alexis Kennedy accusations when it gave The Weather Factory money: Industry hits back at the EACEA’s decision to award the studio a €150,000 grant
- Games dominated UK entertainment sales during initial months of lockdown: Entertainment Retailers’ Association reports 21 of the top 40 best-selling projects were games
- UK Charts: EA Sports UFC 4 battles to No.1 – Animal Crossing New Horizons down to No.2
- Ghost of Tsushima was the best-selling game in the US in July – NPD: However, rankings this month do not include Take-Two digital sales data
- Take-Two Interactive acquires mobile studio Playdots for $192 million
- Game companies have claimed £444m in UK tax relief since 2014: 1,375 games have claimed VGTR over the last six years, with UK expenditure reaching £3.7 billion
- State of Games: What happens to the industry when the pandemic is over? – Newzoo’s Candice Mudrick explores the impact of COVID-19 on cloud gaming and other platforms, and forecasts what comes next
- COVID-19 drives first-half mobile app spending to $50b – App Annie: Mobile analytics firm says pandemic “has changed consumer behavior on mobile forever”
- A Total War Saga: Troy was downloaded 7.5m times in 24 hours: Epic Games Store giveaway brought a huge number of players “new and old” into Creative Assembly’s new game
- Surgeon Simulator developer Bossa Studios is going fully remote
- Tera publisher En Masse is shutting down after over a decade
- Stacking the deck against the new console launches | Opinion: Halo Infinite’s delay is a watershed moment — between economic recession and development disruption, the climate is looking tougher than ever
- Only Control Ultimate Edition owners will receive its free next-gen upgrade: Those who purchased the regular edition of Control on consoles will not automatically get the game on PS5 or Xbox One X
- Menus on Xbox Series X will look a lot like those on Xbox One
- Microsoft has unveiled the new look of the Xbox Series X dashboard
- Microsoft: We’re Not Trying To Sell More Consoles Than Sony And The PS5, We’re Doing Something Else
- Forza Horizon 3 reaches the end of its life: Players will still be able to play the racer after September 27
- Wildlife raises $120m, valuation now reaches $3bn: The mobile games company has raised $250 million to date
- Bandai Namco: How long can we sustain working with independent studios? – Hervé Hoerdt on the impact of acquisitions on finding AAA partners, and the challenge of finding new IP for the coming console transition
- How EA turned The Sims into a reality TV show: During GamesIndustry.biz digital conference Changing Channels, EA talked about how to evolve a brand into a concept for another medium
- EA unifies EA Access and Origin Access branding as EA Play
- EA Access and Origin Access Basic become EA Play: EA’s annual summer event, EA Play, will now be called EA Play Live
- EA Play, formerly EA Access, launches on Steam on August 31: Subscription service includes franchises such as The Sims, Battlefield, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and others
- Electronic Arts’ EA Play subscription service arrives on Steam this month
- PUBG Corp invests $10 million into 1Up Ventures to support indies
- PUBG Corporation invests $10m in venture capital firm: Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds developer “looking to foster the next generation of video game developers around the world”
- THQ parent company Embracer has purchased Metro dev 4A Games and others
- RektGlobal has acquired Fearless Media: Acquisition puts digital advertising agency in company with Greenlit Content, Rogue, and Fullcube
- Sega will “aggressively” focus on PC ports after Steam strength during lockdown: Strong sales of Persona 4 Golden port will lead to more Sega catalogue titles on PC
- Embracer Group acquires multiple studios, including 4A Games: THQ Nordic parent company also acquires New World Interactive, Pow Wow Entertainment, and Deca Live Operations
- Paradox posts record Q2 revenue and profits: “We leave an operational as well as financially successful quarter behind us,” says CEO
- Amplifier Game Invest buys three studios, extends investment in another: Acquisitions include Palindrome Interactive, Rare Earth Games, and Vermila Studios
- Lazlow Jones left Rockstar Games to work on Disney and Netflix shows: Former GTA writer and in-game radio DJ also consulting with an unknown games company
- Licensing lessons from Hello Neighbor’s success: During GamesIndustry.biz’s Changing Channels, Alex Nichiporchik gave pieces of advice and words of warning for developers tempted by a licensing adventure
- Bossa Studios shifts to hybrid remote/office model: Surgeon Simulator developer allows people to work at home permanently, but office remains open to benefit mental health
- Lumikai is the first VC fund to focus on India’s growing games industry: New fund will make up to 20 early-stage deals worth between $200,000 and $2m each
- Netmarble’s global portfolio maintains growth in Q2: Korean mobile developer saw 75% of its revenue come from overseas
- Steady beat of new mobile titles brings Q2 growth for NetEase: World of Warcraft in China also saw record concurrent users during the first half of the year
- Foreign developers can only hope to reach China with mobile games | Opinion: The last crop of officially approved games tells us a lot about the Chinese market, says Apptutti’s Daniel Camilo
- Odyssey Interactive raises $6m to make impactful games for a new generation: Co-founders Richard Henkel and Dax Andrus share their vision for a small, Supercell-like team born from their work at Riot on Teamfight Tactics
- Ex-Riot devs launch multiplayer game studio Odyssey Interactive in Canada
- Jagex Partners signs Shadow Warrior developer in first publishing deal: Runescape publisher will release new sci-fi action game from Polish studio Flying Wild Hog in 2021
- Hitman 2’s multiplayer assassination race Ghost Mode is going dark after two years
- Tencent picks up minority stake in hyper casual game publisher Voodoo
- Tencent profits soar amid COVID-19 pandemic: Second quarter results testify to the “diligence of our teams and resilience of our business model” says Tencent CEO
- Epic and Unity rev their engines for the next era of entertainment
- Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 leads fired
- Paradox & Hardsuit Labs fire two creative leads on Bloodlines 2
- Shroud’s Homecoming Twitch Stream Brings 3 Million Live Viewers
- 14-Year-Old ‘Fortnite’ Pro FaZe Ewok Returns To Twitch
- Safeguarding children in the virtual world of esports – lessons to be learnt from the real world
- Oculus plans to replace Oculus Accounts with Facebook Accounts
- New Oculus Users Required to Use Facebook Account Starting in October, Existing Users by 2023
- The Facebookening of Oculus VR becomes more pronounced starting in October [Updated]
- Grounded: A big experimental adventure made by Obsidian’s tiniest team – Adam Brennecke talks about his 16 years at the studio, and how a history of RPG development led to a backyard survival game
- Investment platform pays record $140,000 for sealed Super Mario Bros.
- War Stories: Diablo’s loot lottery was almost a turn-based affair
- Blog: Analysing the level design in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Blog: Mortal Kombat’s John Tobias on the creation and evolution of a franchise
- Blog: Game composers and the importance of themes – Part 3
- Blog: Designing for accessibility in Fake Illusions
- Blog: Simple performance capture for indie developers
- Blog: The creative dynamics between games and players
- Blog: Player segments based on gaming motivations
- Video: Quad mesh simplification in the Frostbite engine
- Video: Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair speedrun with dev Chris Sutherland
- Video: Republic Commando speedrun with dev commentary from Harley Baldwin
- Postmortem: A look back at the 5-year development of Eastshade
- You can now play an ultra-rare Quake arcade cabinet at home
- Obituary: ZeniMax board member Robert Trump
- U.S. Patent no. 9,526,995: Video game recording and playback with visual display of game controller manipulation
DIGITAL
- It’s Not Too Late to Save the Internet
- Google Warns Australians That The Government’s Plan To Tax Google To Give Money To Newspapers Will Harm Search & YouTube
- Court Says First Amendment Protects Ex-Wife’s Right To Publicly Discuss Her Ex-Husband On Her Personal Blog
- Facebook says it will crack down on QAnon conspiracy theory but stops short of full ban
- Anti-vaccine group sues Facebook, claims fact-checking is “censorship”
- Oh Snap! Employee Lawfully Terminated For Profanity-Laced Facebook Post
- Facebook Messenger starts taking over Instagram Direct messages
- What if Facebook goes down? Ethical and legal considerations for the demise of big tech
- Not A Good Look: Facebook’s Public Policy Director In India Files A Criminal Complaint Against A Journalist For A Social Media Post
- Muting Misinformation: What’s the role of social media companies?
- Why Chicago’s Mayor should reconsider social media monitoring
- Antitrust and Platform Monopoly (Herbert Hovenkamp)
- Big Tech Funds a Think Tank Pushing for Fewer Rules. For Big Tech
- Tweeters Were Criminally Charged For The Crime Of Trying To Identify A Police Officer… Who The Police Revealed In The Charging Docs
- Report: 2015 Twitter breach targeted Saudi dissidents, led to arrests
- Devin Nunes Is Still Suing A Satirical Cow & A Political Consultant, But Judge Rejects Attempt To Bring Twitter Back
- Gambling advertisements – how to get approval from Facebook to run gambling ads
- The Globar War: the EU’s Apple Tax Case
- Apple’s value soars to a record $2 trillion
- Apple bundles CBS and Showtime with Apple TV+, announces new Music radio stations
- TikTok Integrates With Music Distributor UnitedMasters, Will Let Artists Boost Their Songs From Its App To Spotify, Apple Music, More
- President Trump Orders Chinese Company ByteDance to Divest Its Holdings in TikTok (formerly Musical.ly)
- So Now We Needed Another Ridiculous Executive Order About TikTok That Goes Beyond The President’s Authority?
- Oracle enters race to buy TikTok’s US operations
- Microsoft takes one more step toward the death of Internet Explorer
- WarnerMedia Looking To Sell Anime Service Crunchyroll For Reported $1.5 Billion
- Indiana Cities File Doomed Lawsuit Against Disney, Netflix, Demand 5% of Gross Revenues
- Disney+ will show a Lego Star Wars Holiday Special on Wookiee Life Day
- Apple’s Prime equivalent “Apple One” will launch in October
- People Spend 25% Of Their TV Time Streaming Netflix, YouTube, Disney+ (Report)
- Cities sue Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, claim they owe cable “franchise fees”
- Netflix Rolls Out Content Shuffle Feature, Wants Viewers To Feel More Like They’re Watching Traditional TV
- YouTube Comes Out Swinging Against Proposed Australian Law Requiring It To Pay News Publishers
- Lilly Singh Lands Primetime Comedy Show At NBC, Bringing Her YouTube Sketches To Primetime
- Studio71 Signs Supermodel — And Burgeoning YouTube Personality — Naomi Campbell
- Google/Fitbit deal runs into competition issues
- Google Defeats Account Termination Case on Section 230 Grounds (Mostly)–Enhanced Athlete v. YouTube (Eric Goldman)
- It Doesn’t Make Sense To Treat Ads The Same As User Generated Content
- Confused Critic Of Section 230 Now In Charge Of NTIA
- If Oracle Buys TikTok, Would It Suddenly Change Its Tune On Section 230?
- Why Keep Section 230? Because People Need To Be Able To Complain About The Police
- Content Moderation Case Study: Amazon’s Attempt To Remove ‘Sock Puppet’ Reviews Results In The Deletion Of Legitimate Reviews (November 2012)
- Google Responds To Hong Kong’s New National Security Law By Rejecting Its Government’s Requests For Data
- Gmail’s big merger with Google Chat and Meet starts rolling out today
- Google Maps gets “more detailed, colorful map”
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 8/17/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 8/17/2020
- YouTube Will Let Creators Prevent Channel Editors From Seeing Revenue Data
- Amid YouTube Channel Exodus, Bon Appétit Taps Marcus Samuelsson As Advisor, Guest Editor
- Quibi Tries To Spur Second (Or First?) Wave Of Hype On Social Video
- Jake Paul Signs With New Management — Shots Studios CEO John Shahidi
- Retailers use influencer marketing while commercial photo shoots are shut down
- Social Media Influencers and FTC Lawsuits
- Influencer Law and Contract Disputes
- Fanjoy Teams With Apparel Giant ‘Mad Engine’ To Bring Influencer Merch To Physical Retailers
- Snapchat Will Let Users Share Original Shows Off-Platform, Is Rebranding Its ‘For You’ Feed (Report)
- Spotify Is Hiring A Head Of Audiobooks, Signaling Its Ambitions In The Space
- Is Bitcoin money?
- Bitcoin Is “Money” for Purposes of D.C. Money Transmission Law, Says Federal Court
- Texas State Securities Board halts cryptocurrency debit card investment scheme
- How the Custom Ringtone Industry Paved the Way for the App Store – and Then Vanished: Why I miss Crazy Frog
- COVID-19 Mobile Phone Apps Fail the Most Vulnerable (Susan Erikson)
- Europe Proves Contact-Tracing Apps Aren’t a Coronavirus Cure-All .
- Bit by (Twitch) Bit: “Platform Capture” and the Evolution of Digital Platforms
- When Technology Meets Ideology: Frame Analysis of Ideological Discourses on the Nature of the Internet in American Magazines of Opinion (1995-2019)
- The Golden Age of computer user groups
A.I.
- UK ditches exam results generated by biased algorithm after student protests: Protesters chanted ‘Fuck the algorithm’ outside the country’s Department for Education
- England’s Exam Fiasco Shows How Not To Apply Algorithms To Complex Problems With Massive Social Impact
- Court rules AI breaks equality laws
- Algorithmic Colonization of Africa
- The Whiteness of AI
- Data, AI and Society – What is ‘Race in Algorithmic Discrimination on the Basis of Race?
- AI in Life Sciences
- From Pool to Profile: Social Consequences of Algorithmic Prediction in Insurance
- National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence releases Second Quarterly Report
- NSC on Artificial Intelligence releases Second Quarterly Report Includes recommendations to update export controls, screen foreign investment, accelerate research, and establish a National Reserve Digital Corps
- UK ICO issues new guidance on AI and data protection
- Designing or buying in AI? 5 things to minimise GDPR risk
- Evaluating Patentability of AI Inventions
- US Patent Office Sued For Requiring Human Inventor on Patent Applications
- Could robots replace humans in mediation?
COMMUNICATIONS
- Trump, Big Telecom Continue Quest To Ban States From Protecting Broadband Consumers
- Chip and phone supply chain shaken as Huawei faces mortal threat
- Verizon Forced To Back Off Charging Extra For 5G
- Want Verizon or AT&T 5G? You’ll have to buy an expensive unlimited plan
- FCC beats cities in court, helping carriers avoid $2 billion in local 5G fees
- Court Largely Rules in Favor of FCC in Small Wireless Facility Orders Disputes
- FCC asks for more public input on whether to let Charter impose data caps
- Charter can charge online video sites for network connections, court rules
- Charter Spectrum Tells FCC Broadband Caps Are ‘Popular’ As It Tries To Kill Merger Conditions Preventing Them
- AT&T Fires Hundreds Of DC, HBO Execs In Latest Example Of ‘Merger Synergies’
- Sharp Elbows and Profit-Maximizing Licensing Ruled Insufficient Evidence of Anticompetitive Conduct in FTC v. Qualcomm, Inc.
- Ninth Circuit Reverses FTC Win in FTC v. Qualcomm, Finding No Antitrust Violations from Qualcomm’s Licensing of its Standard-Essential Patents
- NAB Announces that a Majority in Congress Have Signed on to the Local Radio Freedom Act – A Look at the Broadcast Performance Royalty Debate
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Judge Denies Copyright Troll Malibu Media’s Request For A Default Judgment
- Media Co. Ordered To Stop ‘Cartoon Classics’ DMCA Notices
- Don’t use my music! Neil Young sues Donald Trump for copyright infringement
- More Rockin’ In The Free World
- S.D. Florida Refuses To Toss Artist’s Claims Over Alleged Knock-off Art Installation
- Copyright in photographs – not such monkey business
- Copyright Reforms to Better Support the Digital Environment
- Should Massachusetts extend its right-to-repair law to connected cars?
- EUIPO joins WIPO DAS for EU registered design applications
- False Claim of Exclusive Distributorship results in Injunction and Forced Recall of Grey Market Goods
- Boston University Applies For Trademark On Offensive COVID-19 Awareness Slogan For Some Reason
- UK High Court rejects Land Rover’s appeal for registration of Defender shape marks
- Costco Gets Trademark Judgement Overturned, Defeating Tiffany And Co.
- Second Circuit Overturns Tiffany’s $21M Judgment Against Costco in Trademark Battle
- Three Keyword Advertising Decisions in a Week, and the Trademark Owners Lost Them All (Eric Goldman)
- An apple is an apple, a pear is a pear. Don’t Compear!
- Yes, You CAN Trademark Cannabis Products and Services in Maryland
- Are Valentino’s Rockstud® Shoes as Distinctive as the Red Soles?
- If You Coexist, You Need Not Desist (Part One): TTAB Grants Laches Defense After 4 Years Coexistence
- Atomic Café Trademark Litigation Against LeanBox and Cold Brew Does Not Trigger Travelers Indemnity’s Duty to Defend or Indemnify, Judge Green Rules
- 3D trade marks: it’s all in the gömböc
- Supreme Court Lets Booking.com Reserve Its Brand: Generic.com Terms Can Now Be Registered as Trademarks
- Generic Trademarks in a Digital World
- General Court refuses registration of ‘XOXO’ mark in relation to fashion goods
- The conception of a drinks brand – innovation and IP
- Jurisdictional Toss Gives Sommeliers Reason to Whine
- Tips for Defendants Litigating Software Disputes at the Intersection of Trade Secret, Copyright and Patent Law
- Self-Driving to Federal Prison: The Trade Secret Theft Saga of Anthony Levandowski Continues
- Protecting Trade Secrets: Lessons Learned From the Levandowski Case
- Not so Pretty: Cosmetic Company Acquisitions Lead to Contentious Trade Secret Spat
- Keeping up With the Kardashian-[Jenner]’s Trade Secret Battle
- Appeals court ruling for Qualcomm “a victory of theory over facts”
- It Was Nice While It Lasted: 9th Circuit Rejects Lower Court Ruling On How Abuse Of Patent Monopolies Can Violate Antitrust
- New Federal Court Decision Provides for Greater Protection of Combination Drugs Under CETA
- Glass Half Empty: Patent Reciting “Half Liquid” Is Indefinite
- “Method of Preparation” Claims Still Patent Eligible Under § 101 in Modified Opinion
- Explain Yourself: “Untethered” Obviousness Determination Reversed
- Court Upholds Patent Eligibility of “Method of Preparation” Claims in Modified Opinion
- Lack of inventive step: reading v appreciating
- Patent Quality, Ranking and Valuation
- Limiting the Use of Applicant Admitted Prior Art
- Federal Circuit Directs Transfer Of Patent Suit From Western District Of Texas To Northern District Of California
- Casting a New Light on Diagnostic Patents: “Methods of Preparation” Patent-Eligible
- Fighting Counterfeits at the U.S. Border: The Counterfeit Goods Seizure Act of 2019 Would Expand Customs and Border Patrol Enforcement to Design Patents
- Key Considerations and Tools for IP Protection of Computer Programs in Europe and Beyond
- The Expanding Scope of Patentability of Computer related Inventions: A Welcome Development
PRIVACY
- Cops in Miami, NYC arrest protesters from facial recognition matches
- Secret Service buys location data that would otherwise need a warrant
- Bill 64: Mirroring the GDPR?
- Bill 64 and The Exportation of Personal Data From Quebec: Complications In Sight
- Ontario Government Launches Consultation to Enhance Privacy Protections
- Hopping on the Bandwagon: The Council of the European Union Imposes its First Sanctions for Cyber-attacks
- Judge Forbids Facebook Users Being Sued By A Cop From Publishing The Cop’s Name On Social Media
- CBP Privacy Impact Assessment Says It Can Pull All Sorts Of Data And Communications From Peoples’ Devices At The Border
- Capital One to Pay $80 Million Fine for 2019 Data Security Hack
- Booze and cruise providers are the latest to be hit by ransomware scourge
- WM Morrison Supermarkets plc v Various Claimants – Supreme Court rules on vicarious liability for unlawful disclosure of personal data by rogue employee
- Clearview Hires Prominent First Amendment Lawyer To Argue For Its Right To Sell Scraped Data To Cops
- ICE Signs $274,000 Contract With Clearview
- DC Police Union Sues To Block The Release Of Names Of Officers Involved In Shootings
- Search Company Slammed by FTC for Fake Salacious Reports
- Disney/Viacom/Kiloo Settlements Creating a Future Trend Exceeding Federal Privacy Rights Under COPPA
- LinkedIn Seeks Supreme Court Review of Data Harvesting Dispute
- The California Consumer Privacy Act Regulations Are Finally Here, But Wait There’s More…
- CCPA Regulations Take Effect, Six Weeks After CCPA Enforcement Begins
- California Approves Final CCPA Regulations
- The CCPA Regulations Are Final – Summary of OAL’s Changes
- Finally, the CCPA Regulations Are Finalized…For Now
- CCPA Final Regulations, with a Few Unexpected Changes
- NSA and FBI warn that new Linux malware threatens national security
- Hackers can eavesdrop on mobile calls with $7,000 worth of equipment
- An Alexa bug could have exposed your voice history to hackers
- Schrems II: Reflections on the Decision and Next Steps (Daniel Solove)
- Schrems II: 7 practical steps on what to do next
- Impact of Invalidation of US-EU Privacy Shield on Share-Based Incentive Programs
- Is it legal to record video meetings?
CREATIVITY
- B.C.’s new vaping regulations may breach Charter rights: Canadian Constitution Foundation
- Did Vape Maker Smear Competitor With Nonexistent Lawsuit?
- China’s National-Security Law Reaches Into Harvard, Princeton Classrooms: Professors at elite U.S. universities turn to code names, warning labels to protect students
- Spooky action at a distance: The future magic of remote collaboration
- AMC Theaters: Risk Death And Disability To Watch Movie Reruns For 15 Cents!
- Legendary Berlin nightclub to open for all as art gallery
- “These are not my grades”: could downgraded A-Level results be defamatory?
- “Moralistic Preening” and Broken Commitments Under the Washington Principles—Ninth Circuit Chastises Spain for Keeping Nazi-looted Pissarro but Rules Painting Will not Return to Cassirer Family
- Ricky Byrdsong And The Cost Of Speech
Jon
News of the Week; August 12, 2020
GAMES
- Aeon Must Die dev Limestone Games faces accusations of “endless crunch” and IP theft: Publisher Focus Home Interactive is “carefully looking into” allegations
- Goldeneye 64 remake shut down by James Bond licence holders: Developers will now redesign upcoming ’90s-style shooter as Project Ianus
- Ubisoft Loses Appeal and Patent Related to “Rocksmith” is Invalidated
- UK survey finds positive links between playing games and literacy
- New research shows video games improve literacy: 35% of the respondents said that playing games made them better readers
- EA shareholders say no to massive proposed raises for executives
- EA shareholders reject executive compensation plan: If plan goes ahead, CEO Andrew Wilson’s compensation will rise to $21.4 million
- Riot forms global deals council and ethics committee after NEOM controversy
- Riot Games creates global deals council and ethics committee: Following the Neom controversy, the developer will be examining its sponsorship deals more closely
- How to usher more women into leadership roles within the game industry
- Interplay silent on Earthworm Jim developer’s racist, homophobic remarks: TenNapel and Intellivision confirm he is an “unpaid consultant” on Earthworm Jim 4
- Trump signs executive order that would ban transactions with Tencent: White House reportedly confirms this will not affect Tencent-related games firms, only WeChat
- Tencent reportedly driving Huya and DouYu to merge into livestreaming giant: Merging Chinese Twitch rivals would create a business worth $10 billion with 300 million users
- Blizzard employees reportedly preparing demands for fair pay: As dissatisfied staff organise, spokesperson says management “looks forward to hearing from them”
- Voltage Entertainment ends writers strike with new pay deal: Lovestruck writers will return to work after securing a deal that almost doubles their pay
- Practical tips to prevent abuse and build team trust: At GDC Summer, Emily Greer offers advice on how to build a respectful workplace and what to do when harassment occurs
- AbleGamers enlists Ryan Reynolds to highlight its mission, call for donations
- Silver Rain Games delivers on diversity goal with new hires: More than 60% of the team at Abubakar Salim’s new studio is from underrepresented ethnic groups
- King’s Sabrina Carmona offers practical tips to get more women leaders in games
- How Code Coven aims to Elevate marginalised developers: Tara Mustapha and Karla Reyes talks us through the ambitions for their upcoming accelerator, financed by the GDC Relief Fund
- How to better design your game communities for kindness
- Four ways game developers can help save the planet: At GDC Summer, the Playing for the Planet Alliance offered clear steps the industry can take to tackle the climate crisis
- Warner Bros restructure suggests games division is no longer for sale: Internal message reaffirms Interactive segment will continue “engaging fans with our brands and franchises through games”
- The COVID gaming boom — why and how to protect your IP
- Halo Infinite delay pushes it into 2021 and out of Xbox Series X launch lineup
- Microsoft announces November launch for Xbox Series X, Halo Infinite delay
- Halo Infinite delayed into 2021: Key Xbox Series X launch title pushed due to “multiple factors” including COVID-19
- Xbox Game Pass could be a boon for indie developers: At GDC Summer, solo developer Davionne Gooden explained how Xbox Game Pass offered a simple path to profit for his tiny studio
- Microsoft pulls iOS test for Project xCloud: Streaming service’s future on Apple devices uncertain as Xbox focuses on Android
- Xbox Series S outed by next-gen controller leak—and it’s legit
- Controller leak all but confirms ‘Xbox Series S’
- Xbox Series S confirmed by leaked controller: A white version of the Xbox Series X controller appeared online, pointing at more than one version of the next-gen Xbox console
- Xbox narrows down Series X launch window to November 2020
- Xbox Series X will launch in November: Console launch lineup will emphasize backward compatibility, Game Pass
- How your PS4 and Xbox One games will work on PS5 and Series X
- Crystal Dynamics Explains Spider-Man PS4 Exclusivity By Saying A Bunch Of… Words, I Guess?
- Console Exclusive Games Have Given Way To Console Exclusive Game Characters
- Apple won’t let Stadia or xCloud into iOS, citing App Store guidelines
- Apple blocking Project xCloud and Stadia because it can’t review every game: Microsoft responds, accusing Apple of “consistently treating gaming apps differently”
- Intellivision Amico delayed to April 2021: Upcoming retro games console pushed back six months due to “constraints imposed by the global pandemic”
- Microsoft condemns Apple’s App Store policies: Apple will not approve Microsoft’s xCloud gaming service
- Facebook slams Apple’s App Store policies, launches Facebook Gaming on iOS without games: Facebook is not happy with the months of rejections it has faced
- Facebook finally launches Facebook Gaming on iOS — without Instant Games: Platform condemns Apple’s strict approval process, saying it “severely hamstrings innovation on mobile”
- A data-driven primer for publishing agreements
- Is your publishing agreement fair?: At GDC Summer, lawyer Kellen Voyer broke down the average indie game publishing agreement in 2020
- US games spending once again reaches record quarterly highs: By the end of Q2, one out of every three US owners of either a PS4 or Xbox One owned both systems
- UK Charts: Nintendo Switch accounts for six of the Top Ten – Animal Crossing New Horizons is back at No.1
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons has sold over 22 million copies
- The Nintendo Switch has crossed 60 million lifetime sales
- Switch hardware and Animal Crossing driving growth at Nintendo
- Animal Crossing drives Nintendo Q1 profits up 500% to $1bn: New Horizons has sold more than 20 million units since March, Switch lifetime shipments passed 60 million units
- Final Fantasy VII Remake surpasses 5 million digital sales and shipments
- Mobile classic Subway Surfers surpasses 3 billion lifetime downloads
- Summoner’s War: Sky Arena reaches $2 billion in lifetime revenue: The mobile RPG first reached $1 billion in revenue in 2017, three years after launch
- Sega reports loss despite strong video game sales
- Fortnite developer Epic Games secures $1.78 billion in funding
- ‘Fortnite’ Publisher Epic Games Closes $1.78 Billion Funding Round At $17.3 Billion Valuation
- Epic Games is now worth $17.3bn following latest funding round: Fortnite firm raised $1.78 billion, including Sony’s $250 million investment
- Zynga’s revenues still soaring, losses still deepening for another quarter running: Success of two 2019 acquisitions has the company projecting a net loss of $550 million for the full year
- Zynga to acquire prolific hyper-casual game studio Rollic for $168 million
- Mobile developer Big Run Studios nets $5.25 million to expand operations
- Fall Guys has sold over 2 million copies on Steam alone
- Sugar rush financials don’t mean we’ve dodged the COVID bullet | Opinion: Publishers are reporting record revenues — but the industry isn’t “recession-proof” and there’s pain to come down the line
- The impact of COVID-19 on mobile games in H1 2020 and beyond: Sensor Tower’s Craig Chapple analyses changes to downloads and revenue in key markets as the pandemic has spread
- Why are you making your game’s store page unattractive?
- Enthusiast Gaming acquires Omnia Media in $11.2m deal: Transaction brings Omnia into group with Destructoid, Nintendo Enthusiast, the Escapist, and others
- H1Z1 dev Daybreak Games acquires Cold Iron Studios
- Cold Iron Studios gets sold for the fourth time: Daybreak Games has acquired the San Jose studio, which is still working on an Alien game
- Big Run Studios raises $5.25m in seed investment: In total, the mobile studio has raised over $6.6 million to date
- Game Discoverability Now: How big is your game’s Discord? (Not this big!)
- Vampire The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 delayed to 2021: Paradox Interactive and Hardsuit Labs also making organisational changes to improve long-awaited sequel
- Paradox reports upturn in revenue as expansion packs drive growth
- Nexon wants to build a virtual theme park for the future: CEO Owen Mahoney on how the publisher plans to be at the forefront of “lean forward” entertainment
- Twitch announces ‘Prime Gaming’ rebrand
- Amazon rebrands Twitch Prime to Prime Gaming: Name change explained as a move toward a more platform-agnostic vision
- US Army to reinstate its Twitch viewers banned for “harassing and degrading behavior”: Users were banned from the esports channel in droves last month for asking about the United States’ history of war crimes
- Shroud returns to Twitch: Following Mixer shutdown, Shroud signs exclusivity deal with his original platform
- DrDisrespect makes streaming return on YouTube: YouTube says it did not reach out or encourage him to do so
- Half A Million People Watched Dr. DisRespect’s First Post-Permaban Live Stream On YouTube
- Facebook Researchers Develop Bleeding-edge Facial Reconstruction Tech So You Can Make Goofy Faces in VR
- 1,100 words of praise for Thirty Flights of Loving | Why I Love: YCJY Games’ Josef Martinovsk explains how Blendo Games’ short story showed him what games could be
- Five tips for making better loot experiences in games
- Leveraging physical animation to sell Force powers in Jedi: Fallen Order
- Three nasty netcode bugs we fixed around Blightbound’s launch
- Inside the twisting, turning development of Hardspace: Shipbreaker
- Blog: Using Wikipedia as an interactive narrative device
- Blog: The value trap of free-to-play design
- Blog: Five secrets of game art direction
- Blog: Creating a progression curve for your casual game
- Blog: Scope – Choose A Target! Focus! Shoot!
- Don’t Miss: Why multiplayer almost didn’t make it into Halo: Combat Evolved
- High Score review: Netflix’s story of gaming’s “golden age” is honestly solid
- U.S. Patent no. 9,682,314: Method and system for temporarily incentivizing user participation in a game space
DIGITAL
- Genius Media Lawsuit Accusing Google of Stealing Song Lyrics Is Tossed
- Yes, Facebook Treats Trump Fans Differently: It Has Relaxed The Rules To Give Them More Leeway
- Trump campaign’s false COVID-19 claims taken down by Facebook and Twitter
- Mass hijacking spree takes over subreddits to promote Donald Trump
- Muting Misinformation: Can we sue to stop misleading political speech?
- The Silver Lining Of Internet Regulation: A Regulatory Impact Assessment
- Digital Technology As Accelerant: Growth And Genocide In Myanmar
- Ousted COO sues Pinterest, alleges rampant gender discrimination
- New Jersey prosecutors drop charges over tweeting a cop’s photo
- HS suspends teen who tweeted photo of hallway packed with maskless students
- HS that suspended teen who tweeted photo of hallway has 9 COVID-19 cases
- Paulding County High School Un-Suspends Student But Can’t Un-Infect Students Who Got COVID-19
- State Department Announces That Great Firewall For The US; Blocks Chinese Apps & Equipment
- New Executive Orders Target Chinese Apps
- Trump declares TikTok, WeChat “national emergency,” preps bans
- National Security Meets Teenage Dance Battles: Trump Issues Executive Orders Impacting TikTok and WeChat Business in the U.S.
- President Trump Issues Executive Orders Prohibiting Transactions Related to TikTok and WeChat
- Nine Things You Need to Know About the Trump Administration Sanctions Against TikTok and WeChat
- U.S. Government Takes Aim at TikTok and WeChat Citing Privacy and Security Concerns
- China already has your data. Trump’s TikTok and WeChat bans can’t stop that.
- Trump Issues Ridiculous Executive Orders Banning TikTok And WeChat
- How a TikTok ban would affect the influencer economy
- TikTok deal tests Microsoft’s decades of China experience
- TikTok In Talks With Twitter About Acquisition, Is Looking To Sue Trump Administration As Ban Looms (Report)
- Is the clock ticking for TikTok? What’s the big deal anyway?
- Insights: Microsoft Intercepts TikTok Political Football, Despite Facebook’s Game Plan
- Trump’s bid to force TikTok sale follows well-trod legal path: US government decisions to block and unwind deals on national security grounds are all but impossible to overturn in court
- Gullible Maine & DHS Intel Officers Believed Teen TikTok Video Was Serious Terrorist Threat
- Addison Rae Is TikTok’s Highest Earner, Pocketing Roughly $5 Million Over Past Year (Report)
- TikTok Aligns With ‘American Idol’ Creator Simon Fuller To Search For Next Pop Supergroup
- David Dobrik, Avani Gregg, Brittany Broski Among First Recipients Of TikTok’s $1 Billion Creator Fund
- Hype House TikToker Kelianne Stankus Signs With UTA (Exclusive)
- New York Yankees Tap TikTok For Sponsorship, Exclusive Content Deal
- YouTube, TikTok Stars ‘The Stokes Twins’ Each Charged With Felony, Misdemeanor After Bank Robber Prank
- YouTube Reinstates Monetization For Steven Crowder 14 Months After Racist, Homophobic Harassment Of Carlos Maza
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 8/10/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 8/10/2020
- Influencer Marketing Company CreatorIQ Joins YouTube’s Measurement Program
- Google says it’s working hard to address YouTube Music complaints
- Why Are There Currently No Ads On Techdirt? Apparently Google Thinks We’re Dangerous
- YouTube Millionaires: For Our First 10 Million Subscriber Special, We Check In With Chad Wild Clay And His Burgeoning Franchise ‘Spy Ninjas’
- Rebecca Zamolo Launches Mobile Game Inspired By Hit ‘Game Master Network’ YouTube Series
- Three Of Bon Appétit’s Test Kitchen Stars Have Exited After Failed Pay Negotiations
- 2 More Bon Appétit Hosts Depart YouTube Channel, With Video Production Set To Resume In September
- Bon Appétit’s Popular YouTube Channel Loses Sixth Host, Carla Lalli Music
- Hey Creators, Are Your Viral Parties Really Worth the Risk?
- NikkieTutorials Robbed At Gunpoint In Netherlands Home, As Local Police Solicit Tips
- Monk-Turned-Motivational Content Creator Jay Shetty Signs With WME
- Snapchat Unveils In-App Voter Registration Tools Ahead Of November Election
- FTC Commissioners Are Upset About Section 230; Though It’s Not At All Clear Why
- Online platform immunity under Section 230 teed up for FCC
- Section 230 Isn’t Why Omegle Has Awful Content, And Getting Rid Of 230 Won’t Change That
- Comments on NTIA’s Petition to the FCC Seeking to Destroy Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
- Mozilla cuts 250 jobs, says Firefox development will be affected
- Content Moderation Case Study: Social Media Services Respond When Recordings Of Shooting Are Uploaded By The Person Committing The Crimes (August 2015)
- Photo embedding cases depend on social media company decisions
- WhatsApp’s Lawsuit Against NSO in US Federal Court Survives Motion to Dismiss
- The Harry Potter Films Are Now Exclusive To Comcast, And The Streaming Sector Remains Oblivious To Piracy’s Looming Resurgence
- Financial Daily Dose 8.6.2020 | Top Story: Facebook Launches Instagram Reels to Compete with TikTok
- How The NBA Has Approached Facebook Video Since Returning to the Court
- Jukin Launches Self-Service Platform Allowing Anyone To License Its Viral Videos, Starting At $50
- Focals ‘Smart’ Glasses Become Dumb As A Brick After Google Acquisition
- Android is now the world’s largest earthquake detection network
- Revisiting The Common Law Liability Of Online Intermediaries Before Section 230
- Coronavirus clobbers Uber, leading to $1.8 billion quarterly loss
- Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: Twitter Locks Accounts For Fact Checking The President
- The quest to liberate $300,000 of bitcoin from an old ZIP file
- Scientists Forced To Change Names Of Human Genes Because Of Microsoft’s Failure To Patch Excel
- Three algorithm-less streaming sites revive the wacky Web from days of yore
A.I.
- Facial Recognition Start-Up Mounts a First Amendment Defense
- Get Ready For Deepfakes To Be Used In Financial Scams
- Uber / Google Trade Secret Row Over Self-Driving Car Tech Hits End of Road: Settlement and Jail Time
- Las Vegas Police Are Running Lots Of Low Quality Images Through Their Facial Recognition System
- Here’s why Apple believes it’s an AI leader—and why it says critics have it all wrong
- Inventorship, Patenting and AI: The Public Comments on Patenting Artificial Intelligence Inventions
COMMUNICATIONS
- Trump admin shrugs off FCC court loss to fight Calif. net neutrality law
- FCC Focuses on Review of Broadcasters’ Online Political Files
- NTIA Section 230 Petition Raises Significant Legal and Policy Issues at FCC
- Safe Harbors and Erroneous Blocking Redress Measures Adopted by the FCC; Additional Rulemaking Proposed
- Charter tries to convince FCC that broadband customers want data caps
- New York State Leaders Finally Realize U.S. Broadband Availability Data Is Hot Garbage
- FCC lowers some prison phone rates after blaming states for high prices
- FCC Sets Rules for 5G Spectrum Auction – Bidding to Start December 8
- FCC Eliminates Rule Requiring Broadcast Station Tower Owners to Give Access to Competing Stations
- FCC Eliminates Program Duplication Rules for AM and FM Stations
- The Making – and Unmaking – of an FCC Commissioner
- Broadcasts and Podcasts: Foreign Investment in Telecom Infrastructure
- The Legal Debate Over Net Neutrality Shifts to State Laws
- FAR Council Publishes Interim Rule on Section 889 Part B Increasing Prohibitions on Contracting with Companies Using Certain Chinese Telecommunications Equipment and Services
- AT&T to lay off 600 at HBO and Warner Bros. after revenue decline
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Genius Media Lawsuit Accusing Google of Stealing Song Lyrics Is Tossed
- Judge Tosses Out Genius’ Laughable Lawsuit Against Google Over Licensed Lyric Copying
- Neil Young’s Suit Illustrates Music Licensing Issues
- Helpless No More? Neil Young Sues Trump Campaign for Use of His Songs
- Fair Use, “The Frankenstein,” and the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
- Masterson v. The Walt Disney Company: 9th Circuit dismisses claim against Disney’s animated film Inside Out, holding that alleged similarities to plaintiff’s book of poetry and movie script are unprotectable.
- DMCA 512 Report: key findings by US Copyright Office
- U.S. Copyright Office: DMCA Is “Tilted Askew,” Recommends Remedies for Rightsholders
- In 10 Years Of Existence, The Long-Running French Farce Known As Hadopi Has Imposed Just €87,000 In Fines, But Cost Taxpayers €82 Million
- Easier Copyright Registration Coming for Blogs and Social Media Posts
- Like, Comment, Share, and Protect the Copyright of Digital Content
- PRS v Qatar Airways
- Porn Company Strikes Back
- Special tweetment: Who owns the IP for social media content?
- Interlocutory Injunction Issued in relation to Grey Goods in Canada
- Apple Opposes Trademark Application For Recipe App’s Pear-Shaped Logo
- Maker of VAMPIRE-Branded Alcoholic Beverages Alleges Grocery Chain Is Taking a Bite Out of Its Trademark Rights
- Trademark tips: Beware linguistic errors and cultural appropriation
- A New Standard for Multicolored Marks August 10, 2020
- Merck v Merck: A lesson on the practical implications of co-existence agreements and online use in the digital age
- Unfair Competition: The Tort that Tags Along
- Monsanto V. Schmeiser 20 Years Later: The Answer Wasn’t Blowin’ in the Wind
- Claims Covering Human Engineering That Exploits a Naturally-Occurring Phenomenon Are Patent Eligible
- Sort It Out: Cell Sorting Method with Data Processing Steps Patent Eligible
- Doing It That Way Is Natural . . . and Patentable
- IP Alert | Still Contentious and “No More” Clear – AAM v. Neapco and Its Take on § 101
- Obviousness, Common Sense and Sensibility: Federal Circuit Ruling Offers Cautionary Tale for Patent Applicants
- Federal Circuit’s Cardionet Reversal Sheds Light on Patent Eligibility in Medical Diagnosis Inventions
- Federal Circuit Still Spinning Its Wheels on American Axle
- The Federal Circuit Finds a “Hooke” to Patent Ineligibility
- District of Delaware Goes against Prior Decisions and Declines to Dismiss Willful Infringement Claims Despite Failure to Allege Egregious Infringing Conduct
- Balance is Key in Design Patent Claim Drafting
- Judge Woods Zips Up Loose Ends and Readies Zipper Dispute For Trial
- The game begins: Strategies for the early stages of patent litigation – The defendant’s view
- Intellectual Property: New Options for Patent Ownership Disputes
- Congress To Consider National Right To Repair Law For First Time
- Snapshot: intellectual property for fashion goods in USA
PRIVACY
- Baltimore’s Aerial Surveillance Program Has Logged 700 Flight Hours, One (1) Arrest
- Police use of facial recognition violates human rights, UK court rules
- NJ Supreme Court: No 5th Amendment right not to unlock your phone
- Congressional Reps Want To Know Why The California DMV Is Making $50 Million A Year Selling Driver Data
- Chinese hackers have pillaged Taiwan’s semiconductor industry
- Cybersecurity Threats & Vulnerabilities
- Forget TikTok. Feebly Secured Infrastructure Is Our Real Problem
- More than 20GB of Intel source code and proprietary data dumped online
- Snapdragon chip flaws put >1 billion Android phones at risk of data theft
- Refresher Course on California Anti-Spam Law
CREATIVITY
- Hong Kong Uses New National Security Law To Arrest Prominent Pro-Democracy Media Tycoon
- Judge Rejects Devin Nunes’ SLAPP Suit Over The Esquire Article He Really, Really Doesn’t Want You To Read
- Georgia School District Inadvertently Begins Teaching Lessons In First Amendment Protections After Viral Photo
- Why movie theaters are in trouble after DOJ nixes 70-year-old case
- Appeals court rules 10¢-a-page charge for court documents is too high
- Appeals Court Upholds Ruling Saying PACER Overcharged Users
Jon
News of the Week; August 5, 2020
GAMES
- Bot M8 LLC Asserts Sony’s PlayStation 4 “Uncharted” Game Infringes Its Patent, but Court Finds Bot M8’s Patent Invalid
- Little Consolation for Hyperkin as Atari Litigation Games Continue
- Congress defeats bill to block US military from recruiting via Twitch: US Navy and Army have stated they will continue to stream on popular games site
- Ubisoft exec Tommy Francois departs after misconduct allegations
- Tommy François has left Ubisoft: Exec was placed on disciplinary leave pending an investigation into harassment and abuse at the publisher
- Ubisoft exec Tommy Francois didn’t ‘leave’ the company, he was fired
- Why you should rethink how your company handles in-house harassment
- New AbleGamers program aims to educate devs & foster a more inclusive industry
- Legible font (still) one of the biggest accessibility issues in games
- Epic Games Partners With Faculty Of Philosophy From Moscow State University
- Epic Games Store now offers mod support for some games
- Epic Games Store adds modding support: MechWarrior 5 is the first title to beta test new feature
- Epic Games Store adds support for community-made mods: The first game to support the feature is ‘MechWarrior 5 Mercenaries.’
- Celebrating tech’s unsung women pioneers, Romero calls for game dev gender parity
- Conflict minerals: Which gaming companies may have funded human rights abuses in 2019? – Apple once more the most diligent, most other companies make minimal improvement, and Valve is silent for second year running
- Games and Online Harassment Hotline launches to “encourage help-seeking behaviours”: New service offers free and confidential emotional support for anyone suffering or perpetrating abuse in the games industry
- A different kind of “gamer” hotline: Free, anonymous emotional support
- Blizzard employees share salary details amid unrest over pay disparity: More than half of its employees were unhappy with wages in 2019, according to a report from Bloomberg
- Call of Duty: Warzone drives second quarter growth for Activision-Blizzard – Company is still seeing engagement and spending increases due to COVID-19 lockdowns
- Call of Duty franchise helps Activision Blizzard to record Q2 results
- Should streamers be worried about DMCA strikes on Twitch?: A rash of copyright claims from music labels points to difficult times ahead for video game streamers
- 15,000 games removed from iOS App Store in China: Analysts at Niko Partners expect thousands more to be pulled by the end of the year
- What’s wrong with HR and how can it be fixed?
- PS4 gamepads won’t work for PS5 games, Sony says
- PlayStation 4 controllers work on PlayStation 5, but only for supported PS4 games
- Sony DualShock 4 controllers will not work with PS5 games: They will be compatible with the PS5, but only for supported PS4 games
- PlayStation software and services drive strong Q1 for Sony: Influence of lockdown keenly felt as PS4 software sales almost doubled and PS Plus reached 45m subscribers
- Cloud gaming comes to Xbox Game Pass on September 15: Over 100 games will be available at launch including Gears 5, Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 4
- Microsoft stealthily drops Xbox from Game Pass branding: Official social media accounts claim to be “trying out a new look” as Xbox name disappears from subscription service logo
- Microsoft’s full-year gaming revenues nearly flat for fiscal 2020: Minecraft, subscriptions, and COVID-19 saw content and services up, but hardware was down
- Sega’s strong Q1 games performance erased by impact of COVID-19: Revenue from resorts, arcades and pachinko machines all plummeted as pandemic led to closure of public spaces
- Take-Two boasts new Q1 record as revenue jumps 54% year-over-year
- Take-Two CEO: “It’s a matter of time before the business is entirely digital” – Strauss Zelnick offers thoughts on digital distribution as Q1 financials show hefty digital share
- Take-Two: Next-gen software price hikes “reflect the quality of the experience” – CEO Strauss Zelnick says he does not expect the industry to coordinate its software prices, however
- Take-Two’s next-gen $70 price tag will be decided on a game-by-game basis
- Take-Two says its $70 game pricing will be on a “title by title basis”
- Star Citizen dev offers roadmap for development of new development roadmap
- New partnership will give 2K access to over 2000 NFL player likenesses
- 2K Inks Deal To Feature NFL Player Names, Numbers, And Likenesses
- 2K signs deal to use real NFL player likenesses in games: Multiple football titles are in development, planned to launch starting in 2021
- FIFA Ultimate Team revenue “off the charts” during lockdown: EA’s key franchises boomed during lockdown, and CEO Andrew Wilson doesn’t expect staff to “ever go back exactly to the way things were”
- Engagement hits unexpected highs at EA as Q1 live services revenue crosses $1.1bn
- EA reports strong June quarter with revenue up 21% to $1.46 billion
- EA Sports picks up AC Milan and Inter Milan licenses: Milan clubs did not renew licenses with Konami; AS Roma parts ways with EA
- The Sims 4 passes 30 million lifetime players, doubles Q1 net bookings
- Steam launches, new releases, and The Sims propel EA’s first quarter earnings: The Sims 4 has now reached over 30m users on all platforms since launch
- How that game sold on Steam, using the ‘NB number’
- Steam launch helps push Detroit: Become Human past 5 million lifetime sales
- Detroit: Become Human has sold over 5m copies – Milestone achieved following launch of the game on Steam
- Valve attempts to block regional pricing VPN exploit on Steam: New settings aim to deter users from using virtual private networks to take advantage of cheaper prices in other markets
- Halo Infinite’s multiplayer is a free-to-play mode
- Microsoft confirms “free-to-play multiplayer” for Halo Infinite
- Halo Infinite multiplayer will be free-to-play: Microsoft confirms that Halo’s most popular mode won’t even require Game Pass to play
- Flight Simulator hands-on: Microsoft looks different 20,000 feet in the air
- Horizon Zero Dawn on PC: Not the optimized port we were hoping for
- Avengers video game beta impressions: Destiny, this ain’t
- Animal Crossing is the most-discussed game on Twitter so far this year: In the first half of 2020, it beat out last year’s most-discussed game: Fate/Grand Order
- The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima driving software sales at Sony
- Destroy All Humans makes Top Three after 12-year absence | UK Charts: Ghost of Tsushima delivers third consecutive No.1
- Mobile revenues grew $135m in Malaysia and Singapore in two years: Niko Partners reports shows rapid growth in gaming on smartphones, surpassing PC
- Monster Hunter and Resident Evil driving growth at Capcom
- Capcom sees Q1 profits up, driven entirely by its games business: COVID-19 lockdown impacts to arcades and amusement halls made gaming its only profitable segment
- State of Games: COVID lockdown swung 2020 from “significantly lower” spending than 2019: B2Boost detailed the remarkable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer games spending in Europe
- Zynga acquires hypercasual mobile company Rollic for $168m: Istanbul-based studio has developed titles such as Go Knots 3D and Flipper Dunk
- Fall Guys attracts 1.5 million players within 24 hours of launch
- Private Division signs publishing deals with Ori dev Moon Studios and others
- ‘Detective Pikachu’ Director and Netflix Tackling ‘Beyond Good & Evil’ Adaptation
- Netflix making Beyond Good & Evil movie: Feature film based on Ubisoft’s cult hit will reportedly be director by Detective Pikachu director Rob Letterman
- Ubisoft wades deeper into the world of game streaming with new Parsec partnership
- Ubisoft signs multi-year partnership with cloud gaming provider Parsec: Publisher used Parsec to allow over 1,000 journalists to remotely play Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs Legion
- Re-watch GamesIndustry.biz Live: State of Games right here
- Ninja returns to Twitch following Mixer shutdown: Former channel restored, now up to 14.9 million followers
- Ninja Returns To Twitch, Nets 98,000 Concurrent Viewers With ‘Fortnite’ Stream
- Pandemic has accelerated a number of long-term gaming trends: Various market research firms and the head of the ESA discuss the shift to digital, esports, and the impact of an economic downturn on the next generation
- Riot Games shutting down for a week: League of Legends developer pushing back patches and releases to aid staff’s work-life balance
- BiliBili secures exclusive rights to League of Legends esports in China: Deal with Riot Games will start this year and run until “at least” 2023
- Riot Games ends controversial partnership with Saudi Arabia mega-city project Neom: Esports director admits “we moved too quickly” to cement sponsorship deal
- UK retailer Game sells Belong esports network to U.S. startup Vindex
- Could your esports business benefit from the Government’s new Future Fund?
- Five employment considerations for an expanding esports team
- The Rise of Esports Betting
- Esports gambling ads: guidance for gambling operators
- The International 10 ‘Dota 2’ Tournament Prize Pool Breaks $30 Million
- ‘League of Legends’ championship will start in Shanghai despite pandemic: It kicks off September 25th, although there will be safety precautions.
- Fostering a positive community in VR: At Ludicious X, IGDA executive director Renee Gittins talked about keeping communities safe and fighting toxicity in VR
- The complete sales history of Curious Expedition: Maschinen-Mensch co-founder Riad Djemili on a five year journey — via China — to stability and success in indie development
- Unsolved Mysteries of the Mortal Kombat Universe
- Defying game design rules to simulate dementia in Before I Forget: 3-Fold Games’ Chella Ramanan & Claire Morwood on the difficulty of developing a short game & the invaluable support from Humble & Gaming The Mind
- How Disney makes RPG mechanics work in real life at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
- King London art director on creating an aesthetic for a global audience
- How System Era overcame creative paralysis to fix Astroneer’s crafting system
- How Pokemon Go evolved in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Blog: Has your game got ‘juice’? (& more!)
- Blog: Historians play Ghost of Tsushima
- Blog: Tips for maximizing the performance of your Unity game – Part 2
- Blog: Expression-bodied members to reduce your code verbosity
- Video: How King’s attempt to implement Pixar’s brain trust model went wrong
- Video: Creating Dr. Grordbort’s Invaders for Magic Leap One
- Don’t Miss: The creative camaraderie behind Wilmot’s Warehouse
- Don’t Miss: Making the tactics genre more accessible & less intimidating in Fae Tactics
- Don’t Miss: Breaking linear character progression with Outer Worlds’ flaw system
- Don’t Miss: What went right (and wrong) during the development of Spider-Man (2002)
- SuperData: Big publisher showcases did not suffer from absence of E3 – Twitch numbers were higher than E3 2019 showcases for major publishers, but PC Gaming Show’s audience was down compared to last year
- I really want E3 back | Opinion: There are clear benefits to spreading out announcements during the summer, but there’s more to it than just better numbers
- The Outer Worlds wins GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Video Game: Obsidian’s interplanetary adventure included an openly asexual companion character, Parvati
- Gayming Magazine launching LGBTQ games awards next year: Awards will highlight authentic representation, industry diversity and more in February 2021
- U.S. Patent no. 9,656,170: Game apparatus
DIGITAL
- Trump Admin Will Order ByteDance To Sell TikTok; Microsoft In Talks To Acquire
- Trump administration gives TikTok 45 days to sell to Microsoft or leave US [Updated]
- In Aboutface, Trump Has Reportedly Given Microsoft And TikTok 45 Days To Finalize Acquisition
- Microsoft Aims To Close TikTok Deal Within 3 Weeks, Could Pay $30 Billion
- From The Stupid To The Bizarre: Trump Demands That His Government Should Take A ‘Substantial’ Cut Of TikTok’s Purchase Fee
- The challenges Microsoft faces in buying TikTok’s US arm
- Five Egyptian Women Sentenced To Two Years In Prison Each For TikTok Dance Videos
- Triller—The Music Video App Major Sway House Members Just Joined—Sues TikTok For Patent Infringement
- TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer Strikes Back At Facebook For Maligning Attacks “Disguised As Patriotism”
- TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer Says Nascent U.S. ‘Creator Fund’ Will Balloon To $1 Billion In 3 Years
- The TikTok Clusterf—: Trump To Order A Block, Microsoft Wants To Buy, And Competition Is Still There
- As TikTok’s Aquisition Clock Is Ticking, Instagram Officially Rolls Out Copycat ‘Reels’
- Clash, A New TikTok Competitor From Viner Brendon McNerney, Is Made With Creator Monetization In Mind (Exclusive)
- Snapchat Inks Music Deals, Pilots TikTok-Like Feature Letting Users Add Songs To Their Snaps
- With TikTok’s Future In The Balance, Addison Rae Launches Her Own Makeup Company, ‘Item Beauty’
- TikTok’s Hype House Signs On Dotted Line For Reality Series As Part Of Larger Pact With Wheelhouse Group
- TikTok and the Evolution of Digital Blackface
- Jake Paul’s Calabasas Home Raided By FBI Amid Ongoing Investigation, Though Search Warrant Is Sealed
- Turkey Passes New Internet Censorship Law, Cites Germany’s Awful ‘Hate Speech’ Law As Its Inspiration
- “This is a very dangerous situation”: Big Tech’s day on the Hill
- House Judiciary Spends 5.5 Hours Making Themselves Look Foolish, Without Asking Many Actual Tough Questions Of Tech CEOs
- Disinformation Campaigns Are Murky Blends Of Truth, Lies And Sincere Beliefs: Lessons From The Pandemic
- Hackers broke into real news sites to plant fake stories
- Twitter About To Be Hit With A ~$250 Million Fine For Using Your Two Factor Authentication Phone Numbers/Emails For Marketing
- Twitter hackers used “phone spear phishing” in mass account takeover
- DOJ And Florida Officials Announce Arrests Relating To Twitter Hack
- Florida teen charged as “mastermind” in Twitter hack hitting Biden, Bezos, and others
- Twitter’s Potential Subscription Features Include Undo Send, Auto Response, Custom Emojis, No Ads
- EU launching deep probe into Google’s planned $2.1 billion Fitbit buy
- Google suffers first revenue decline as ads hit by pandemic
- Google invests $450 million in ADT, gets exclusive hardware deal
- Google Play Music Will Finally Shutter In Favor Of YouTube Music This December
- Google Music shutdown starts this month, music deleted in December
- Ex-Googler Levandowski gets 18 months in prison for trade-secret theft
- Facebook Must Better Police Online Hate, State Attorneys General Say
- Plaintiff Can’t Use Trump’s Anti-Section 230 EO to Sue Facebook–Gomez v. Zuckenberg (Eric Goldman)
- Section 230 Doesn’t Protect Repeating Rumors–La Liberte v. Reid (Eric Goldman)
- Josh Hawley Introduces His Latest Attack On Section 230
- New Hampshire Supreme Court Issues Very Weird Ruling Regarding Section 230
- Comments on the Internet Association’s Empirical Study of Section 230 Cases (Eric Goldman)
- While Our Country Is Engulfed By Urgent Must-Solve Problems, Congress Is Working Hard to Burn Down Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
- Data Center Avoids Copyright Liability By Forwarding DMCA Notices to Its Customer–ALS Scan v. Steadfast (Eric Goldman)
- Russian Stream-Rip Sites Attempt To Take Jurisdiction Issue All The Way To SCOTUS
- Content Moderation Case Studies: Misleading Information From Official Sources (2020)
- Content Moderation Case Study: Facebook Nudity Filter Blocks Historical Content And News Reports About The Error (June 2020)
- In wake of Apple acquisition, Dark Sky ends Android support
- Telegram files EU antitrust complaint against Apple’s App Store
- Apple’s claim that “we treat every developer the same” tested by US Congress: House Antitrust Subcommittee releases emails showing half revenue share being offered to Amazon for Prime Video app
- ProtonMail founder: Apple uses monopoly to “hold all of us hostage”
- If 30% is too high, what’s the right number? | Opinion: As authorities investigate Apple’s share of App Store revenues, there’s broad agreement that 30% is too high — but there’s little consensus on an alternative number
- Emails detail Amazon’s plan to crush a startup rival with price cuts
- Amazon investing $10 billion to compete against SpaceX in satellite broadband
- Big Tech’s Backlash Is Just Starting: The congressional antitrust hearing showed that concerns about the tech stars aren’t going away.
- Insights: AMC-Universal Deal Resets Movie Business For Streaming Future
- It Only Took A Massive Pandemic For Hollywood To Ease Off Stupid, Dated Movie Release Windows
- ‘Mulan’ Is Coming To Disney+—But Subscribers Must Pay $29.99 To Watch It
- Mulan skips US theaters, will debut on Disney+ Sept. 4—for an extra $30
- YouTube Ad Revs Dipped To $3.8 Billion In Q2, But We’re Seeing “Further Improvement” In July, CFO Says
- YouTube To Shutter Community Captions Feature, Citing Issues With Spam, Abuse, Little Usage
- As Bon Appétit YouTube Channel Remains Dormant, ‘Test Kitchen’ Host Sohla El-Waylly Collabs On Binging With Babish
- Moonbug Raises $120 Million, Acquires Children’s YouTube Titans Cocomelon And Blippi
- Facebook Will Now Host Official Music Videos, Challenging YouTube’s Dominance In The Category
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 8/3/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 8/3/2020
- Macy’s Vastly Democratizes ‘Style Crew’ Influencer Program, Which Was Formerly Only Open To Employees
- Comic-Con@Home A Much Different Event On Social Video
- Livestream shopping: making platform partnerships a success
- Louisiana Serves Up New Virtual Currency Business Law Cajun Style
A.I.
- What’s this? A bipartisan plan for AI and national security
- Wrongfully Accused by an Algorithm
- AI in Focus: BlueDot and the Response to COVID-19
- The State of AI: Patenting Trends and European Prosecution Strategy
- Current IP Laws Outdone by Artificial Intelligence
- “Seeing is believing” no longer rings true: The deceptive powers of artificial intelligence and fake journalists
- Exploring the AI of Command & Conquer
COMMUNICATIONS
- NTIA Asks FCC to Broaden Internet Platforms’ Liability for Third-Party Content and Moderation Efforts
- FCC Seeks Comment on Section 230 Petition
- Ajit Pai calls for “vigorous debate” on Trump’s social media crackdown
- The FCC Knows Trump’s Social Media Order Is A Joke, But Fecklessly Pretends Otherwise
- FCC Adopts New Safe Harbor Rules for Blocking Robocalls
- FCC Rules Peer-to-Peer Text Messaging Platform Does Not Violate the TCPA
- Trump pulls re-nomination of FCC Republican who stood up for First Amendment
- Trump Revokes FCC Commissioner O’Reilly’s Renomination
- Days After FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly Suggests Trump’s Section 230 Exec Order Is Unconstitutional… His Renomination To The FCC Is Withdrawn
- SpaceX now plans for 5 million Starlink customers in US, up from 1 million
- Space X’s Starlink Won’t Be The Broadband Disruption Play Many People Think
- Dish Buys Ting Mobile To Disrupt Wireless, But Questions Remain
- How cell phones and Facebook are changing remote Nunatsiavut
- Comcast lost 477,000 cable-TV customers in Q2 amid 12% drop in revenue
- AT&T Loses Another 1 Million TV Customers As Cord Cutting (And Greed) Take A Toll
- Huawei somehow becomes the #1 phone manufacturer, thanks to the coronavirus
- What’s New in 5G – August 2020
- Updated 5G National Security Report Issued by European Commission
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- A Quarter-Billion Dollar Bag of Beans: Responding to Ken Whyte’s Attack on Library Book Loans (Michael Geist)
- Internet Archive Responds To Publishers Lawsuit: Libraries Lend Books, That’s What We Do
- “Salacious” Content Doesn’t Bar Discovery in Copyright Infringement Suit
- IAP Defeats Vicarious Copyright Infringement Claim–UMG v. Bright House (Eric Goldman)
- Taylor Swift Changes Artwork For New Album, Merch After Online Retailer Complains Of Similarities
- The EU’s Digital Copyright Directive – Where now for the UK?
- Privacy rights trump artists’ Intellectual Property Rights: a brief insight into CJEU and IPR enforcement
- Smith v. The Weeknd: Court dismisses copyright claim finding no substantial similarity under extrinsic test as only three shared notes remain after considering prior art, and three notes are not protectable as matter of law.
- Alfred v. The Walt Disney Company: Ninth Circuit finds Disney “pirated” plaintiffs’ screenplay for Pirates of the Caribbean finding similarities to be more than de minimis and sufficient to survive motion to dismiss.
- The Day the Music Died at Political Rallies
- Baby Shark sharpens its teeth against Chinese counterfeiters
- I See Me, I Sue You: Jordan Jumps at Card Cameos
- Incorrect notifications issued by IPONZ/WIPO
- The relationship between reputation and similarity of marks, China Construction Bank Corp. v. EUIPO
- Two Breweries Fight Over The Right To Use A Geographic Name Due To Trademark
- Co-branding: One product, two trademarks – who has the rights?
- Trademark Trolls – A Danger to Avoid with a Re-brand
- Law Firm Southtown Moxie Responds Hilariously To Stupid Cease And Desist Letter
- E-commerce operators not liable for trade mark infringement for mere storage of infringing goods
- The Next Instalment in the Sky v SkyKick Saga: Lessons for Trade Mark Owners
- Disassembled products and trademark infringement: a cautionary tale for manufacturers and re-sellers alike
- 5 Key Takeaways from Texas Appraisal Trade Secret Saga
- IP monitor: Federal Court of Appeal: Of course the Federal Courts can interpret agreements!
- Out with the New, In with the Old: The F.C.A. provides Clarity on its Ability to interpret Contracts
- Appeals Court Upholds Replacement Part Design Patents
- A Diagnostic Patent Is Found Patent Eligible At the Federal Circuit
- Improvements to Operation of an Apparatus Were Not Abstract
- Genetically modified mice and the patent bargain
- Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Litigation Update: Tobii Technology, Inc. v. Weinblatt
- Strategic Patent Claims Drafting
- Who is leading the WiFi 6 patent race?
- The role of IP and challenges for the IP system
PRIVACY
- Why I Installed the COVID Alert App (Michael Geist)
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai Talks YouTube Data Privacy At Antitrust Hearing
- Zoombomber crashes court hearing on Twitter hack with Pornhub video
- The Latest Targets Of DHS Surveillance Are Journalists Who Published Leaked Documents
- DHS Obtained Protesters’ Encrypted Messages, Used Them To Craft ‘Intelligence’ Reports
- FBI Used Information From An Online Forum Hacking To Track Down One Of The Hackers Behind The Massive Twitter Attack
- Insecure satellite Internet is threatening ship and plane safety
- IBM completes successful field trials on Fully Homomorphic Encryption
- Five steps to compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act: At GDC Summer, Will Bucher outlines how companies already complying with GDPR can ensure CCPA compliance too
- Beware of find-my-phone, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, NSA tells mobile users
- Seismic Shift in Privacy Risks and Obligations
- Australian Tech Giant Says Country’s Anti-Encryption Laws Are Harming Local Tech Companies
- Twitter faces FTC probe, likely fine over use of phone numbers for ads
- Time to Double-Check Your Corporate Practices. Twitter’s Use of Personal Information Gathered for Security (e.g. Two-Factor ID) For Targeted Advertisements Could Cost Them $150-250 Million.
- Schrems II and EU-U.S. Personal Information Transfers: Where Are We, and What’s Next?
- Schrems II Update: German SAs Require Additional Safeguards for U.S. Transfers and Max Schrems Set to Challenge Facebook Data Transfers Again
- Virginia Unveils App To Aid Contact Tracing
- Harvard to Track Affiliates’ Wi-Fi Signals as Part of Contact Tracing Pilot
- The Case for Banning Law Enforcement From Using Facial Recognition Technology (Evan Selinger, Woodrow Hartzog)
CREATIVITY
- Portland Journalists Ask For Sanctions As Federal Agents Continue To Assault Reporters And Legal Observers
- Federal Court Can’t See Any First Amendment Implications In Local Ordinance Blocking The Photography Of Children
- Dark day for Hollywood – law prohibiting online publication of actors’ ages is struck down
- Tennessee Court Strikes Down Law Criminalizing Calling Political Candidates ‘Literally Hitler’
- Postcard helps researcher find exact place depicted in Van Gogh’s final masterpiece
- When Teaser Ads Are Just Too Sexy
- Do “Kit Kat White” Candy Bars Contain White Chocolate?
- Burger King’s Impossible Whopper Delivers, Says Court-Turned-Copywriter
- Four lessons for media companies after major defamation payout
- Advertising Self-Regulatory Codes Around the World Generally Prohibit Discrimination, According to New ICAS Report
- Outrage as Picasso murals stripped from Oslo building
- What Connects Hollywood and Thomas Edison?
Jon
News of the Week; July 29, 2020
GAMES
- Loot boxes should be a consumer protection matter not a gambling one, says EU report: EU lacks authority to regulate gambling across member states but could tackle “problematic design features” from a different perspective
- Nintendo Suffers Another Substantial Leak As Mountains Of Source Code Hit The Web
- Huge apparent leak unearths Nintendo’s prototype history
- A scrapped Luigi, unused Pokemon sprites & more dug up in retro Nintendo leak
- Meet CtW: The investors taking on Activision Blizzard and EA over exec pay – Dieter Waizenegger and Michael Varner on why they want to change how corporations think about compensation
- Shigeru Miyamoto’s base salary is higher than Bobby Kotick’s: But Activision CEO takes home more than $30 million after equity awards
- Chinese-made drone app in Google Play spooks security researchers
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants to stop the U.S. military recruiting through Twitch
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Files Amendment To Bar Military Branches From Twitch, All Other Gaming Platforms
- The US Army is reportedly withdrawing from Twitch as criticism mounts: Meanwhile, US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez plans legislation to keep them from using gaming as recruitment
- Riot quickly drops controversial LEC sponsor after outrage from devs, community
- Lessons learned guiding Riot Games through a cultural crisis: At a time of cultural crisis for many companies, CEO Nicolo Laurent shares his experiences from the ongoing evolution of Riot Games
- Niantic doubles donation to Black Lives Matter causes to $10m: Pokémon Go developer will share revenues from weekend event with non-profit organisations and Black creators
- How will the Age Appropriate Design Code impact the games industry?
- Commercials in Your Console — Marketers Experiment With Ad Placement in Console Video Games
- Are platforms devaluing games to gain market share?
- Op-Ed: Game development in a time of upheaval
- DIY game platform Roblox tops 150 million monthly active users
- Roblox developers set to earn $250 million in 2020: Creators on the platform earned more than double the collective total from 2019
- Achievement unlocked – investment and M&A in the games industry
- Players spent $17.5m during Pokémon Go Fest 2020: Spending reached $8.9 million on event’s opening day, biggest one-day revenues since 2016
- Analogue Pocket ships in May 2021: Handheld system will cost $199, support Game Boy, Game Gear, Lynx, Neo Geo Pocket Color games
- Suikoden successor’s Kickstarter raises $1.5 million on day one: Upcoming Japanese RPG Eiyuden Chronicle aims for release on PC, Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 in 2022
- Investment health check: Preparing for the due diligence process: In the second of two articles, Sheridans’ Kamila Bochenek describes how preparing for the due diligence process can benefit your games business overall
- US homes with a console jump 31% year-over-year, says Comscore: Media tracking firm also sees surge in gaming site traffic after pro sports leagues halted
- Report: Twitch viewership grew by 56% in Q2
- Livestreaming pandemic surge sustained through Q2: StreamElements says hours watched on Twitch jumped 56% over first quarter of year while Facebook Gaming rose 75%
- Amidst pandemic, the ESA focuses on positive impacts of gaming: Stanley Pierre-Louis discusses COVID-19 impacts, digital E3, its lobbying responsibilities, and the industry’s recent #MeToo movement
- Respawn responds to crunch and burnout complaint posted on Glassdoor
- Respawn responds as Glassdoor review warns of crunch during lockdown: Apex Legends game director Chad Grenier says the problem “is not with the intent of Respawn’s leadership”
- Ubisoft Quebec managing director steps down
- Ubisoft Québec boss departs ‘independently’ of emerging allegations
- Tell Me Why FAQ clarifies game’s depiction of trans and Indigenous characters
- Dontnod’s Tell Me Why aims for a transgender story not “rooted in pain or trauma”: “The idea that being transgender is caused by trauma is a stereotype that has no basis in fact, and it plays no role in Tyler’s story”
- “I don’t envision us going back to everybody being in the studio five days a week — ever”: 2K’s Cloud Chamber Games expects permanent changes to its work culture after the COVID-19 pandemic
- Ghost of Tsushima holds No.1 as Paper Mario slips l UK Charts: Animal Crossing: New Horizons returns to No.2
- Ghost of Tsushima sold over 2.4 million copies in three days
- Ghost of Tsushima sells 2.4 million in three days: Sucker Punch’s latest becomes Sony’s fastest-selling new IP of the generation
- PlayStation Japan warns of Ghost of Tsushima stock shortage: Sucker Punch Productions’ exclusive has surpassed expectations in Japan, Sony advises customers to purchase the digital version
- The console war is over | Opinion: Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo all want different things from the next generation — is it really a war if everyone wins?
- Suikoden creators launch Rabbit & Bear Studios for crowdfunded JRPG: Eiyuden Chronicle will be “an ode to the classic JRPG genre from the PlayStation era”
- Xbox’s cross-gen pledge might not apply to every upcoming first-party game
- Xbox Games Showcase bookended by Halo Infinite, Fable: A total of nine Xbox Games Studios and a number of third-parties showed off 21 games
- Xbox’s July event: Halo Infinite finally has some first-party company
- We should talk about Halo Infinite’s not quite next-gen premiere
- Xbox Game Pass is all about the power of word-of-mouth marketing
- Xbox confuses its cross-generation message | Podcast
- Editorial: Microsoft Partnering With Facebook Gaming Could Be Big For Xbox VR
- Huuuge Games has acquired Bow Land developer Double Star
- Huuuge Games acquires Double Star: Mobile firms had already worked together to publish Double Star’s casual RPG Bow Land
- SuperData: Valorant and The Last of Us Part 2 set records for digital sales in June – Riot’s shooter had the best launch for a free-to-play PC title, while TLOU2 sold more digital units than any PlayStation exclusive
- Report: Digital game revenue increased by 9% year-over-year in June (SuperData)
- Animal Crossing, FIFA, The Last of Us top European game sales so far this year: Both Animal Crossing: New Horizons and FIFA 20 were the best-selling game in seven countries each
- Animal Crossing is Japan’s best-selling game of the year so far: Japanese gamers spent more than $1.6 billion on physical games and download cards in the first half of 2020
- Report: Valve is quietly testing a Playtest button on Steam
- Gaming Talent Firm Loaded Signs Rising Twitch Streamers ‘CohhCarnage’ And ‘Sacriel’
- Ferrari launching esports series this September: Fastest racer will be given the chance to join the sports car manufacturer’s esports team in 2021
- Konami is now making esports PCs: New Arespear brand of computers is manufactured by Konami Amusement, starts shipping in September
- GAME sells its Belong brand to esports firm Vindex: GAME CEO Martyn Gibbs joins Vindex to oversee global expansion of esports arenas
- eSports Players and Teams Benefit from Negotiated Contracts
- Squanch Games shelves VR focus for now
- Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Litigation Update: AR Design Innovations Litigations Cases Consolidated into Single Action
- Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Patent Prosecution Update: 2020 Q2 Prosecution Statistics
- Moss developer Polyarc raises $9 million to explore AR development
- Moss dev Polyarc secures $9m investment to branch into augmented reality: Series B funding round led by Hiro Capital
- SuperData raises XR forecast for 2020 to $6.9 billion: But it’s lowering its long-term projections for the second time this year
- The sublime theatrics and pacing of Metal Gear Solid 4 | Why I Love: Nomina Games co-founder Darrel Wijaya talks about Hideo Kojima’s interactive cinematic blockbuster
- The five-year quest to remove all nuclear weapons from Metal Gear Solid V
- EA’s strategy for remastering Command & Conquer
- Blog: When debug UI ruins your game design
- Blog: An agil-ish approach to game jams
- Blog: Stay at home development and family management
- Blog: The Rapid Prototyping Game
- Blog: Using emergent systems to improve interactive storytelling
- Video: ILMxLab’s perspective on pioneering immersive entertainment
- Video: Expanding animation & design capabilities in Battlefield 1 post-launch
- Video: Designing great interactive narratives on mobile
- Video: Crafting multiplayer maps for casual and competitive play
- Don’t Miss: Understanding the successful relaunch of Final Fantasy XIV
- Final Fantasy XIV Online has surpassed 20 million registered users
- Don’t Miss: Inside the campaign design of Halo 5: Guardians
- Don’t Miss: StarCraft II and the art of single-player storytelling
- The Google Play Indie Games Festival winners have been announced
- We don’t need E3 anymore: Fancensus head of analytics Ryan Janes analyses the media impact for the summer’s biggest announcements
DIGITAL
- Saskatchewan Proposes Retroactive PST Changes to Target Online Vendors Like Amazon and Airbnb
- “Zuck off”: Doctors, nurses, scientists rail against Zuckerberg
- Zuckerberg wrote “Instagram can hurt us” days before acquisition
- Facebook Employee Revolt Shows, Yet Again, That There Are Other Incentives Beyond Section 230
- Google wants Samsung to kill Bixby, Galaxy App Store
- Google reportedly peeks into Android data to gain edge over third-party apps: Google is already under investigation by Congress, DOJ, and 50 state AGs.
- Google’s Top Search Result? Surprise! It’s Google
- Under Investigation For Antitrust Abuse, Trump DOJ Rubber Stamps Major Ad Industry Consolidation
- Woz sues YouTube over “bitcoin giveaway” scam videos using his name
- Apple Cofounder Steve Wozniak Sues YouTube For “Unapologetically Hosting” Bitcoin Scammers
- Apple Publishes Study Which Defends Its 30% App Store Cut
- Apple defends its controlled ecosystem in the face of antitrust investigation: Commissioned study says digital marketplaces “need governance to thrive,” reiterates that 30% cut is standard
- Epic Games’ Sweeney calls out Apple, Google for ‘exploitative’ platform fees
- Tim Sweeney: Apple has “gone crazy” over rev share approach: “Apple has no right to take any percent of any company’s revenue just because they made the phone people use to access the stuff,” says Epic Games founder
- Geotagged Social Media Posts Didn’t Support Personal Jurisdiction–Court of Master Sommeliers v. Pilkey (Eric Goldman)
- U.S. Federal Court Rules That Bitcoin is “Money”
- New Crypto Services Address Custody, Payment Cards and ATS’s, OCC Says Banks Can Custody Crypto, DOJ Charges Bitcoin ATM Operator and Crypto Fraudster
- Can Purpose-Built Equipment Bring Blockchain Back as a Tech Solution?
- House of Lords: we need an Online Harms Bill to save our democracy
- UK regulator publishes consultation on video-sharing platform regulation
- New Rules for Online Platforms and Search Engines Offering Services to Businesses in the European Union and the United Kingdom
- Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada urges Zoom to abide by international human rights obligations
- Google will keep 200,000 workers home through next summer
- EU demands major concessions from Google over Fitbit deal
- Bumble Settles over Multistate Dating Lawsuit
- Repeated Amazon Purchases Sufficient to Impute Notice of Arbitration Clause
- Unauthorized Amazon Seller Enforcement: Two Metrics That Matter and Two That Don’t
- Instagram User’s Lawsuit Over Terminated Account Gets Revived (But Not For Long)–Teatotaller v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- Philippines Senator Targets Critics With ‘Cyberlibel’ Law, Gets Hailed As A Son Of A Bitch By Thousands Of Citizens
- The First Amendment Bars Regulating Political Neutrality, Even Via Section 230
- Comments on the “Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency Act” (the “PACT Act”) (Eric Goldman)
- Content Moderation Case Study: Talking About Racism On Social Media (2019)
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 7/20/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 7/20/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 7/27/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 7/27/2020
- MrBeast Reveals He Spent $3 Million On YouTube Videos For August Alone
- Lollapalooza Trades IRL Fest For Lolla2020, A 4-Day, YouTube-Exclusive Live Stream
- Spotify Says Listening Time For Its 1.5 Million Podcasts More Than Doubled Last Quarter
- Creator-Owned Streaming Service Nebula Hits 100,000 Monthly Paying Subscribers
- Chrissy Teigen Gets Second Quibi Series That Riffs On The ‘Everything Is Cake’ Meme
- Jake Paul Announces Next Boxing Match On Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. Undercard
- Update on transparency requirements for influencers in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States
- Insights: What Will It Take For Livestreamed Shopping To Take Off In U.S.?
- Nick Sandmann’s Wacky QAnon Supporting Lawyer Threatens Reporters For ‘Speculating’ On Washington Post’s Settlement With Sandmann
- Twitter Finally Cracked Down on QAnon—but There’s a Catch
- Twitter suspends Donald Trump Jr. for posting COVID misinformation
- Moderation Of Racist Content Leads To Removal Of Non-Racist Pages & Posts (2020)
- Twitter “Likely” To Test Subscription Options This Year As COVID Shrinks Ad Revenue, CEO Says
- Japan’s Top Court Says 45 Million Twitter Users Must Check That Anything They Retweet Is Not A Copyright Infringement
- Trumpian Loudmouths Apparently Losing Interest In Parler With No One To Play Victim To
- TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer Strikes Back At Facebook For Maligning Attacks “Disguised As Patriotism”
- TikTok chief Kevin Mayer launches stinging attack on Facebook
- After Standoff, TikTok Signs Multi-Year Deal With National Music Publishers Association
- Instagram’s TikTok Competitor, Reels, Is Reportedly Looking To Poach Creators With Six-Figure Payments
- TikTok Establishes $200 Million Fund To Get Its Creators Paid
- Joe Biden Campaign Demands Staffers Delete TikTok From Their Personal, Professional Devices
- Banning TikTok Will Accomplish Nothing. Fix Our Broader Security & Privacy Problems Instead.
- Judge orders New York to pay unemployment to Uber and Lyft drivers
- How Technology And The Pandemic Are Bringing People Closer Together, Even As We’re Physically Apart
- Heads roll at Intel after 7nm delay
- AMD: No delays for PS5, Xbox Series X, Zen 3 CPUs, and RDNA 2 GPUs
- 20 years ago, Steve Jobs built the “coolest computer ever”—and it bombed
- International – European Commission launches a Sector Inquiry into the Consumer Internet of Things
A.I.
- Appeals Court Bashes Predictive Policing And The Judge Who Argued People In High Crime Areas Want Fewer Rights
- Are AI produced works protectable under Copyright Law?
- In Report to Congress, FTC Says Malicious Use of Social Media Bots Is a “Serious Issue”
- Deepfakes: An EU and U.S. perspective
- NIST Study Confirms The Obvious: Face Masks Make Facial Recognition Tech Less Useful, More Inaccurate
- Video: A game dev’s guide to going beyond the hype of deep learning
COMMUNICATIONS
- Trump’s call for crackdown on Twitter and Facebook now on Ajit Pai’s desk
- NTIA Follows Trump’s Unconstitutional Order To Request The FCC Review Section 230
- Former Rep. Chris Cox Used His Testimony At Tuesday’s Senate Hearing On The Internet’s Foundational Law To Do Some Myth-Busting
- Tech And COVID-19: Stop Using Video Game Graphics For Fake Crowds, Fox
- FCC Boss Ajit Pai Pretends To Care About A Prison Telco Monopoly Problem He Helped Protect
- Why Is The Boys And Girls Club Trying To Kill A Cable Monopoly’s Merger Conditions?
- Telecom company welcomes Federal Court of Appeal tax decision despite being denied interim relief
- FCC Clarifies Pole Attachment Rules
- FCC Takes Action and Requests Comments on Next Gen TV (ATSC 3.0) Matters
- Charter’s donations to charities and lawmakers may help it impose data caps
- After 100 Years As A Bullying Gatekeeper, AT&T Pivots To Whining Unironically About Bullying Gatekeepers
- AT&T’s epic DirecTV losses mount as another 954,000 video customers flee
- District court enters nearly $13.9 million judgment in FTC robocall action
- New process for Executive Branch review of foreign investments in the U.S. telecoms sector
- Trump campaign foiled in early appeal attempt
- Trump campaign angry that cell carriers blocked spammy texts to voters
- Trump Campaign Gets Pissed At Wireless Carriers For Blocking Unwanted Political Spam
- Sweeping New Interim Rule Further Implements Ban on Targeted Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Companies
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Print-on-Demand Vendor Doesn’t Qualify for DMCA Safe Harbor–Feingold v. RageOn (Eric Goldman)
- CBS’ overzealous copyright bots hit Star Trek virtual Comic-Con panel
- Viacom’s Copyright Bots Take Down ‘Star Trek’ Comic-con Panel Because These Bots Suck Out Loud
- Reagan Foundation Tells President Trump and the RNC to Stop Using Reagan for Fundraising Purposes
- Fight or Flight
- Legal implications of syncing copyrighted music with other content
- Marano v. Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Hot topics in media and entertainment – Right of publicity: Evolving law around the use of a person’s name or likeness in documentaries and docudramas
- Makeup Art May Be Copyrightable, Says Second Circuit
- Publisher Decries Damn Libraries Entertaining The Masses Stuck At Home For Free
- Engineering Drawings: A Case of Copyright or Design
- Copyright protection granted to computer programs
- DNA Company Accidentally Exposes Opted Out Users’ Data To Law Enforcement
- Any Way You Slice It, D.C. Circuit Holds That &Pizza Can’t Get Piece of @Pizza
- Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia Pet Just Applied For Trademark On Jingle For Some R-R-R-Reason
- Sky v SkyKick battles on but permission to appeal granted: more uncertainty for brand owners
- Redskins Re-Brand: Did Trademark Speculator Fumble?
- Flagging the importance of Trade Mark choice
- Federal Circuit Holds Cancellation Standing Does Not Require Proprietary Interest in Asserted Mark
- Supreme Court: “Generic.com” Trademarks May Be Registered if Consumers Do Not Perceive Them as Generic
- Damages still available for infringement even where trade mark revoked
- Stone Brewing Is Very Upset That People Don’t Like Its Trademark Bullying
- Reputation and the power of the influencer: Sugar Bear Hair v Beauty Bear
- The real IP issues with virtual influencers
- Cannabis Industry Insight – U.S. Trademark Registrations Continue to be Denied for Foods and Dietary Supplements containing Hemp-Derived CBD
- Trademarks: ‘HERBS R US Design’ Found to Depreciate the Goodwill attaching to the ‘TOYS R US Design’
- Certification Mark Protectability
- A grey area? How to register colours as trademarks
- Equipping U.S. Rightsholders with the Tools to Deal with the Challenges of 3D Printing
- EPO filing statistics: is 3D printing due some hype (again)?
- Playing Keep-Away: Protecting Your Trade Secrets in a Remote Work Environment
- On redetermination, PMPRB concludes that Galderma’s patent ‘pertains to’ DIFFERIN
- Around 1600 viewers register for live video stream of computer software patent case
- Federal Circuit Explains When You Can Ignore the Words Before the Colon in a Patent Preamble
- The Federal Circuit Provides a Refresher on Joint Inventorship
- Independently Performed, Publicly Disclosed Prior Work Can Lead to Joint Inventorship
- Federal Circuit Confirms Joint Inventorship on Nobel Prize Winner’s Cancer Treatment Patents
- Then You Didn’t See Them; Now You Do: Co-Inventors Added
- Judge Matsumoto Holds That “Very Small Side Load” Is Indefinite and That “Retention Element” Is a Means-Plus-Function Claim Limitation
- Weight Loss Patent Application Does Not Survive Section 101 Scrutiny
- Dead on Arrival? Federal Circuit Majority Finds That Substitute Claims Live On (Uniloc v. Hulu: Part 1)
- IP Alert | Federal Circuit Affirms Alice’s Applicability in IPR Proceedings
- Extendable hose patent appeal unravels before the Court
- Fractured Federal Circuit Panel Finds That Sovereign Immunity Does Not Prevent Exclusive Licensee from Pursuing Unlicensed Infringement Alone
- Disclosure of “Preferred” Compounds Having a Complex Chemical Structure May Teach Away from Simpler Compounds Encompassed by a Broad Chemical Genus
- TopGolf Wins Patent Appeal
- You Can’t Clasp That: Judge Schofield Finds No Infringement Under Doctrine of Equivalents Due To Prosecution History Estoppel
- Federal Circuit: Licensees’ Failure to Mark Eliminates Entitlement to Pre-Suit Damages
- Diamonds are forever, but patents can tell us about the next 20 years
- Projection effects in a 3D motion graphical user interface: non-technical
- Dissecting the Regeneron v Kymab mouse case – what it says and its impact on patents
- Patent first, science later: the Federal Court’s ‘clear and unmistakable direction’ to patentees
- The Game Begins: Strategies for the Early Stages of Patent Litigation – The Claimant’s View
- US Patent Litigation
- Participation of Women Inventors in the US Patent System Is Increasing Slowly but Surely
- Patent Trivia – Fun with Some Facts about Patents
PRIVACY
- Washington State AG Settles with Online Platform Over Alleged COPPA Violations
- No free lunch: global privacy regulators set expectations of video teleconference providers
- Russia’s GRU hackers hit US government and energy targets
- North Korea’s Lazarus brings state-sponsored hacking approach to ransomware
- Texas AG Investigates Facebook’s Use of Biometric Identifiers
- EU Plans To Use Supercomputers To Break Encryption, But Also Wants Platforms To ‘Create Opportunities’ To Snoop On End-To-End Communications
- Garmin’s four-day service meltdown was caused by ransomware
- CBP Has Access To Billions Of License Plate Images Collected By Private Companies
- Rite Aid deployed facial recognition in hundreds of stores, report finds
- Hackers actively exploit high-severity networking vulnerabilities
- No free lunch: global privacy regulators set expectations of video teleconference providers
- Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Schrems II Decision – what does it mean in practice?
- Schrems II Decision – what does it mean in practice?
CREATIVITY
- About Time: New York Finally Passes Anti-SLAPP Bill
- Content Moderation Case Study: Talking About Racism On Social Media (2019)
- A Legen-dairy Victory: Ben & Jerry’s Wins “Happy Cows” False Advertising Lawsuit
- Study: Magicians’ priming techniques are effective at influencing choice – Card trick priming technique used by illusionist Derren Brown inspires psychologists.
- Court Blocks Federal Officers From Attacking, Arresting Reporters Covering Protests In Portland
- We can see the true face of Van Eyck Lamb of God after latest restoration
Jon
News of the Week; July 22, 2020
GAMES
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has two leads because Ubisoft execs believed women don’t sell: Both Syndicate and Origins also originally featured women leads more prominently
- Ubisoft fires PR director over harassment allegations: Stone Chin denies allegation of sexual assault, claims it was not linked to Ubisoft’s decision to terminate his employment
- French union preparing collective lawsuit against Ubisoft amid abuse allegations: Solidaires Informatique invites victims of sexism and abuse to join as it seeks to take publisher to court
- Ubisoft CEO: When informed of misconduct in the past, “we made tough decisions” – Yves Guillemot says certain individuals “betrayed trust,” while Frédérick Duguet defends representation in publisher’s games
- Ubisoft has a five pronged plan to address the studio’s culture of misconduct
- A record quarter at Ubisoft can’t distract from its troubled studio culture
- Ubisoft is keeping its next-gen games priced at $60, for now
- The writing team for Voltage’s Lovestruck is on strike over pay, working conditions
- Lovestruck dev Voltage defends conduct following writers strike
- Voltage Entertainment says striking writers group “is not a union”: Group of 21 Lovestruck writers wants better pay, but Voltage says freelance contracts preclude collective bargaining
- Despite gov’t approval, Google rejects Attentat 1942 from Google Play Store in Germany
- Google blocks anti-fascist game for containing references to Nazis: “Stores and platforms have to deal with hateful content, if reviewers took a closer look at Attentat 1942 for just a moment, they would find out we are not that”
- German regulator won’t ban Coin Star after all
- Deadly Premonition 2 dev claims transgender content “fixed”: A patch has altered a sequence criticised for treatment of a transgender character, but issues remain elsewhere in the game
- Deaf accessibility in video games
- Twitch Stops U.S. Army From Linking To Recruitment Page Under Guise Of Xbox Controller Giveaway
- Twitch orders end to US Army giveaway promotion on its channel: Alleged controller giveaway reportedly sent users to a recruitment page with no mention of a contest
- ISFE, EGDF express concerns over CJEU ruling on EU to US data transfer: Both organizations call free data transfer “crucial” to the EU games industry
- Government responds to the DCMS Select Committee’s Report on Immersive and Addictive Technology
- EA’s new $30 online-only game: An uphill slog in a free-to-play world
- EA to update Madden NFL 21, making Washington a “generic team”: Following team’s decision, EA will also ditch name and logo until new ones are chosen
- Video game streaming
- GameStop will require face masks for customers; reportedly won’t enforce it: Employees say if customers refuse to wear masks, they are to complete transactions “quickly as possible”
- Wales Interactive quietly pulls announcement for FMV game about female streamer abuse: Publisher says Gamer Girl was designed to raise awareness of the toxicity women face online
- Metacritic counters review bombs by eliminating launch-day user reviews
- Metacritic now delays user reviews until more than 24 hours after games launch: Company says the decision was not influenced by backlash and review bombing against The Last Of Us Part II
- How to design better communities: Kitfox Games’ Victoria Tran explained how the right ruleset can lead your community away from toxicity
- Numinous Games announces The Playability Initiative for accessible gaming: New initiative to partner with AbleGamers, disabled communities for new, adaptive game
- Cloud gaming “will take the biggest hit” from 5G delays caused by Huawei ban: But analysts tells GamesIndustry.biz mobile market “will thrive with or without 5G”
- GDC Survey: One third of game businesses suffering decline amid COVID-19 pandemic: Decline is offset by similar numbers seeing business improve, but 25% of developers have been hit financially
- Developing Bake It under quarantine: Kwalee’s head of development Simon Platt on the processes and tools needed to make and ship a new product during lockdown
- 63% of UK games businesses report no risk of closure during COVID-19 pandemic: Meanwhile, 80% do not expect to make redundancies and 56% are still recruiting despite difficulties
- Ghost of Tsushima comfortably beats Paper Mario to No.1 | UK Charts: But Paper Mario The Origami King enjoys the biggest launch in the series to date
- Please insert disc: Microsoft Flight Simulator will spread across ten DVDs
- ‘We believe in generations:’ PlayStation argues cross-gen games risk stifling innovation
- As the PS5 draws near, PlayStation promises there’s ‘still a ton of life in’ the PS4
- Microsoft resets expectations ahead of Xbox Showcase: “No business, devices or similar news, just games,” says Xbox marketing head Aaron Greenberg
- Microsoft is adding xCloud to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in September
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate gets free xCloud game streaming in September
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will get Project xCloud access from September: Platform holder announces cloud streaming will soon be added to subscription service in supported countries
- Xbox backs off Game Pass on every platform goal: Phil Spencer says other consoles “aren’t really that interested in having a full Xbox experience on their hardware”
- No Man’s Sky has added 1 million new players since Xbox Game Pass launch
- Can Xbox One continue on as gaming’s “low-end” console option?
- Microsoft ending production of Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition
- Xbox One minus two: Microsoft kills console versions before Series X launch
- Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital discontinued ahead of Xbox Series X: Only the Xbox One S remains in production as Microsoft pulls the plug on its high-end and disc-less current-gen consoles
- Microsoft halts sale of 12 month Xbox Live Gold subscriptions
- Xbox Series X won’t support Kinect hardware, games
- Xbox closes Q4 with gains in hardware revenue, record engagement
- Microsoft’s gaming revenues jump in Q4 of FY20 due to ongoing lockdowns: After several flat or down quarters in a row, Xbox content and services revenue up 65%
- Layoffs at Microsoft as it begins new fiscal year: Reports suggest less than 1,000 people affected, currently unclear whether this includes any at Xbox
- Cloud streaming: complement, not competition, to next-gen consoles: Microsoft’s decision to bundle xCloud as part of Games Pass Ultimate is the smartest decision anyone has made in cloud streaming so far
- Microsoft migrates ‘Minecraft’ from Amazon Web Services to its own Azure: Since 2014, developer Mojang had used AWS servers for Minecraft Realms.
- Ubisoft’s holiday next-gen games will be the same price as current-gen: However, the publisher leaves the door open for a price hike next year
- Ubisoft reports record bookings despite light Q1 release slate: Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, Rainbow Six Siege performing well in pandemic; Ubisoft Forward had more concurrent viewers than any of publisher’s E3 briefings
- Stadia’s ‘Click To Play’ – the future?
- Rocket League goes free-to-play: Game will launch on Epic Games Store; Steam version will no longer be available for new users
- Rocket League’s free-to-play transition is a red card for its Steam listing
- Rocket League will tone down its Steam presence following free-to-play shift
- Crossfire dev Smilegate opens Barcelona studio to develop triple-A projects
- Smilegate opens new Barcelona studio: Spanish office to be focused on AAA titles, beginning with an open-world console game
- Paradox acquires Surviving the Aftermath developer Iceflake Studios
- Paradox buys Iceflake Studios: Finnish company becomes the ninth developer in the Paradox family
- TinyBuild nabs Hello Neighbor dev team, plans to invest $15M into the franchise
- TinyBuild acquires Hello Neighbor developers: Team will now be called Eerie Guest Studios, indie publisher will invest more than $15 million into franchise
- Nazara Technologies buys majority stake in Paper Boat Apps: Indian firm raises stake to 51%, values the educational game developer at around $20m
- Nintendo isn’t throwing in the towel on mobile just yet: Annual report positions mobile business as a key target area in company’s long-term strategy
- Mobile dev Carbonated raises $8.5 million in seed funding
- Carbonated raises $8.5m in seed funding: Developer started by ex-EA, Zynga vets working on mobile real-time PVP game Madworld
- Mobalytics closes $11.25m Series A round: Almaz Capital and Cabra VC lead investment in the startup’s “personal gaming assistant” and analytics platform
- Nexon OC shuts down: Company says studio’s in-development projects didn’t fit with overall focus
- Investment health check: Growing your studio from seed to Series A: In the first of two articles, Sheridans’ Tim Davies outlines four key steps to prepare your company for investor scrutiny
- VGames raises over $30m for Israel and Eastern Europe-focused investment fund: Fund founded by Eitan Reisel to focus on early-stage game studios
- Reaching Chinese gamers through internet cafés
- Ring Fit Adventure sprints to the US top 10 in June thanks to stock increase – NPD: The Last of Us Part 2 debuts at No.1, sees second-highest launch month dollar sales for a Sony-published game ever
- Roblox now has a social Party Space for online hangouts
- Adopt Me: The most popular game you’ve never played – Josh Ling on the rapid rise of the biggest game on Roblox — millions in revenue, 50m monthly users, and a team set to reach 100 people by the end of 2020
- How to guarantee your pitch will be rejected: Publishers and investors share advice on the common mistakes to avoid in your presentation when you’re pitching
- Polish studio Far From Home launches with close-to-home support network: CEO Blumenfeld explains why the “AA+” development studio is using alternative stock exchange NewConnect to support big ambitions
- Drive-in esports arenas planned for Horizon malls in the US: Four cities in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Texas to launch centers for both viewership and competition
- Former Faze Clan executives launch new esports organization Xset: Co-founder Greg Selkoe wants to recruit more women and people of color, have a “clear social mission”
- A new skull has been added to Halo 3 after 13 years
- Designing the real-time stealth and combat of Desperados III
- Blog: Looking at the response to accessibility in The Last of Us Part II
- Blog: Game composers and the importance of themes – Part 2
- Blog: How modern roguelikes are becoming more accessible
- Blog: Macro and micro narrative storytelling
- Video: Uses and abuses of analytics in games
- Video: Using machine learning, live telemetry & computer vision to manage communities
- Don’t Miss: Talking evocative games with thatgamecompany’s Jenova Chen
- Don’t Miss: Frog Fractions 2 and the art of surprising players expecting to be surprised
- The Asus ROG 3 is the ultimate Android gaming phone that nobody asked for
- Dreams wins Game of the Year at Games for Change Festival: Media Molecule and Thatgamecompany picked up two prizes each at the online event
- Why Ian Livingstone is building a school: Industry veteran on the ethos behind Livingstone Academy and why “there’s no point teaching children like robots”
- U.S. Patent no. 9,861,896: Method and system for an integrated platform wide party system within a multiplayer gaming environment
DIGITAL
- Twitter accounts of prominent figures hacked
- Hackers obtained Twitter DMs for 36 high-profile account holders
- The importance of the Twitter hack should not be missed (Andres Guadamuz)
- Thieves Breach Twitter Security to Commandeer Famous Accounts
- Who’s Behind Wednesday’s Epic Twitter Hack?
- Holy Hell Were We Lucky That Twitter’s Big Breach Was Just A Bunch Of SIM Swapping Kids; Can We Please Encrypt DMs Now?
- Twitter and the way of the hashtag
- QAnon conspiracy kicked off Twitter as platform bans thousands of accounts
- Court Can’t Compel Twitter to Shut Down Trump’s Account (Eric Goldman)
- If Twitter Shuts Down Trump’s Account For Repeat Infringement Then Will Trump Fans Finally Realize That Copyright Is The Problem?
- The Trump Administration Has Given The CIA Free Rein To Engage In A Cyberwar
- Tech Policy In The Time Of Trump: Mid-2020 Edition
- A Case Where The Courts Got Section 230 Right Because It Turns Out Section 230 Is Not Really All That Hard
- Content Moderation Case Study: Can An Open Encyclopedia Handle Disinformation? (2005)
- Facebook Cannot Separate Itself From the Hate It Spreads: The social network doesn’t just ‘hold a mirror up to society’— it does something much more powerful and concerning
- Facebook overrides fact-checks when climate science is “opinion”
- Facebook Bans Content Promoting Conversion Therapy
- Copyright Trolling Evolved: Okularity Accused Of DMCAing Social Media Accounts, Then Demanding MILLIONS To Reinstate
- Content Moderation Case Study: Dealing With Misinformation During A Pandemic (2020)
- Russia-linked hackers accused of targeting COVID-19 vaccine developers
- Emojis Keep Teen Out of Jail–State v. DRC (Eric Goldman)
- Time to tackle market dominance of tech giants says CMA
- The end of 30%? | Opinion: The European Commission has opened an antitrust investigation into Apple — will this be the end of the App Store’s 30% revenue share?
- Amazon Will Now Let You Create Your Own Streaming Service, Using Twitch Technology
- Amazon.com: more transparency, less counterfeits
- Can a Blawg Be Liable for Defamation? Not Likely (Whew!)
- Google Bans Advertising for Spying Products and Services
- Google Strengthens Clickbait Advertising Policy
- Google Prohibits Ads Promoting COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories
- Why some self-driving startups reject Google’s “moonshot” approach
- Online platforms required to deal with business users fairly and transparently from 12 July 2020
- How SVODs Are Leveraging Facebook And YouTube To Grow Their Audiences
- Snap Sees Slowdown In User, Revenue Growth, Says Originals Now Reach 75% Of U.S. Gen Z Population
- US investors try to buy TikTok from Chinese owner
- Facebook To Launch TikTok Competitor ‘Reels’ Globally In August
- TikTok Drops New Creator-Starring PSAs To Help Users Recognize Misinformation Online
- TikTok Plans To Hire 10,000 U.S.-Based Staffers Over Next 3 Years, Company Says
- Charli And Dixie D’Amelio Drive Hollister’s New ‘Jeans Lab’ Campaign To 2.5 Billion TikTok Views In 6 Days
- Influencer Marketing Firm CreatorIQ Closes $24 Million Funding Round
- Student-Athletes & NIL: The Next Rising Class of Social Media Influencers
- Do old social media posts constitute advertising? And when is a question a claim?
- Lilly Singh Unveiled As Co-Owner Of Pro Women’s Soccer Team Coming To Los Angeles
- Judge Denies Netflix’s Request To Dismiss Discrimination Lawsuit From Comedian Mo’Nique
- ‘Extraction,’ ‘Bird Box,’ ‘The Irishman’ Among Netflix’s Top 10 Most-Watched Original Film Debuts Ever
- Netflix’s Q2 Report: 10 Million New Subscribers, Production Delays For 2021, And Content Head Ted Sarandos Is Now Co-CEO
- Insights: Netflix Is Still Winning The Streaming Wars, But That Might Start Getting More Difficult Soon
- HBO Max, Peacock Already Losing Major Launch Titles Like ‘Harry Potter,’ ‘The Matrix’ Trilogy (Report)
- NBC’s Peacock Topped App Charts On Release, Besting The Debuts Of Quibi, HBO Max (Report)
- Rapper Logic Signs Seven-Figure Streaming Deal With Twitch
- Vox Media Lays Off 70 Employees, As Coronavirus Continues To Grind Away At Revenues
- Petnet ‘Smart’ Feeder Customers Are Stuck In ‘Internet Of Broken Things’ Purgatory
- Consumer IoT – European Commission initiates inquiry into the consumer Internet of Things sector
- Woman Who Refused To Wear Mask At Starbucks Wants Half The $100k In Tip Money Barista Got From GoFundMe Campaign
- Is It OK to Embed Instagram Photos? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- Instagram Opens Up New ‘Shop’ Tab For Users In The U.S.
- We Shouldn’t Call Michelle Obama’s (And Joe Rogan’s) Proprietary Exclusive Audio From Spotify A ‘Podcast’ Any More
- Spotify Rolls Out Native Video Podcast Capability To H3h3 Productions, Rooster Teeth, The Misfits Podcast, More
- Podcast Advertising Remains Resilient In Face Of COVID, Will Surpass $812 Million This Year (Study)
- FinCEN warns of virtual currency social media scam
- DOJ Indicts Cyprus National Who Apparently Hacked Ripoff Report And Deleted Negative Reviews
- Tech And COVID-19: MLB Rolls Out Remote Cheering Function In Its MLB App
- Hands-on: The $300 Kano PC, a “build-it-yourself” Chromebook competitor
- Socialism’s DIY Computer: The Galaksija computer was a craze in 1980s Yugoslavia, inspiring thousands of people to build versions in their own homes. The idea was simple – make technology available to everyone.
- Mediated trust: A theoretical framework to address the trustworthiness of technological trust mediators (Balázs Bodó)
- The Political Power of Platforms: How Current Attempts to Regulate Misinformation Amplify Opinion Power (Natali Helberger)
- Seeing the forest for the trees: Visualizing platformization and its governance (José Van Dijck)
- Governing smart mobility: policy instrumentation, technological utopianism, and the administrative quest for knowledge (Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren, Alexander Paulsson)
- Re-assembling the surveillable refugee body in the era of data-craving (Martin Lemberg-Pedersen, Eman Haioty)
- Commission launches sector inquiry into the Internet of Things for consumer related products and services
- European Commission launches a Sector Inquiry into the Consumer Internet of Things
A.I.
- European Artificial Intelligence Policy: Mapping the Institutional Landscape
- Can Algorithms Tackle the ‘Infodemic’?
- Science Fiction, Science Fact, And AI Consciousness with Beth Singler
- Big data and modern slavery
- Video: An overview of knowledge representation in game AI
- Regulating human control over autonomous systems
- Robots, Automation, and Employment: Where We Are (Lukas Wolters)
- Resisting the Algorithmic Boss: Guessing, Gaming, Reframing and Contesting Rules in App-based Management (Joanna Bronowicka, Mirela Ivanova)
COMMUNICATIONS
- Ajit Pai urges states to cap prison phone rates after he helped kill FCC caps
- FCC: Phone carriers that profit from robocalls could have all calls blocked
- FCC approves call blocking safe harbors
- FCC Adopts Safe Harbors to Encourage Phone Companies to Block Illegal Robocallers
- AT&T claims a phone made in 2019 will stop working, urges users to upgrade
- Verizon Has To Walk Back Bogus 5G Coverage Claims
- Charter Spectrum’s Bullshit ‘Broadcast TV’ Fee Soars To $16.45 Per Month
- Attorney General’s Office Achieves Victory on Maine Broadband Privacy Law
- Interim Rule Implements Section 889 Ban on Contractors Using Technologies from Certain China-Based Companies
- Rule Banning Chinese Telecommunications Equipment is Released
- August Is Coming: Interim Rule Banning Federal Contractor Use of Certain Chinese Technologies Takes Effect August 13th\
- New Rule Expands U.S. Government Contracting Ban on Targeted Chinese Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Suppliers
- UK to remove Huawei from UK 5G networks by 2027, bans Huawei from supplying new 5G equipment
- What’s New in 5G – July 2020
- If Thumbs Are Required, It’s Not an Autodialer
- Study: Community Broadband Drives Competition, Lowering Costs
- The Political Defence of the Commons: The Case of Community Networks (Félix Tréguer, Melanie Dulong de Rosnay)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- “No one can own the law” – United States confirms copyright protection does not extend to works of legislators or judges
- Forever(ly) Brothers, Forever(ly) Rivals: The Everly Brothers’ Epic Battle Over Authorship of “Cathy’s Clown”
- Reproduction of infringing content online: who’s liable?
- Yet Another ‘Stranger Things’ Copyright Suit Over A String Of Likely Non-Protectable Elements
- Porn distribution company loses piracy suit appeal against Web host
- Court Reconsiders and Changes Course in Instagram Embedding Case
- Copyright Win Falls Apart at the Seams on Challenge to Registration Validity
- Why Are Pizzerias Arguing Whether Web Browsing Is Copyright Infringement?–Imapizza v. At Pizza (Eric Goldman)
- Court sanctions Liebowitz $103K! Requires service of a copy of the order on all of his clients and filing in all of his cases!! But can the Court do that?
- Copyright Troll Richard Liebowitz Says It’s Really Unfair That He Should Have To Tell Clients And Courts How Frequently He’s Been Caught Lying In Court
- Using Music in Podcasts – Talk to the Copyright Holders – Why You Can’t Rely on Your ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and SoundExchange Licenses
- Amendments to Mexico’s Copyright Legislation, in a Nutshell
- “I told you NO, you can’t have their number…” – CJEU confirms IP Enforcement Directive does not require disclosure of email addresses, telephone numbers or IP addresses
- Trademark Licensing in Canada: Everything You Need to Know You Can Learn From The Hells Angels
- That’s Not My Employment Law Group! A Trademark Battle Between Two Law Firms.
- Lady Antebellum Changes Name to “Lady A” and Files Trademark Lawsuit
- British Amateur Gymnastics Association v UK Gymnastics Ltd [2020] EWHC 1678 (IPEC)
- XOXO mark fails to distinguish, says General Court
- Trademark Law Alert – “LADY A” Case Could Present Interesting Issues…or Not
- Brighton & Hove Albion FC seeks trade mark protection for ‘Albion’ – but why?
- Booking.com Remand on USPTO Attorney Fee Issue Portends Closure on Circuit Split
- Stone Brewing, One-Time Battlers Of ‘Big Beer’, Out Here Trying To Cancel Non-Confusing Trademarks
- SCOTUS Alert: Adding “.com” To A Generic Term Can Be A Trademark
- Supreme Court: ‘Generic.com’ Domains Not Necessarily Generic; May Be Federally Registered
- Success for Louis Vuitton in pattern trademark dispute
- Check Mate! Louis Vuitton defends its chequerboard pattern for the second time
- The EU General Court provides clarification on trademarks consisting of slogans, advertising messages, idiomatic expressions
- Loss of gravity for the Moon Boot
- A breakthrough for the luxury trademark ‘Damier Azur’, but the battle is not yet won!
- Nosecco Appeal of UKIPO Decision Dismissed
- No-go for Nosecco following opposition by Prosecco
- Nosecco, Prosecco and the clash between marketing ideas and IP rights
- Still no perfect trademark for ‘perfect’ energy bar
- The Michael Jordan Case and The New Balance Case: The Latest Trend in Chinese Trademark Battle
- Don’t Get Schooled: What You Can Learn from the Wave of Trade Secret Cases That Followed the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis
- In assessing design patent infringement, the devil is in the details
- The Federal Court finds compelled disclosure and review of third-party rebates are ultra vires the Patent Act
- Board Should Fix Obvious Claim Errors in Order to Make a Decision on the Merits
- Necessity of Articulated Reasoning with Rational Underpinning in an Obviousness Rejection
- Aerospace to garden hoses: differing opinions in the English Court of Appeal as to obviousness over obscure prior art
- Functional Limitations vs. Intended Use
- Publication Does Not Necessarily Defeat Joint Inventorship
- Collaboration and Concerted Effort are What Result in Joint Inventorship
- Federal Circuit Upholds Enbrel® Patents and Blocks Biosimilar
- Who owns patents, SEPs and develops standards for smart home technologies?
- Modern methods for improving conventional prior-art searches
- Patentability of Diagnostic Inventions in the United States, Europe and Canada – Part 1
- Patentability of Diagnostic Inventions in the United States, Europe and Canada – Part 2
- Zombie Patents? USPTO Issuing Notices of Abandonment in U.S. National Stage PCT Applications After Filing of an RCE where no Inventor Oath or Declaration or Substitute Statement has been Filed
- Mid-year review of 2020’s major patent cases from across the globe
- Do you need to put in place an escrow agreement with respect to the software and/or source code that you license?
- Ontario Government Unveils Intellectual Property Action Plan Along with COVID-19 Research Projects
- Business Development Bank of Canada Commits $160-Million Fund Geared Towards Canada’s Intellectual Property Development
- IP Litigation Quarterly Update
- Q2 2020 Quick Links (Everything) (Eric Goldman)
PRIVACY
- The impact of Schrems II on Canada: No more onward transfer on the basis of the EU-US Privacy Shield
- US-EU Privacy Shield data sharing agreement struck down by court
- As Expected, US Surveillance Of Social Media Leads To EU Court Of Justice Rejecting EU/US Privacy Shield
- The European Court of Justice invalidates the EU-US Privacy Shield: Case-by-case assessment necessary when using EU standard contractual clauses
- Adapting to the Death of Privacy Shield
- Court of Justice of the European Union invalidates EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, while standard contractual clauses survive (for now)
- Privacy Shield Is Dead! Long Live Standard Contractual Clauses! For Now…
- Federal judge calls out CSIS for ‘cavalier institutional approach’ to rule of law: Judge calls for comprehensive review after failure to flag info likely obtained illegally
- DOJ: Chinese hackers stole “hundreds of millions of dollars” of secrets
- Latest VPN Security Scandals Show (Yet Again) That VPNs Aren’t A Panacea
- Privacy and civil rights advocates urge federal government to ban facial recognition surveillance
- CBP Updates Privacy Impact Assessment On License Plate Readers; Says Opting Out Involves Not Driving
- Three LAPD Officers Facing Criminal Charges For Faking Gang Database Records
- The Microsoft Police State: Mass Surveillance, Facial Recognition, And The Azure Cloud
- Slack says Microsoft is up to its old tricks, “browser-war” style
- Iranian state hackers caught with their pants down in intercepted videos
- Website Accessibility Under the California Consumer Privacy Act
- There’s a reason your inbox has more malicious spam—Emotet is back
- CBP does end run around warrants, simply buys license plate-reader data
- Injunction Defunction: The Second Circuit Extinguishes Injunctive Relief as a Remedy for Consumer False Advertising Claims
- Recent Court Decision Carries Lessons for Retaining and Using Cybersecurity Consultants to Investigate a Breach
- Can Companies Record Customer Service Calls Under U.S. Law?
- The EU Commission publishes its first evaluation of the GDPR
- Don’t Give Up on Your Digital Privacy Yet: A federal data privacy law is still important. Here’s why.
CREATIVITY
- In brief: prohibited and controlled advertising in Canada
- The importance of the Johnny Depp libel trial
- Banksy’s face-mask themed artwork removed from London Underground
- Second Circuit Wrecks All Sorts Of First Amendment Protections To Keep Lawsuit Against Joy Reid Alive
- Third Circuit Court Of Appeals: F Cheer, Indeed
- California Federal Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss False Advertising Class Action Involving Breyers Natural Vanilla Ice Cream
- Court Deems Vanilla False Advertising Claims Too… Vanilla
- New Florida Law Gives College Athletes Right to Profit from their Name, Image and Likeness
- We harmed him—really we did: NHL hockey team argues unwanted texts it sent actually did injure people because…TCPAWORD
- Advertising a Game of Chance? Contact a Sweepstakes Lawyer
- How Artists Can Support Charitable Initiatives Through Art Sales
- New York City Reopens for Film and Television Production
Jon
News of the Week; July 15, 2020
GAMES
- Big Fish Games Reaches $155 Million Settlement over Online Gambling Games
- European Union sets limits on platform madness: A new regulation will create a more fair and transparent relationship between games companies and the app stores
- Three-quarters of all US households include someone who plays video games – ESA: Of 214 million gamers, 41% are women, and 21% are under the age of 18
- Ubisoft’s “most powerful creative force” resigns in wake of sweeping allegations
- Ubisoft executives resign amid sexual misconduct allegations
- Three more Ubisoft executives step down due to toxic culture: Chief Creative Officer Serge Hascoët and Ubisoft Canadian studios head Yannis Mallat leave the company as global head of HR Cécile Cornet leaves her role
- Toxic culture at Ubisoft connected to dysfunction in HR department: About half of the recent cases of toxic behaviour unearthed at Ubisoft had previously been flagged to HR, recent reports suggest
- What went wrong at Ubisoft? | Podcast: In this week’s double episode, we discuss recent developments at Ubisoft along with the wider issues of abuse in the games industry
- Top Ubisoft Executives Out Amid Allegations Of Company-Wide Misconduct
- Christophe Derennes named head of Ubisoft Montreal after Yannis Mallat’s resignation
- Interplay silent on Earthworm Jim developer’s racist, homophobic remarks
- Researchers criticise whiteboard technical tests: Software engineer hiring practice discriminates against women, suggests study
- Feminist Frequency launching Games and Online Harassment Hotline: Free text message emotional support service goes live next month, will be staffed by paid agents trained in crisis response
- WoW Alters Its Character Creation System to Add Diversity
- Blizzard will make changing character gender free in next WoW expansion: Most other aesthetic character changes can already be made without spending real money
- Swery apologizes for depiction of transgender individual in Deadly Premonition 2
- BAFTA Games Awards applicants will be challenged over diversity and inclusion
- Decades later, these remakes haven’t fixed their racial representation issues
- There’s a new initiative to create a game industry code of ethics
- 8,000 games have been pulled from the App Store in China over missing ISBNs
- Over 8,000 games pulled from App Store in China in one week: Apple clamps down on paid games or titles with in-app purchases that have not been approved by Chinese regulator
- EA developing an addiction to executive overpay, says investment group: CtW Investment Group launches shareholder campaign against publisher, highlights “fallacy” of above-ordinary compensation as a motivator
- ‘The Sims’ game has been turned into a reality show, and players are competing for $100,000
- You’ll Be Mad You’re Not Competing In This Sims Reality TV Show
- Global Mis-Steps: From acquisition to accusations – GlobalStep sources describe “culling” of staff, incorrect pay, and a stifling culture of fear at UK QA studio formerly known as Testology
- Tilting Point acquires Plamee Studios and FTX Games assets
- Huuuge Games has purchased interactive ad company Playable Platform
- Huuuge Games acquires Dutch advertising startup: Mobile developer now has 11 international offices and over 600 staff
- Animoca Brands buys social gaming platform Gamee for $6.53 million
- Former Ubisoft developers open new Canadian studio Beans
- Game companies line up for pandemic relief loans: Developers take advantage of a US program that will forgive loans for retaining staff, deadline to apply is August 8
- Analyst: Mobile games generated 1 billion downloads each week in Q2 2020
- Analyzing those Satisfactory sales numbers (& more!)
- F1 2020 overtakes The Last of Us Part 2 at No.1 | UK Charts:Codemasters licensed racing game enjoys its biggest launch since 2017
- Sony invests $250 million in Epic Games
- Sony Invests $250 Million In Epic Games, Reportedly Valuing The ‘Fortnite’ Publisher At $17.9 Billion
- Sony invests $250m in Epic Games: Tech giants plan to broaden existing collaborations across technology, social entertainment, and digital ecosystems
- Report: Sony increasing PlayStation 5 production by 50 percent
- Sony reportedly increasing PS5 production to 10m units by 2021
- Could Sony stumble on cross-generation games? | Opinion: If Sony tries to charge for PS5 versions of late-gen PS4 hits, comparisons with Microsoft’s consumer-friendly strategy will be harsh
- Are Xbox Series X developers being held back by Xbox One?: “Held back is a meme that gets created by people who are too caught up in device competition”
- Developing for Xbox Game Pass: “I could never pitch these ideas to a publisher”: Xbox, Double Fine, Obsidian, Mojang and InXile discuss how Game Pass is changing the games they make
- Microsoft details how Xbox Series X will load 4.8GB/s from memory
- Microsoft rolls out special version of Project xCloud for developers in lockdown: PC Content Test App allows games makers to access their Xbox development kits remotely
- How Minecraft and Mojang taught Xbox how to buy studios – Xbox’s new studios: “Things have been almost exactly the same, just without the terror of going out of business”
- Phil Spencer: “I don’t have any regrets about Mixer” – Xbox chief discusses what the Mixer closure means for its strategy
- PES 2021 “pared back” as Konami focuses on Xbox Series X, PS5 version: Publisher confirms there will still be a release this year with an “affordably priced” season update
- Stadia lands exclusives from Konami, Harmonix, and more: Bomberman publisher & Rock Band dev join Splash Damage, Uppercut Games, Supermassive, and Bad Dream in working on games for Google’s service
- Splash Damage exploring friendlier territory with Outcasters: Veteran developer of competitive online shooters aims for approachability with its new game for Stadia
- Stadia’s Click to Play aims to speed up game launches with sharable, instant-play links
- For the second time this year, Amazon Games puts a new title into hiding
- Amazon delays MMORPG New World into 2021: Company says alpha feedback demonstrated need for more endgame experiences
- Google Play apps with 500,000 downloads subscribe users to costly services
- The return of the $70 video game has been a long time coming
- Rising video game prices drove UK inflation in June: The Last of Us Part 2’s launch, plus ongoing Switch success stories, likely to be biggest contributors
- PUBG has sold over 70 million copies worldwide
- Unreal Engine devs can now capture facial animation using an iOS app
- Unreal’s new iPhone app does live motion capture with Face ID sensors
- The surprising way that paid DLC works
- Capcom says its game sales are 80% digital and rising: Publisher aiming to reduce physical media to just 10% of its game sales in the future
- Finnish mobile studio Traplight nets $9 million to support Battle Legion
- Traplight closes €8m investment round: Finnish mobile dev to focus on live-service development of latest title, Battle Legion
- Tencent is the latest potential buyer for Leyou Technologies: Chinese tech and games giant reportedly in talks to acquire parent of Warframe developer Digital Extremes
- Twitch Faces Sudden Stream of DMCA Notices Over Background Music
- Twitch reinstates Donald Trump’s channel after two-week ban
- What did (and didn’t) work for the first year of Valve’s Steam Labs experiments
- Valve secrets spill over—including Half-Life 3—in new Steam documentary app
- Half-Life Alyx developers want to make a full-scale Half-Life game for consoles: “This ice has been broken, now we’re hoping to smash through the ice completely”
- Far Cry 6 announced at Ubisoft Forward, launches next year: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion also get release dates, smart delivery on Xbox
- Pokémon Snap had a different kind of focus | Why I Love: Tag Games CEO Marc Williamson believes developers could learn from the Nintendo photo safari’s escapist tourism without pressure
- How COVID-19 transformed Pokémon Go into “Pokémon stay-at-home”
- Nintendo and Lego team up on a $229 mechanical NES and TV set
- Paper Mario: The Origami King folds the usual RPG tropes into knots
- Why is this copy of Super Mario Bros. worth a record $114,000?
- Vintage ‘Super Mario Bros.’ Video Game Sells for $114,000
- Rare copy of Super Mario Bros sells for a record $114,000: The NES classic seta new standard for vintage game prices at auction last weekend
- Free-to-play brawler Ninjala surpasses 3 million downloads on Switch
- Moderating the “marketplace of ideas” with user-made gaming platform Core: Manticore Games co-founder Frédéric Descamps discusses challenges & potential with new platform that promises to be YouTube of gaming
- Twitch deletes Black Lives Matter video after criticism it lacked Black creators: Twitch partners from the Black community said they were overshadowed, spoken over by white personalities
- Ninja Denounces TikTok As Concerns Surrounding App’s Ban Mount — And Byte Soars To Top Of Apple App Charts
- The New Frontier of Esports Sponsorship
- TikTok Collab House SwayLA Launches ‘SwayGaming’ Offshoot For Esports Creators
- ‘Microsoft Flight Simulator’ VR Support Still a Post-Launch “top wish list item”: No direct confirmation of future VR support
- A ‘nod’ to Command and Conquer’s Construction Yard
- The Chinese Room’s ambition to move out of the art house niche: With Sumo at their side, Dan Pinchbeck and Ed Daly want to make the best games of the decade
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla hands-on: An incomplete Witcher-ization
- Watch Dogs: Legion hands-on: Play as anyone, care about no one
- Ghost of Tsushima review: An open-world haiku of honor, stealth, and revenge
- Video: Emergent storytelling techniques in The Sims
- Video: A game dev’s guide to organizing your levels and mechanics
- Don’t Miss: An oral (‘Sporal’?) history on the development of Maxis’ Spore
- Don’t Miss: How adding 0.2 seconds to Halo 3’s sniper rifle fire rate changed the game
- Blog: Balancing Tips – How we managed math on Idle Idol
- Blog: Camera evolution in third-person games
- Blog: Money or passion? How to become an indie entrepreneur
- Blog: Improving narrative accessibility
- Blog: A beginner’s guide to making your own games
- Media Molecule’s Dreams named GOTY at 2020 Games for Change Awards
DIGITAL
- ‘Too big to fail’: why even a historic ad boycott won’t change Facebook – The company has survived previous seemingly existential crises with little damage to its monarchical structure
- Zuckerberg and the Facebook ad boycott; how will it end?
- The Fake Nerd Boys of Silicon Valley
- We need tougher action against disinformation and propaganda
- Musk, Obama, Biden, Bezos, Gates—bitcoin scam hits Twitter in coordinated blitz
- Twitter lost control of its internal systems to Bitcoin-scamming hackers
- Trump’s Twitter Tantrums Are Affecting How Judges Evaluate Online Discourse–US v. Cook (Eric Goldman)
- Trump admin caves to Harvard and MIT, won’t deport online-only students
- White supremacist pleads guilty to multiple “swatting” incidents
- Reports of a Silicon Valley/Military Divide Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
- UN Special Rapporteur Warns of Racial Discrimination Exacerbated by Technology
- Emerging digital technologies entrench racial inequality, UN expert warns
- Heller v. Uber – What Employers Need to Know
- Canada: Supreme Court Strikes Down Uber’s Arbitration Clause In Uber Technologies Inc. V. Heller, 2020 SCC 16
- Uber Technologies Inc. V. Heller (2020 SCC 16)
- Images and misinformation in political groups: evidence from WhatsApp in India
- Rise of The Karen. feat. Apryl Williams
- When Piracy Literally Saves Lives
- EFF, Orin Kerr Ask The Supreme Court To Prevent Turning The CFAA Into A Convenient Way To Punish Site Users, Security Researchers
- French parliament passes porn age-verification legislation
- What A Shock: Scammers Are Abusing YouTube’s Notice And Takedown System With DMCA Claims
- Now That USMCA Is In Effect… Can Congress Even Reform Section 230 Without Violating The Agreement?
- DOJ Section 230 report unintentionally highlights dangers of internet heckler’s vetoes
- House Government Appropriations Bill Would Bar FTC & FCC From Doing Anything Related To Trump’s Inane Anti-230 Executive Order
- Understanding The ‘Splinternet’
- Americans Disagree On What Content Should Be Moderated, But They All Agree Social Media Companies Suck At Moderation
- Spotify Launches Podcast Charts, Challenging Apple’s Status As Industry’s De Facto Ranker
- Google Finally Gets Around To Banning Ads For Stalkerware
- Google bans ads for stalkerware apps—with some exceptions
- Google Search Results Allegedly Promote YouTube Videos Over More Popular Clips From Competitive Platforms
- YouTube Now Tells Creators Exactly How Much They Make From Ads, Super Chat, Channel Memberships Per 1,000 Views
- What Makes A YouTube Video Hit The Trending Tab? This Data Scientist Broke Down Every Single Video That Trended In 2019.
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 7/13/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 7/13/2020
- YouTube Adds Mental Health Information Panels To Videos About Depression, Anxiety
- YouTube Kids Finally Arrives On Amazon Fire TV
- Amazon supermarket will roll out fancy new smart cart when it opens
- Amazon bans TikTok on employee phones, then calls it a mistake
- Amazon Doubles Back, Saying Email Instructing Employees To Delete TikTok Was “Sent In Error”
- TikTok Says It Removed 49 Million Videos For Content Violations In The Second Half Of 2019
- FYP.RIP Lets TikTok Creators Download Every Video They’ve Ever Made At Once
- Addison Rae, TikTok’s Second-Biggest Star, Soars Past 50 Million Followers
- Jason Derulo Says He Makes “Far More” Than $75,000 Per TikTok
- Tiktok deletes 49 million videos for rule-breaking over 6 month period
- Snapchat Tests Special ‘Brand Profiles’ — Complete With Ecommerce, Lens Collections, More
- NBCUniversal’s Peacock Debuts With 13,000 Hours Of Free Content
- Noted Incubator Reportedly Shells Out $10 Million To Develop Patrick Starrr Beauty Brand, Launching At Sephora
- Influencer-Enmeshed Beauty Brand Morphe Ceases All Ties With Jeffree Star
- Just 8% Of Quibi’s Early Free Trial Users Converted To Paying Subscribers
- What’s wrong with WhatsApp:As social media has become more inhospitable, the appeal of private online groups has grown. But they hold their own dangers – to those both inside and out.
- Jukin Launches Fourth OTT Brand, ‘WeatherSpy’, A Hip Weather Hub Targeting Cord Cutters
- Spotify Launches Podcast Charts, Challenging Apple’s Status As Industry’s De Facto Ranker
- Registration of generic Top Level Domains (gTLD)
- Tesla’s stock soars as tens of thousands of Robinhood users buy it
- New York State Department of Financial Services Proposes Framework for a Conditional BitLicense
- Who Should Be in Charge of Cyberspace? The European Union, Member States and the Constitution of Structural Power (Moritz Weiss)
- The Postdigital Emergence of Memes and GIFs: Meaning, Discourse, and Hypernarrative Creativity (Albin Wagener)
- Content Moderation Case Study: Dealing With Misinformation In Search (2004)
A.I.
- Don’t ask if artificial intelligence is good or fair, ask how it shifts power
- Fan Uses AI Software To Lipread What Actors Really Said In TV Series Before Chinese Authorities Censored Them
- Detroit PD Now Linked To Two Bogus Arrests Stemming From Facial Recognition False Positives
- Algorithmic state surveillance: Challenging the notion of agency in human rights (Eleni Kosta)
- The algorithmic regulation of security: An infrastructural perspective (Rocco Bellanova, Marieke de Goede)
- Data and the Task of the Humanities: We have automated the society of clues to act on its own divinations, with consequences far beyond the individual.
- CFPB Highlights the Growing Role of Artificial Intelligence in the Delivery of Financial Services
- Deepfakes Can Mean Deep Water and Deep Pockets for Your Business
- Transparency in artificial intelligence (Stefan Larsson, Fredrik Heintz)
COMMUNICATIONS
- Federal Court Defends CASL, Says Prohibition on Spam is Constitutional
- Supreme Court Upholds Robocalling Restrictions but Leaves Future of Regulatory Exemptions Uncertain
- Supreme Court Makes Debt Collection Robocalling Illegal (Again)
- TCPA Restrictions on Robocalls Expanded by SCOTUS
- The U.S. Supreme Court Broadens The TCPA Class Action Trap For Unwary Businesses
- FRACTURED LANDSCAPE: This One Graphic Explains Exactly why SCOTUS is Taking Yet Another Look at the TCPA
- The TCPA and the First Amendment: Where We Are and Where We’re Going
- Breaking: SCOTUS Will Decide ATDS Definition in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid et al.
- Supreme Court Agrees to Review Growing Circuit Split on Definition of ATDS
- SCOTUS to Resolve Autodialer Circuit Split
- Two FCC Fines for Contests Where Prizes Not Awarded on a Timely Basis – What Broadcasters Should Watch Out for in Conducting Contests
- FCC Continues to Prosecute Pirate Radio Operators – Two Settlements with Identified Violators
- FCC Proposes to Update Ex Parte Rules
- FCC releases new guidance on autodialers, leaves key questions unanswered
- Old School TV Gatekeepers (AT&T, Comcast), Struggle With Modern Streaming Gatekeepers (Amazon, Roku)
- Frontier misled subscribers about Internet speeds and prices, AG finds
- Charter’s hidden “Broadcast TV” fee now adds $197 a year to cable bills
- Verizon’s 5G network is tiny—Verizon ads “falsely implied” it’s nationwide
- UK bans Huawei from 5G networks in “victory for the Trump administration”
- Small ISPs Being Forced To Eat The Costs Of FCC’s Huawei Ban
- This Iowa Town Is Building An Open Access Fiber Broadband Network. Google Fiber Is Its First Customer
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- U.S. Court Of Appeals Hears Arguments That Lawsuit Against Disney For ‘Pirates’ Shouldn’t Have Been Dismissed
- Top EU Court Says Online Platforms Must Only Provide Postal Addresses Of People Who Upload Unauthorized Copies Of Copyright Material
- Neil Young ‘NOT ok’ with Trump playing his music at Mount Rushmore event
- Legal Implications of Syncing Copyrighted Music with Other Content
- Meek Mill, Atlantic Records Face Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Over Lifted Lyrics
- US copyright enters the social media age
- IP Insight – Brompton Doesn’t Fold Before Court of Justice
- How Absolutely Desperate Must You Be To Try To Claim That The Answer To ‘Cancel Culture’ Is Stronger Copyright?
- Are fundamental rights the answer to the deficiencies of EU copyright law, discussed in a European context? (Maria Christina Michailidou)
- Brexit: Intellectual Property and Software Code Post-Brexit Transition
- When Paying for It Doesn’t Mean You Own It
- Conducting your way through music licensing: common issues
- Random Issues to Consider as Media Businesses Adapt to the New World of the Virus – Music Uses on Zoom and Other Platforms, Unlicensed FM Transmitters
- A look at recent student athlete name, image and likeness legislation
- Not all pun and games: Federal Court not amused with cannabis company’s brand parody
- GOOGLES Wins Right to Sue Google
- PlanetArt v Photobox offers practical tips for designing UK-targeted apps
- “Trump Too Small” is Too Personal for Trademark Registration
- No, Trademark Trolls Collecting Various Fake Names For A Washington Football Team Will Not Get In The Way Of The NFL Team’s Renaming
- If It Isn’t Perceived as Generic, Then It Isn’t Generic: Takeaways from USPTO v. Booking.com
- Trade mark rights in generic terms: does the US booking.com decision open the door in the U.S. or Australia?
- Supreme Court: “Booking.com” Can Be Registered as Trademark
- The Greek Freak and celebrity trade marks
- Iconic Ferrari 250 GTO Trademark (Partially) Cancelled
- Ferrari loses EU trade mark for ‘world’s most expensive car’
- “Nosecco” lost its sparkle: Logo trade mark application rejected by UK IPO and decision upheld by High Court
- Owls swoop in to secure WAWAW trade mark
- Tiger King: Murder, mayhem and misuse of intellectual property
- A tale of conflicting data sets: filing and litigation statistics paint a contrasting picture of the US trademark landscape
- Trademarks for Business Owners: 4 (More) Things Every Trademark Owner Should Know
- I found out about this amusing Karen parody of American Girl dolls because they want it taken down
- American Girl Brand Sees The Light On Parody
- Knock It Off, Knockoffs? Ninth Circuit Affirms Trade Dress Rights but Not Fame
- IBM has a problem with Google’s Open Usage Commons: The ties between the Open Usage Commons and Google may be too strong and clear.
- Can Trademark Law Combat Price Gouging? 3M is Testing Theories to Protect its Brand
- Amazon Will Display Seller Identifying Information On Seller Profile Pages – What Does It Really Mean For Brands Trying To Stop Unauthorized Sales?
- Descriptive marks: marketer’s nirvana or lawyer’s nightmare?
- Moving on Up: Increased Costs Awards in Canadian Patent Litigation
- Challenges in Canada: how CIPO is tackling a backlog caused by covid-19, legislative change and Madrid
- Device Having a Chamber “Loaded With” a Composition Positively Requires Presence of Composition in Device
- Do Lord Justice Arnold’s comments on Fibrogen v Akebia signify a change in approach to instruction of experts?
- Patentee’s Failure to Fully Define Non-Standard Physical Characteristic Leads to Invalidity Holding
- Lights Out for Light-up Shoe Patents Found to Be Obvious
- Lights Out for Light-Up Shoe Patent, Thanks to Non-Limiting Preamble
- Reliance on Common Sense Permitted in Obviousness Analysis
- Electronic Communication Technologies, LLC v. ShoppersChoice.com, No. 2019-1587 (Fed. Cir. May 14, 2020)
- Cochlear Bone Anchored Solutions AB v. Oticon Medical AB, No. 2019-1105 (Fed. Cir. May 15, 2020)
- Common Sense in Patents: Makes Sense?!
- Can One Have Too Many Patents?
- Patent Assignments: Difficult Decisions in a Difficult Time
- Patent Analytics Provider Tracks “Examiners Who Procrastinate”
- A Tale of Two Districts: Patent Trials in the Eastern and Western Districts of Texas During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- The One Secret Everyone Needs to Know About Patents
- Canada Announces Accelerated Exam for Pandemic Related Inventions Filed by “Small Entities”
- China’s Latest Patent Law Amendment Introduces Patent Linkage and Patent Term Extension
- Keeping a secret: five tips for creating an effective non-disclosure agreement
- EUIPO Report Names Turkey as the Third Biggest Producer of Counterfeit Goods
- How Do I Protect Intellectual Property?
PRIVACY
- Clearview Calls It Quits In Canada While Under Investigation By The Privacy Commissioner
- Safety first! New Canadian cloud security guidance is issued
- Companies Are Selling Cops Access To Personal Data Harvested From Malicious Hacking And Data Breaches
- C Is for Cookie Lawsuit: Google Accused of Wiretap Act Violations for Collection of Web Browsing Data
- Malware stashed in China-mandated software is more extensive than thought
- Are consumers in Europe more likely than consumers in the United States to “opt-in” to cookies?”
- Ars readers hated this startup’s privacy policy—so the company changed it
- This device keeps Alexa and other voice assistants from snooping on you
- California’s Effort to Suppress the Publication of Age Information Violates the Constitution–IMDb v. Becerra (Eric Goldman)
- CCPA 2.0: How the California Privacy Rights Act is “Targeting” Digital Advertising
- The Nuances of Data Colonialism
- Data is Dangerous: Comparing the Risks that the United States, Canada and Germany See in Data Troves (Susan Aaronson)
CREATIVITY
- Judge Does The Expected: Gets Rid Of Prior Restraint Order Against Mary Trump, Allows Her To Publish Her Book
- Tucker Carlson’s top writer resigns after secretly posting racist and sexist remarks in online forum
- ‘His hatred is infectious’: Tucker Carlson, Trump’s heir apparent and 2024 candidate?
- A Letter on Justice and Open Debate
- A Deeply Provincial View of Free Speech: Many prominent writers and thinkers seem invested in the notion that simply facing strong public criticism is a threat to free speech.
- Documents Show SFPD Ignored The Press Pass The Department Had Issued To Brian Carmody In Order To Place Him Under Surveillance
- L.A. Newspaper Sues Sheriff’s Department Over Its Repeated Refusal To Comply With The Law
- What That Harper’s Letter About Cancel Culture Could Have Said
- Legally blown: Reese Witherspoon and her fashion line face breach of contract and privacy class action over ‘free dress’ giveaway
- France to exactly restore Notre Dame spire, ditching modern designs
Jon
News of the Week; July 8, 2020
GAMES
- India bans 59 Chinese apps, including Clash of Kings: Moonton’s Mobile Legends also banned over security concerns
- How mobile games crushed consoles
- UK government urged to ‘immediately’ classify loot boxes as gambling
- House of Lords calls for loot boxes to be immediately reclassified as gambling: Committee believes chance-based monetisation should be regulated without waiting for wider Gambling Act review
- Ofcom: Less than 6% of UK children, 4% of adults have purchased loot boxes – Regulator’s report also shows game subscription services have yet to take off
- Infinity Ward has removed the controversial ‘OK’ gesture from Modern Warfare
- Infinity Ward pulls “OK” gesture from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Sign has become known as a white supremacist gesture; developer has yet to comment
- Ubisoft exec Maxime Beland has resigned after harassment and assault allegations
- Ubisoft’s Maxime Béland resigns amid abuse allegations: Tommy François placed on disciplinary leave, one unnamed Toronto employee dismissed
- ‘Change starts today’ says Ubisoft CEO, after years of allegations arise
- Ubisoft to restructure its editorial team in wake of abuse allegations: Publisher also bringing in third-parties, new roles for internal culture examination and reformation
- EVO co-founder/CEO Joey Cuellar removed after sexual abuse allegations
- Evo CEO dismissed, event cancelled amid accusations of misconduct and abuse: Capcom, NetherRealm and influencers pulled support before cancellation
- Nintendo condemns abuse as allegations spread across Smash Bros. community: Platform holder is “deeply disturbed” as more than 50 players accused of a variety of sexual offences
- We need a movement to tackle systemic abuse, not a moment | Opinion: For years people within the industry have listened, but they refused to hear
- Naughty Dog condemns abusive fan response to The Last of Us 2: Creative director Neil Druckman and voice actor Laura Bailey receive death threats and abuse over game’s narrative decisions
- FaZe Clan, Twitch, Facebook Gaming Hook Up With Gamers.Vote For Monthlong Voter Registration Campaign
- Former Bungie boss says deal with Activision “not a marriage made in heaven at all”: “We knew it was a risk right from the get go, and it turned out to be exactly as bad as we thought it to be,” says Marty O’Donnell
- PES loses licenses for AC Milan and Inter Milan: Unrenewed agreements will not affect eFootball PES 2020 or myClub, but likely to affect PES 2021 and other future games
- 2K breaks gaming’s de facto $60 ceiling, asks $70 for next-gen NBA 2K21
- Take-Two Interactive’s NBA 2K21 will cost $10 more on next-gen consoles
- NBA 2K21 price is $10 more expensive on Xbox Series X and PS5: First next-gen game details suggest higher game pricing for new machines
- IDG: Other publishers are considering raising game prices for PS5 and Xbox Series X – Cost of development has increased between 200% and 300% while game prices have remained flat
- Microsoft reportedly against publishers from charging for Xbox Series X upgrades: Platform holder said to be encouraging alternative models for those who don’t want to engage with its Smart Delivery scheme
- Report: Xbox ‘encouraging’ publishers to keep cross-gen game upgrades free
- Report: Microsoft eyeing purchase of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
- PlayStation suspends Facebook advertising: The platform holder joins Coca-Cola, Honda, Unilever, Ford, Starbucks and Microsoft
- Sony considering a bid for Digital Extremes owner Leyou
- PlayStation Unveils Indie Games Initiative
- The Last of Us Part 2 holds firm as Iron Man VR debuts at No.2 UK Charts: 3DS games continue to flood the chart
- PlayStation unseats Nintendo in June with The Last of Us Part 2 l UK Charts: Console hardware sales begin to show signs of slowing down
- Furukawa: Mobile is still ‘contributing to the sustainable growth’ of Nintendo
- Since launching four years ago today, Pokémon Go has grossed $3.6bn: Despite global lockdown, Niantic’s location-based mobile game is on track for another record year
- Analyst: Pokemon Go revenue still on the rise despite global pandemic
- How to patch out implicit bias from your hiring process: Speaking at Ludicious X, Celia Hodent suggests avoiding discrimination when recruiting is much like improving a video game
- Crush Crushing stereotypes with adult games about everyday people: Nutaku and Sad Panda Studios talk about the stigmas still facing adult and dating games, and the importance of visible women creators
- COVID-19 and pivot towards game development lead to layoffs at Kongregate
- Kongregate no longer accepting new titles, undergoing layoffs: Company apologies for employees finding out about layoffs through direct deposit notifications
- Overcoming the “ugly necessity” of scaling back inactive teams: Matchmaking platform SupplyDrop aims to connect studios that have too many developers with those that have too few
- Zynga closes acquisition of Peak for $1.8 billion: Mobile giant takes on Istanbul studio along with Toon Blast, Toy Blast
- 11 Bit Studios commits $21m to production of seven games: Four of the new products are through its publishing label, while three are first-party titles
- Google makes its Maps Platform gaming solution available for all mobile developers
- Amazon and Google are in games for the wrong reasons | Opinion: Amazon’s Crucible won’t be the last embarrassment if tech companies don’t stop viewing games as a means to drive cloud service revenue
- Paradox Interactive acquires Playrion Game Studio to help with mobile push
- Paradox acquires Playrion: Mobile-focused developer behind Airlines Manager becomes publisher’s eighth internal studio
- Animoca Brands raises $4.1 million ahead of proposed initial public offering
- Zynga acquires Toon Blast developer Peak for $1.85 billion
- Discord raises $100 million and plans to move beyond gaming
- With $5.7 million, One More Game comes out of the shadows
- Voicemod raises $8 million for silly or serious voice filters in games
- Core is paying devs per DAU in a bid to kickstart the creation platform’s economy
- Manticore Games launches $1m creator fund for proprietary game dev platform: Core creator economy kickstarted after four months in Alpha
- Why the discussion around difficulty is outdated and archaic: At Ludicious X, ArenaNet’s Jennifer Scheurle offered a roadmap for moving beyond the tired language and debates around difficulty in video games
- Westworld creators take aim at Fallout in upcoming Amazon Studios series
- Amazon Studios developing new Fallout TV series: Westworld co-creators to produce the project with Kilter Films
- ‘Fallout’ TV Series From ‘Westworld’ Creators in the Works at Amazon: Based on the video game, the drama is currently in development but has a series commitment penalty attached.
- EA partners with TBS for four-episode The Sims reality show: The Sims Spark’d will see 12 community personalities compete in creative in-game design challenges
- My Friend Pedro to get a TV adaptation: Legendary Television to develop game into an R-rated dramedy
- The Netflix of gaming? Why subscription video-game services face an uphill battle
- Sega’s next retro hardware is a 1/6th-scale multi-game arcade cabinet
- Sega announces Astro City Mini arcade cabinet: Tiny arcade machine comes pre-loaded with 36 Sega arcade titles
- Video game projects remain steadfast on Kickstarter despite COVID-related declines: March 2020 saw two video games projects raise over $2m each, and funded project ratios are holding steady
- PUBG Mobile shoots through $3 billion in lifetime revenue
- PUBG Mobile has made over $3 billion in lifetime revenue
- Following Dissolution Of Mixer, Gaming Luminary Ninja Hosts First YouTube Live Stream
- Ninja appears to have moved to YouTube Gaming: Following Mixer’s shutdown, Twitch’s former top streamer has moved platforms once more
- 72% of esports audience is male, says report: IDC and Esports Charts report looks into who’s watching esports and how the pandemic pushed up viewership
- Psyonix commits $4.5m a year in prizes to Rocket League esports: RLCS X will be protected “if live international events are not possible during the season due to worldwide health concerns”
- EVO 2020 game tourney canceled, co-founder fired
- Iron Man VR review: A sad, painful end to the PS4’s PlayStation VR era
- First game from Oculus co-founder’s new studio “unlikely to be VR”
- How to successfully cater to older players: Mobile veteran Wilhelm Taht looks at lessons from Bingo Bash’s success on successfully appealing to players aged 55+
- Mobile game discovery – Why it’s tricky for indies
- We traced Namco’s “new” Pac-Man demake to its source: A 2008 fan ROMhack
- European trade bodies unite for Eurovision-style Gamescom contest: Live showcase hosted by Mr Midas will celebrate the best unreleased games from across Europe
- Understanding how to implement a prototype (or ‘template’) system in The Machinery
- Homebound with EarthBound
- THQ Nordic’s Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning remaster opens the door for new DLC
- An extended interview with Star Control creators Fred Ford & Paul Reiche III
- Notes on inspiration from a BAFTA-winning studio: Sarepta Studio’s CEO Catharina Bøhler explores the many ways to find inspiration and stay creative during development
- F1 2020 reviewed—Codemasters takes another racing game win
- PR danger closer than it may appear | 10 Years Ago This Month: EA’s Medal of Honor studio honors the troops by letting people play as the Taliban amidst a good month for bad calls
- Integrating ‘the nobility of work’ into Hardspace: Shipbreaker
- Opinion: Backlash to criticism harms The Last of Us Part II
- Blog: Soft skills for game developers
- Blog: The subtle manipulation of mobile games
- Blog: A Torchlight 3 early access launch weekend postmortem
- Video: Balancing accessibility with depth to make vehicles feel great
- Video: Tips and tools for finding inspiration when you’re stuck
- Video: A microtransaction design primer for game devs
- Don’t Miss: The Team Fortress 2 guide to keeping your game alive
- Don’t Miss: Designing Destiny 2’s PvEvP Gambit mode
- Don’t Miss: A deep dive into the ‘old school’ save system of Alien: Isolation
- Video Gaming/E-Gaming Law update
- U.S. Patent no. 10,029,177: System and method for a videogame with a secondary metagame
- U.S. Patent no. 10,078,410: System to locomote an entity in three dimensional space
DIGITAL
- Does First Amendment let ISPs sell Web-browsing data? Judge is skeptical
- Hong Kong’s National Security Law Allows Police To Censor The Internet, Compel Decryption
- Trump administration “looking into” ban on TikTok, other Chinese apps
- Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo Says U.S. Is “Certainly Looking At” A TikTok Ban
- Pompeo Says US May Ban TikTok; It’s Not Clear That It Can
- As India Bans TikTok, Instagram Has Begun Testing TikTok Clone ‘Reels’
- Behind Bars, but Still Posting on TikTok
- TikTok, Once an Oasis of Inoffensive Fun, Ventures Warily Into Politics
- New ‘National Security’ Law Threatens Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Protesters With Life In Prison
- Hong Kong downloads of Signal surge as residents fear crackdown
- Lawsuit & Bi-Partisan Group Of Senators Seek To Push Back On Trump Administration’s Attempt To Corrupt The Open Technology Fund
- Harvard, MIT sue Trump admin to block deportation of online-only students
- Lessons (re)learned from the new ECHR case Vladimir Kharitonov v. Russia on blocking access to a website and the freedom of expression
- The Guardian view on Facebook and democracy: real and present danger – Political advertising is banned from being on television or radio. Unless Facebook changes, it may be time to extend this prohibition to social media
- Facebook Follows Twitter In Recognizing A ‘More Speech’ Approach Is Best For Newsworthy Liars
- Facebook Agrees to Prohibit Hate Speech in Ads in the Wake of #StopHateForProfit Campaign
- Facebook Shutters TikTok Competitor ‘Lasso’, As Instagram’s Own Clone ‘Reels’ Expands To New Markets
- Facebook Launches New Business Tool Feature To Support CCPA Compliance
- A Review of the “Final” CCPA Regulations from the CA Attorney General (Eric Goldman)
- Facebook removes false accounts linked to Brazil President Bolsonaro: Decision comes as Brazil’s president careens from crisis to crisis, with different investigations drawing close to him, his family and allies.
- Amazon’s settlement with OFAC puts e-commerce companies on notice
- The Loss Of Public Goods To Big Tech: What has not been questioned enough during the COVID-19 crisis is unrelenting capitalism itself.
- Harper’s Gives Prestigious Platform To Famous Writers So They Can Whine About Being Silenced
- Rather Than Attacking Section 230, Why Aren’t Trump Supporters Angry About The DMCA That’s Actually Causing Issues?
- Why Does Richard Blumenthal Always Feel The Need To Lie About Section 230?
- Want to Learn More About Section 230? A Guide to My Work (Eric Goldman)
- “Shitty Media Men” List Operator Doesn’t Qualify for Section 230 (Yet)–Elliott v. Donegan (Eric Goldman)
- US DoJ Report Recommends Curtailing Immunity of Online Platforms for User-Generated Content
- Post No Evil: Content Moderation Decisions Are Always Trickier Than You Think
- Right-Wing Media Outlets Duped by a Middle East Propaganda Campaign
- Beware the dangers of complacent clicktivism (Andres Guadamuz)
- Supreme Court of Canada Invalidates Uber Arbitration Clause in $400-Million Class Action
- Uber v. Heller: Supreme Court applies the law of unconscionability to arbitration agreements and identifies a new role for the Court
- California Appeals Court Relies on Nexus Theory to Reverse Dismissal of ADA Website Violation Complaint
- IT pros indicted after arranging credit card payments for weed startup
- ‘Hamilton’ Film Debut Drove 72.4% Spike In U.S. Disney+ App Downloads This Weekend
- Amid Sputtering Launch, Here Are All Of The Originals That Quibi Has Renewed To Date
- To Gmail, Most Black Lives Matter Emails Are“Promotions”
- Unhappy Google Advertiser’s Lawsuit Completely Falls Apart–Dreamstime v. Google (Eric Goldman)
- Google Has Developed Auto-Generated Comment-Replying Technology For YouTube Creators
- YouTube Unveils New Analytics Hub For Musicians, Tracking Official And Fan-Uploaded Videos Alike
- YouTube Test Note Indicates Platform Is Developing “Multi-Segment” Video Feature—AKA A TikTok Competitor
- YouTube Might Let Creators See How Their Videos Perform Compared To Uploads On Similar Channels
- YouTube Lowering Minimum Video Length For Mid-Roll Ads From 10 To 8 Minutes
- YouTube Jacks Live TV Streaming Prices 30%, As Streaming Sector Starts To Resemble Good Old Cable
- YouTube Calls On People To Film Their ‘Life In A Day’ July 25 For Sequel To 2010 Documentary
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 7/06/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 7/06/2020
- TINA Fires First Salvo at Virtual Influencers
- Petnet charges new $30 annual fee for a service that still doesn’t work
- TikTok Launches Self-Serve Ad Sales, Pledges $100 Million In Ad Credits For Small Businesses Affected By Pandemic
- The case for a digital non-aligned movement: The world wide web is on a crash course that could lead to permanent fragmentation. Only coordinated international solidarity can stop it.
- Internet Nondiscrimination Principles Revisited
- Do Emails Create Legally Binding Contracts?
- Is DocuSign the new Zoom? Do we trust e-signatures yet?
- Online user reviews in the spotlight – Preliminary results of sector inquiry published in Germany
- Amazon Prime Video will finally offer one of Netflix’s most basic features
- The rise and fall of Adobe Flash
- The 416 quadrillion reasons why Japan’s supercomputer is number 1
A.I.
- How AI can empower communities and strengthen democracy
- Detroit Police Chief Says Facial Recognition Software Involved In Bogus Arrest Is Wrong ’96 Percent Of The Time’
- Boston The Latest City To Ban Facial Recognition Use By Government Agencies
- Protecting inventions which use Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
- When your AI starts to invent: Hot topics in patenting AI-generated inventions
- Tru Luv secures investment for “emotionally conscious AI”: Startup founded by Brie Code to explore “an alternative to the gamification model of rising challenge, fear, shock, or FOMO”
- FTC and NAD Actions Highlight Continued Scrutiny of Online Reviews
- WIPO’s revised paper on IP policy and AI
- Into the Whirlpool: How Predictive Data Put Brainwashing on the Spin Cycle (Rebecca Lemov)
- Understanding the societal impacts of machine translation: a critical review of the literature on medical and legal use cases (Minako O’Hagan, Carol O’Sullivan)
- Software-Sorted Exclusion of Asylum Seekers in Norway and Finland (Funda Ustek-Silda, Marja Alastalo)
- Insights: VidCon, Comic-Con, Other Conferences Go Virtual, Try To Keep The Fun
COMMUNICATIONS
- Federal Court of Appeal Rules CASL Constitutionally Valid and Provides Interpretive Guidance
- Federal Court of Appeal Rules on Constitutionality and Application of Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation
- Senators Challenge Trump’s Ongoing Pressure on Internet Platform Protections
- House OKs $100B broadband plan with $50 monthly discounts for poor people
- House Passes Massive Broadband Bill That Surprisingly Doesn’t Suck
- City builds open-access broadband network with Google Fiber as its first ISP
- FCC’s Assault On Low-Income Broadband Program Is Making The COVID-19 Crisis Worse
- Charter Spectrum Lobbies FCC To Kill Time Warner Cable Merger Conditions
- FCC Finalizes Designations of Huawei and ZTE
- FCC Issues Important Autodialer Ruling
- Supreme Court strikes down 2015 law allowing robocalls by debt collectors
- A Dark Day for Free Speech: Supreme Court Upholds Statute Supposedly Preventing Robocalls-But at what Cost?
- Supreme Court Decides Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants
- In a Win Against Robocalls, the Supreme Court Severs TCPA Federal Debt Collection Exemption
- Supreme Court Declines to Invalidate the TCPA Cell Phone Calling Restrictions
- If You Thought the TCPA Was on Its Way Out, Think Again: The Supreme Court Expands Its Prohibitions Instead
- Delicate Surgery: Supreme Court Upholds the TCPA but Strikes Down the Government Debt Exception as Unconstitutional in Barr v. AAPC
- What lies ahead for regulation of the 5G ecosystem?
- 5G was going to unite the world—instead it’s tearing us apart
- Chinese 5G Plans Start At $10, Showing The ‘Race to 5G’ Isn’t Much Of One
- New EU Rules for Platform Providers
- The remote British village that built one of the UK’s fastest Internet networks
- For All The Hype, Trump’s Favorite ‘News’ Channel (OAN) Faces Shrinking Footprint
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Research Libraries Tell Publishers To Drop Their Awful Lawsuit Against The Internet Archive
- Google v. Oracle and the Future of Software Development
- The Case of Enola Holmes
- Estate Of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Alleges Copyright Infringement Over Sherlock’s Emotional Awakening
- In Copyright Case Over Photos, the Second Circuit Brings Four Critical Issues into Focus
- Court Reconsiders Decision About Website Getting License to Embedded Photo from Instagram Terms of Use
- S.D.N.Y Reconsiders Instagram Embedding By Mashable
- Sinclair v. Ziff Davis, LLC: Court grants photographer’s motion to reconsider dismissal of copyright case against news site that embedded link to plaintiff’s Instagram image
- Instagram Rolls Out Ability To Pin Three Comments To The Top Of Any Thread
- Law firm marketing alert: Blog image violated copyright, photojournalist’s complaint says
- Copyright, Competition, and Controversy: Press Publishers’ Right under the Copyright Directive
- News Company’s ‘Digital Audience Director’ Fails To Understand Embedding, Issues Bogus DMCA Takedown Notices
- Can cloud storage-portals be asked to put in place a filtering mechanism to ferret out infringing materials?
- Not so elementary
- Pablo Escobar Estate Sues Atlanta Restaurant
- Sci-Hub Downloads Boost Article Citations — And Help Academic Publishers
- Copyright Office Issues Report on DMCA Safe Harbors: Section 512 is “Unbalanced”
- A functional shape may be protected by copyright rules the CJEU
- Functional shapes and copyright law
- Copyright and Trade Marks in relation to Shapes: two European Perspectives
- Supreme Court Decision in Booking.com: Generic Domain Names Can Be Protected as Trademarks
- US Supreme Court Holds That Adding ‘.com’ to Generic Name May Create Protectable Trademark
- Supreme Court Clears the Way for Generic.com Trademark Registrations
- Consumer Perception Is Key To Registration Of Generic “.com” Marks
- Supreme Court Rules that “Booking.com” Is Eligible for Trademark Protection
- SCOTUS Holds That ‘Generic.com’ Trademarks Like Booking.com May Be Capable of Registration
- Supreme Court Upholds Booking.com Trademark Registration
- Supreme Court Rejects PTO “Generic Term” Rule
- U.S. Supreme Court Allows Booking.com to Trademark Its Domain Name
- SCOTUS Eliminates Bright Line Rule Against Generic Term and Top Level Domain Name Trademarks
- Generic + Generic = Protectable Trademark
- U.S. Supreme Court rejects categorical rule that generic term plus “.com” results in a generic composite
- Should I File for My Trademark + ‘.COM?’ It Depends
- Supreme Court Promotes Weaponization of Generic Domain Names–USPTO v. Booking.com (Eric Goldman)
- Manchester United Alleges Trademark Infringement through Third-Party Mods to Football Manager
- Trademark Battle Heats Up Over Fizzy Way To Cool Down
- Black Lives Matter in trademarks and branding
- More Disputes Over Trademarked Area Codes. Why Is This Allowed Again?
- Pairing Unsuccessful: Bluetooth and Fiat Denied Summary Judgment in Suit over Unauthorized Use of BLUETOOTH Marks
- The G.O.A.T. Trademark Registration Stands, and the Goats With It
- easyJet opposes Easy Nurse at the UKIPO
- The General Court looks at distinctiveness of the XOXO mark
- CJEU annuls EUIPO’s trade mark invalidation of Louis Vuitton’s Damier Azur pattern
- Hermès: How WWII shortages led to the creation of an iconic brand
- Prosecco celebrates a non-alcoholic win
- ‘Nosecco’ is a no-no, says the High Court
- A clear NO to Nosecco! High Court of Justice rejects the appeal in a new chapter in the bubble war. The protected designation of origin “Prosecco” is an obstacle to the registration of the trademark “Nosecco”
- Trademark Enforcement Tips and Traps: Navigating Canada’s Trademark System One Year After the Major Changes
- The protection of wine geographical indications: legislative efforts since Pliny
- Federal Court releases decision on validity of the Amending Regulations of the Patented Medicines Regulations
- Granting Security Interest in Patents Did Not Deprive Patent Owner of Standing to Sue for Patent Infringement
- UK Supreme Court upholds appeal by biotech firm Kymab to revoke antibody patents held by US giant Regeneron
- Patenting the future? Kymab prevails in the battle of the mice
- Regeneron Patents Revoked for Claim Breadth
- G 3/19: plants produced by essentially biological processes are excluded from patentability
- European Patent Office did not grant a patent on concept of linking customer data with a key instead of personally identifiable information to improve privacy protection.
- Nanotechnology patents: challenge for industrial property and its regulations
- Crystal clear? Patenting polymorphs in Europe
- Federal Circuit: Digital Guitar Instruction Patent Directed to an Abstract Idea
- Federal Circuit: Common Sense May Substitute For Elements Not In The Prior Art
- Federal Circuit Emphasizes Role of Common Sense in Obviousness Analysis
- Patents Claiming a Range of Values, Such as Gate Sizes for Semiconductor Chips, Must Enable One of Ordinary Skill to Make and Use the Entire Claimed Range
- Double Patenting: A comparative guide between U.S. & Canadian practice
- Global patent strategies in the world of tech & engineering
- Intellectual Property in the Cloud: The Patent Troll Threat
- PODCAST: Patent Troll Litigation is on the Upswing
- The space IP race: protection and enforcement of your orbiting assets
PRIVACY
- Court Shoots Down AT&T, Comcast Attempt To Crush Maine Privacy Law
- COVID-19: Data protection lessons from Google’s contact-tracing API
- Unbridled Surveillance Will Not Save Us From COVID-19
- Police infiltrate encrypted phones, arrest hundreds in organized crime bust
- NY partygoers get subpoenas after stonewalling COVID-19 contact tracers
- Social Media Platform Fined 100,000 USD by Washington State AG for COPPA Violations
- Toss Out the Milk, The Cookie Party is Over
- What factors determine whether the use of an advertising cookie constitutes the sale of information?
- Apple’s iOS 14 Transformative Privacy Announcements
- GALA Releases First-Ever Global Guide to Privacy Laws Related to Advertising & Marketing
- California Privacy Rights Act to appear on November 2020 ballot
CREATIVITY
- That Was Quick: Appellate Court Says Simon & Schuster Not Subject To Prior Restraint Order Over Mary Trump’s Book; But Fight’s Not Over Yet
- Court of Appeal Affirms: No First Amendment Protection for Misleading Commercial Speech
- That’s a relief (from sanctions) for Johnny Depp – libel trial can proceed despite failure to disclose texts
- Why Music Matters In Our Professional Space During COVID-19
- Live Nation Seeks Sweeping Changes to Artist Contracts for Music Festivals: What Does this Mean for Brand Sponsors?
- Scrabble players move toward banning 200+ slurs from tournament play
Jon
News of the Week; July 1, 2020
GAMES
- Newzoo: There will be over 3 billion gamers by 2023
- Report: Games market to generate $159 billion in 2020 (Newzoo)
- Global games market value to reach $159bn in 2020: Revenue and audience growth booms in Africa, Middle East, and Latin America
- Roblox hacked by Trump supporters: More than a thousand users’ profiles changed, telling kids to ask their parents to re-elect US president
- Pokemon Go Developer Niantic Wins Battle Over 3D Virtual Thematic Environment Patent
- Niantic partners with immersive theatre company Punchdrunk: Sleep No More creators to work with AR developers on multiple, unannounced projects
- Confederate flag and other “notorious iconography” banned in Forza: Anti-police brutality phrases such as a ACAB and FTP also banned
- Cyberpunk 2077 will be censored in Japan: Sexual references, nudity and dismemberment to be toned down
- Cyberpunk 2077’s big summer trailer: Braindance your way into Keanu
- Twin Galaxies says Billy Mitchell “flirts with perjury” in high-score case
- Are Loot Boxes Considered Gambling? UK Needs More Evidence
- Global Game Jam in turmoil following Black Lives Matter silence: Bullying allegations surface after resignation of executive committee member over refusal to issue statement on BLM
- IGDA criticizes industry for ignoring harassment allegations: Developer group says it will compile resources for studio leaders to create safe and positive company cultures
- Ubisoft reportedly places executives on leave amid abuse investigation: Tommy François and Maxime Béland each face at least three claims of misconduct
- Ubisoft to investigate rampant sexual assault and harassment accusations
- Report: Ubisoft suspends two executives accused of sexual and physical abuse
- Ubisoft CEO sanctions formation of ‘multidisciplinary working group’ to tackle abuse
- The Ubisoft paradox: How the publisher enabled a culture of abuse and control
- Leaders, members, sponsors depart top WoW guild amid assault, abuse allegations: Multiple people allege that Method protected member accused of sexual assault and preying on minors
- Abuse in the industry isn’t down to a few “bad apples” | Opinion: The story can’t end with the outing of individual abusers — ending predation in the games industry requires cultural and institutional change
- EA pledges to investigate allegations of abuse and support victims
- Twitch suspends Donald Trump’s channel for hateful conduct: Streaming platform cites the president’s comments portraying Mexicans as criminals
- Twitch Temporarily Bans Donald Trump, Citing Newly Reviewed Policies Against Hateful Conduct
- Twitch Executive Hassan Bokhari Accused Of Sexual Assault As Platform Begins Permabanning Alleged Abusers
- Twitch addresses sexual abuse allegations with permanent ban pledge
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla creative director steps down after misconduct allegations
- DrDisrespect banned from Twitch again: Guy Beahm’s latest ban is reportedly permanent, but reason for the punishment remains unclear
- Dr. DisRespect Was (Probably) Not Permabanned For Trying To Develop A Twitch Competitor
- Twitch will issue permanent suspensions to abusers on its platform: Investigation is ongoing as Twitch takes additional steps to combat abuse and hate within its communities
- EA urges employees to come forward with experiences of abuse: Publisher offers resources for both its staff and community members who may have experienced harassment or abuse
- Avast finds 17 Trojan gaming apps still available on Google Play: Online security firm reported 47 Trojan gaming apps to Google, which have been downloaded 15 million times
- The Last of Us Part 2 sells 4 million: Naughty Dog sequel tops Spider-Man to become fastest-selling first-party PS4 exclusive over first three days
- The Last of Us Part II sold over 4 million copies in three days
- 3DS, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Last of Us Part 2 lead UK Charts: Stock clearance sees cult 3DS RPG Bravely Second take No.2
- Roblox player spending passes $1.5bn on mobile: May was the game’s biggest month ever with revenue of over $100 million
- Amazon’s latest PC game to be delisted from Steam after less than two months
- Amazon’s Crucible retreats into closed beta: Following rocky launch, competitive free-to-play shooter will close its doors to new players
- Sonic the Hedgehog film producer snaps up Disco Elysium screen rights
- Plans revealed for Disco Elysium TV series: Adaptation will be produced by DJ2 Entertainment, which is run by Sonic The Hedgehog movie’s co-producer
- Starbreeze seeks $26m to fund ongoing development of Payday 3: COVID-19 lockdown interrupted publisher negotiations for the next Payday game
- Discord is pivoting away from games to become ‘your place to talk’
- Discord raises $100m to further expand beyond games: Communications platform redesigned to be more accessible to non-gamers, company reportedly valued at $3.5 billion
- Admix raises $7m in funding for “non-intrusive” ads: London-based startup allows developers to place programmatic advertising space within their games
- Sinespace dev partners with Unity to let Asset Store creators sell models in-game
- European retailers can no longer sell download codes for Nintendo-published titles
- Microsoft reportedly stops advertising on Facebook: But Xbox firm is still redirecting Mixer users to the social network
- Microsoft exiting the retail store business, closing 83 locations
- Report: Latest Xbox Lockhart rumors point towards an August announce
- Microsoft plans to reveal Xbox Lockhart model in August
- Mixer just saw its second-best quarter ever – Streamlabs: Twitch smashed viewership records in Q2 2020, with over 5 billion hours watched
- Mixer Shuts Down, Showing Again Why You Don’t Need To Freak Out By Copycat Competitors
- Descenders’ weekly sales increased five times thanks to Xbox Game Pass: No More Robots says subscription service has “elevated the game to heights we couldn’t have imagined”
- Nintendo Switch game sales: the three biggest misconceptions
- Nintendo reportedly stops sale of digital download codes for EMEA retailers: Third-party digital titles, add-on content, and eshop funds will still be available in stores
- Report: Apple scraps deals with some Apple Arcade devs in pursuit of more engagement
- Apple reportedly ending some Arcade contracts, seeking higher retention: Tech giant said to be honing in on titles that will keep users subscribed to its service past the free trial
- Gaming on Apple platforms is set for some big changes—here are a few
- New hack runs homebrew code from DVD-R on unmodified PlayStation 2
- PlayStation now has a dedicated initiative for indie games: PlayStation Indies
- Why this month’s PC port of Death Stranding is the definitive version
- Tencent starts US studio to make AAA games for next-gen consoles: Led by Rockstar veteran Steve Martin, LightSpeed LA will debut with an open world game for PS5 and Xbox Series X
- Harmonix’s Fuser wants to make you a DJ… but only up to a point – Preview: Successor to DropMix succeeds where DJ Hero failed, but is that enough?
- Crysis Remastered delayed for additional polish: Development team acknowledges mixed feedback to trailer leak
- How to navigate the modern world of games publishing
- Gamers more trusting of brands than non-gamers, says Gameloft: Report from mobile publisher’s advertising arm finds gamers see elevated benefits from companies like Tesla, Amazon, and Lexus
- Focus Home Interactive acquires Lords of the Fallen dev Deck13 for $7.9M
- Keywords buys development engineering provider Coconut Lizard for $2.47M
- PlayBrain raises $6m to grow Japanese esports events infrastructure: Bitkraft Esports Ventures leads investment, bringing total funding to $8 million
- Guild Esports launches with David Beckham as co-owner
- Guild Esports breaks cover with David Beckham as co-owner: Startup is also backed by Blue Star Capital, with Overwatch League exec Carleton Curtis at the helm
- Pressure Mounts for Xbox’s Missing VR Strategy as PSVR Revenue Exceeds $2 Billion
- Facebook Says It Has Developed the ‘Thinnest VR display to date’ With Holographic Folded Optics
- How holographic tech is shrinking VR displays to the size of sunglasses
- Google Glass 3.0? Google acquires smart glasses maker North
- Google Acquires North, the Startup Behind ‘Focals’ Smartglasses
- Google gives Android depth sensing and object occlusion with ARCore 1.18
- Ken Levine: “You don’t come up with amazing things by being completely normal” – Founder of Ghost Story Games discusses the difficult balance between creativity and efficiency in game development
- A Neverwinter Nights intro to game design | Why I Love: Little Chicken Game Company’s Erik Kors shares how the world of Faerûn led him to the world of game development
- Umurangi Generation’s approach to modernizing cyberpunk: Naphtali Faulkner talks about the inspirations and intentions behind his sci-fi photography game
- Shawn Layden: COVID-19 is an opportunity to build a better industry: “If we don’t take something positive from this extended period of quarantine, we’ve really squandered the opportunity”
- You should play Namco’s lost arcade-action classic, Mr. Driller DrillLand
- The astronomical challenge of recording The Outer Worlds: How did Obsidian handle voice work for a game with almost 350 characters, 40 voice actors, and recording studios in different countries?
- Kongregate shuts off game submissions as Flash’s final days approach
- Super Nintendo World park opening reportedly delayed due to COVID-19: Universal Studios Japan reopened just over a week ago with special safety restrictions
- How to move your role-playing game nights online
- The Last of Us Part II is PlayStation Studios’ fastest-selling PS4 game
- Prioritizing accessibility early on was vital for The Last of Us Part 2’s robust features
- Don’t Miss: The evolution of CD Projekt’s quest design for Cyberpunk: 2077
- Don’t Miss: Blizzard’s postmortem of Diablo II
- Don’t Miss: Designing CrossCode to stand out in the retro RPG market
- Don’t Miss: Incorporating level design in melee combat systems
- Video: Devs share their experiences going from corporate to indie and back again
- Video: An architectural approach to video game level design
- Video: The mechanics of explosive growth in Roblox
DIGITAL
- New commission exploring impact of digital media on democracy includes McLachlin, Dodek
- YouTube Bans 6 White Supremacist Channels, Including David Duke, Richard Spencer, Stefan Molyneux
- Lawsuit by Black YouTubers against YouTube faces “uphill battle”
- Twitter’s Least-Bad Option for Dealing With Donald Trump: Every plausible configuration of social media in 2020 is unpalatable.
- Bogus Ideas Have Superspreaders, Too
- Twitter not liable in Devin Nunes’ beef with cow account, judge rules
- Facebook will label rule violations as Coke, Pepsi, Starbucks join ad “pause”
- Verizon joins growing Facebook advertiser boycott
- Facebook executive admits to “trust deficit” on call with advertisers
- Reddit bans pro-Trump /r/The_Donald for “rule-breaking content”
- Twitch And Reddit Ramp Up Their Enforcement Against ‘Hateful’ Content
- Reddit bans r/The_Donald and r/ChapoTrapHouse as part of a major expansion of its rules
- You Purged Racists From Your Website? Great, Now Get to Work
- Filmmakers and Others Take on the U.S. Government Over Social Media Surveillance
- Three cops fired after accidental dashcam activation captures racist rants
- Running Geotargeted Advertising Confers Personal Jurisdiction–UMG Recordings v. Kurbanov (Eric Goldman)
- hiQ Files Opposition Brief with Supreme Court in LinkedIn CFAA Data Scraping Dispute
- Confusion Over Plug-Ins, Cookies and Wiretapping…Will Facebook Petition the Supreme Court, and What To Do In the Interim
- How the ‘Karen Meme’ Confronts the Violent History of White Womanhood
- Ken and Karen are White Supremacists
- Doomscrolling is slowly eroding your mental health
- Jenna Marbles Announces Indefinite YouTube Hiatus, Privates Videos With 2 Billion Views After Apologizing For Past Racist Clips
- Shane Dawson Apologizes For Blackface, Pedophilia Jokes, And Willow Smith’s Family Isn’t Having It
- Liza Koshy Apologizes For ‘Perpetuating Racist Ideas’, Cultural Appropriation With Past Character Creations
- David Dobrik Apologizes For Any Past Videos That Made Viewers Feel Unwelcome, Uncomfortable
- YouTube Has Suspended Monetization On All 3 Of Shane Dawson’s Channels
- An embattled group of leakers picks up the WikiLeaks mantle
- DOJ Proposes Curb to Antitrust Immunity Under Communications Decency Act of 1996
- Section 230 Protects Twitter from the “Devin Nunes’ Cow” Lawsuit–Nunes v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
- Another Day, Another Bad Bill To Reform Section 230 That Will Do More Harm Than Good
- Senator Loeffler’s New Section 230 Reform Bill Would Threaten Encryption And Pressure Websites To Keep Spam & Porn
- ‘But Without 230 Reform, Websites Have No Incentive To Change!’ They Scream Into The Void As Every Large Company Pulls Ads From Facebook
- My Interview With Mathew Ingram Regarding Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
- Author Of Section 230 Chris Cox Says All The Critics Are Wrong About The History And Intent Of 230
- I’d Bet Ted Cruz Will Start Supporting Section 230 Once He Realizes He’s On The Hook For Parler’s Legal Expenses
- As Predicted: Parler Is Banning Users It Doesn’t Like
- Just Like Every Other Platform, Parler Will Take Down Content And Face Impossible Content Moderation Choices
- Parler Speedruns The Content Moderation Learning Curve; Goes From ‘We Allow Everything’ To ‘We’re The Good Censors’ In Days
- Knight Foundation Grant To Copia To Research Content Moderation, Governance, Rules & Norms For Internet Infrastructure
- Brands and influencers beware: UK and Netherlands zooming in on fake likes and reviews
- Brazil’s Proposed ‘Fake News’ Law Says Internet Users Are Guilty Until Proven Innocent, Demands Constant Logging From ISPs
- New Section 301 investigations into digital services taxes involving multiple countries
- Millions of Americans Depend on Libraries for Internet. Now They’re Closed: From big cities to tiny towns, librarians are getting scrappy to meet the need
- Court Upholds Formation of a Lengthy Contract Presented on a Mobile Device–Hidalgo v. AAU (Eric Goldman)
- Facebook Expands Fan Subscriptions To Creators In 7 Regions, Introduces Live Stream Ads And More Video Analytics
- Fintech Startup ‘Karat’ Raises $4.6 Million To Launch Credit Card Exclusively For Digital Creators
- Social Video Views Climbed for Latin American Creators During Quarantine
- Netflix Embraces YouTube, TikTok, And Instagram For ‘Pride’ Event
- YouTube Users Watch 450 Million Hours Of Content On TV Screens Each Day
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 6/29/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/29/2020
- YouTube TV jumps 30% in price effective immediately
- YouTube TV Hikes Subscription Price To $65 After Adding Suite Of ViacomCBS Channels
- At Brandcast, YouTube Renews Originals From James Charles, MrBeast, Markiplier, And Marques Brownlee
- YouTube Cancels Its Longest-Running Original—Joey Graceffa’s ‘Escape The Night’
- After A Decade, Ingrid Nilsen Emotionally Closes Chapter On Her YouTube Career
- Tati Westbrook Accuses Shane Dawson, Jeffree Star Of Coercing Her Into James Charles Takedown Video
- At NewFronts, TikTok Brings Ad Offerings To The Fore With New ‘TikTok For Business’ Platform
- Spotify Duo for couples is cheaper than the standard family plan
- New domain name dispute resolution policies for .AC, .IO and .SH
- Microsoft’s “new approach” to retail stores: Closing them forever
- Microsoft closing its retail stores: Xbox maker closing 82 Microsoft Store locations, will run “Microsoft Experience Centers” in London, New York, Syndey, and Redmond
- Cutting off tech’s nose to spite the West’s strategic face?
- Three cops fired after accidental dashcam activation captures racist rants
- Search engine startup asks users to be the customer, not the product
- Chinese bank requires foreign firm to install app with covert backdoor
- Lessons from China – The Formation of a Social Credit System: Profiling, Reputation Scoring, Social Engineering (Paul Langer)
- COVID-19 spread 4X faster in one Amazon warehouse than local area
- Amazon pays $1.2 billion for self-driving startup Zoox
- Uncovered: 1,000 phrases that incorrectly trigger Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant
A.I.
- Detroit police chief cops to 96-percent facial recognition error rate
- Facial Recognition Software Finally Gets Around To Getting An Innocent Person Arrested
- Tesla driver blames Autopilot for crash, faces negligent driving charge
- Voicemod raises $8m for AI-powered ‘voice avatars’: Technology enables players to alter their voice and apply effects that match the in-game action
COMMUNICATIONS
- FCA Upholds Constitutionality of CASL CEM Provisions and CRTC Approach to B2B Exemption and Conspicuous Publication Implied Consent
- FCC helps Charter avoid broadband competition
- New Bill Would Kill State Laws Blocking Broadband Competition
- Small ISPs “stunned” by FCC move to ban Huawei/ZTE gear during pandemic
- AT&T Ditches $15 TV Service It Used As Regulator Bait To Seal Time Warner Merger
- Comcast’s data cap and overage fees return tomorrow after 3-month break
- ISPs To Bring Back Usage Caps After Brief Pandemic Hiatus
- T-Mobile Is Already Trying To Wiggle Out Of Its Sprint Merger Conditions
- Dish buys Boost prepaid biz from T-Mobile, finally enters wireless market
- Telehealth Use Surges Around the World Amid COVID-19
- Landmark EU General Court ruling on Hutchinson-Telefónica UK merger reframes the threshold for proving competitive harm
- $100 billion “universal fiber” plan proposed by Democrats in Congress
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Access Copyright and York University File Leave to Appeal Material in the Supreme Court of Canada (Howard Knopf)
- Copyright Board Activity in 2020: Launch of Twitter Account and Guidelines for Economic Evidence (Howard Knopf)
- Florida Law Will Allow College Athletes to Profit from Name, Image, and Likeness Starting Summer 2021
- Can copyright law help Brompton ride out an IP storm?
- Zindel v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc.: Ninth Circuit reverses dismissal of copyright claims against The Shape of Water film, ruling that dismissal on pleadings was premature because additional evidence could aid.
- The fair remuneration provisions in the new Copyright Directive
- Copyright: Hyperlinks and the Communication to the Public Right
- John Bolton Doesn’t Need Copyright Protection
- Companies Issuing Bogus Copyright Claims To Hide Police Training Materials From The Public
- Copyright Troll Richard Liebowitz Benchslapped And Sanctioned AGAIN In A Massive Filing Detailing Pages Upon Pages Of Him Lying Under Oath
- Supreme Court says generic domains like booking.com can be trademarked
- Prosecco People Move On From Bullying Puns Over Trademark To Bullying Portmanteau Over Trademark
- Captain Tom Moore – a positive pandemic trade mark story
- Vegan food fight: Does Nestlé’s Incredible Burger infringe Impossible Burger?
- EU law on the “technical result” and “substantial value” exclusions for shape marks
- Where Claimed Points of Novelty Have Primarily Functional Purpose, They Fail “Ornamental Design” Patentability Requirement
- Federal Circuit Affirms Use of Common Sense for Obviousness Determination
- Falling short of a sufficient disclosure
- Patent claim ambiguities and their interpretations
- Upheaval for patent law of sufficiency from the UK Supreme Court
- Patents diary June 2020: UK Supreme Court holds Regeneron’s transgenic mice patents invalid
- Supreme Court Decision: Regeneron v Kymab
- Territorial licensing: “start at the end before you begin”
PRIVACY
- Tim Hortons Mobile App Under Investigation For Data Privacy Concerns
- Tim Hortons scaling back data collection as four privacy watchdogs announce joint investigation into app: Probe by federal, Alberta, Quebec & B.C. commissioners comes after report on coffee chain’s data collection practices
- Contact Tracing Apps in Canada: Province of Alberta launches, and Federal Government Announces Nationwide Initiative
- The Most Important Privacy Case You’ve Never Heard Of
- Foreign adversaries likely to try exploiting critical networking bug, US says
- TikTok and 32 other iOS apps still snoop your sensitive clipboard data
- UK Information Commissioner Says Police Are Grabbing Too Much Data From Phones Owned By Crime Victims
- Indiana Supreme Court Says Compelled Decryption Of Smartphones Violates The Fifth Amendment
- Instagram Users, Beware Of Copyright Infringement Warning You May Receive In DMs
- Insights: Apple’s Latest Privacy Push Further Complicates Competitors’ Data Handling
- Does the CCPA apply to cookies that are used for data analytics?
- Moral Data Markets: Human-Centric Data Protection
- Two record DDoSes disclosed this week underscore their growing menace
- Comcast And Mozilla Partner Up To Help Encrypt DNS
- Privacy Questions Raised By Distance Learning
CREATIVITY
- Charles Harder Tries And Fails To Censor Another Book About His Most Famous Client, The President
- NY Judge Apparently Unaware Of The Supreme Court’s Ban On Prior Restraint: Puts Temporary Restraining Order On Trump’s Niece’s Book
- Goldman Sachs Created A Font, But You Are Forbidden By Its License To Critique Goldman Sachs Using It
- German Minister Files Criminal Complaint Against A Journalist Who Said Police Officers Are ‘Trash People’
Jon
News of the Week; June 24, 2020
GAMES
- Class action lawsuit brought against Apple over loot boxes: Loot boxes are indisputably gambling under California law, argues 100-member lawsuit
- Starting in July, iOS games will require gov’t approval to launch on China’s App Store
- California court dismisses Magic Leap lawsuit against competitor Nreal
- Magic Leap’s lawsuit against competitor Nreal thrown out of court: “From the beginning we’ve firmly stated that Magic Leap’s claims against Nreal are meritless,” says Nreal founder
- ‘The Sims’ Becomes An Outlet For Would-Be Protesters Who Cannot Attend Protests
- FDA First: Agency Approves Video Game Treatment For ADHD, Requires A Prescription
- Dozens of YouTubers, Twitch Streamers, And Gaming Executives Face Sexual Abuse Allegations
- Dying Light 2 writer Chris Avellone accused of sexual assault and harassment
- As streamers face harassment allegations, Twitch sees boycott threat
- Mass DMCA Takedown Requests Issued on Twitch
- A wave of abuse allegations sweeps the games industry
- Ubisoft and Insomniac face allegations over mistreatment of women
- Insomniac responds to allegations from former staff about culture of harassment
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla creative director leaves project: Takes leave of absence from Ubisoft after accusations of marital infidelity
- Ubisoft ‘deeply concerned’ with sexual assault allegations against multiple employees
- Industry’s abuse problem brought into focus by latest wave of allegations: Less than a year since high profile industry figures named, dozens of streamers, influencers and developers called out for abusive behaviour
- Hearthstone pro says he was blacklisted after spouse criticized Blizzard: Janne “Savjz” Mikkonen says he was punished because Christina Mikkonen “spoke up about the injust practices” of Blizzard
- Cheeky Devils left Red-faced – High Court rejects Manchester United’s procedural request in video game case
- Police cars removed from Epic Games’ Fortnite: The Wall Street Journal alleges that police vehicles were removed in response to the killing of George Floyd
- Valve looks to stem tide of racist bots in Team Fortress 2: After months of inaction, Valve quietly works to “mitigate the use of new and free accounts for abusive purposes”
- Bot mafias have wreaked havoc in World of Warcraft Classic
- Too little, too shy: The gaming industry’s response to #BLM | Opinion: Gaming companies want to get away with tokens of sympathy for #BlackLivesMatter — Don’t let them
- How the games industry can put its diversity pledges into action | Opinion: The industry’s diversity problems aren’t new, but willing developers have all the tools they need to take action
- Zynga launches $25 million charity fund to foster inclusion and diversity
- Kowloon Nights launches $2 million game investment fund for Black creators
- Former Microsoft employee accuses Mixer manager of racist comments: Milan Lee has a meeting with Microsoft’s Phil Spencer to discuss an experience that made him leave the company
- Microsoft is killing its game-streaming service, folding it into Facebook’s
- Microsoft is shutting down Mixer, redirecting its users to Facebook Gaming
- Microsoft Shutters Mixer, Looks To Shepherd Creators To Facebook Gaming As Part Of New Pact
- Microsoft announces the closure of streaming platform Mixer, will partner with Facebook Gaming
- Microsoft shutting down Mixer: Streaming service closing July 22 with partners being transitioned to Facebook Gaming; exclusive streamers like Ninja, Shroud free to leave
- Lone Echo developer Ready at Dawn acquired by Facebook
- Humble’s ‘Fight for Racial Justice’ bundle has raised over $4.3M for charity
- Humble Bundle raises £3.5m for Black Lives Matter: Bundle of more than 50 games and books was bought by 130,000 people
- App Imperialism: The Political Economy of the Canadian App Store (David Nieborg, Chris Young, Daniel Joseph)
- Guinness reinstates Billy Mitchell’s Donkey Kong, Pac-Man records
- Twitch sells CurseForge to Overwolf: Mod management platform will become stand-alone app supported by subscriptions, in-app advertising
- EA pledges tougher stance on toxicity with Positive Play Charter: The publisher has removed more than 3,500 player-created assets featuring “inappropriate and hurtful” language in recent weeks
- EA and the war against toxicity: Chief marketing officer Chris Bruzzo on why Electronic Arts is ramping up its efforts to stamp out hate speech in games
- Report: Microsoft could launch xCloud streaming service as part of Xbox Game Pass
- Xbox Series X difference will be immersion more than visuals, Spencer says: Head of Xbox talks about what will separate Microsoft’s next-gen, says cell phone-like All Access payment program will be “critical” this generation
- Lack of Smart Delivery won’t prevent PS5 owners from playing Cyberpunk 2077
- PlayStation posts bug bounty to track down PS4 and PSN security issues
- EA: “PS5 and Xbox Series X games will feel different, better and more visceral” – Chief Studios Officer Laura Miele on breaking down platform barriers, making games more inclusive, and COVID-19
- EA Sports renews exclusivity deal with La Liga for FIFA franchise: The extended deal includes a “joint commitment” to pushing further into esports
- The Sims 4 records peak high of 10 million monthly active users
- The Sims 4 hit 10m MAUs in the last quarter: EA’s six year old title also added 2.5m new players in the last two months, ahead of its relaunch on Steam
- EA is bringing seven games to the Nintendo Switch in the next 12 months: Including Burnout Paradise: Remastered and Apex Legends
- Evercade’s retro portable made me fall out of love with game cartridges
- Activision follows Crash Bandicoot remakes with the first new Crash game in a decade
- This War of Mine is now recommended reading for Polish high school students
- This War of Mine will be added to school reading list in Poland: “I don’t think we’ve ever encountered a game being officially included in the educational system on a national level as school reading”
- CEX staff report concerns as stores re-open: Employees take issue with inconsistent rules, no quarantine period on trade-ins, no reduction in opening hours
- Facebook prepares to wage war over release of Gaming app on iOS
- Apple repeatedly rejects Facebook Gaming app for App Store inclusion: Platform’s rules ban apps whose main focus is distributing other games
- Apple App Store Has Denied Hosting Facebook’s Standalone Gaming App At Least 5 Times Since February (Report)
- New App Store review processes will let devs challenge guideline violations
- Apple to allow developers to challenge App Store Review Guidelines: New systems will put devs in a stronger position to appeal Apple’s decisions and change problematic App Store rules
- Stadia Share launches in beta with Crayta in July: Creators will be able to generate shareable links directly to their game sessions
- The mystery Pokemon project being developed by Tencent is a cross-platform MOBA
- Cyberpunk 2077 has been delayed again—this time to November
- Cyberpunk 2077 delayed two more months: CD Projekt Red pushes release back to November 19 saying more time needed for balancing and bug fixing
- Population Zero and the dangers of Early Access hype: Three key lessons from a game made by a studio of 60 people, that had a very rough launch
- South Australian government extends 10% rebate to its games industry: The production rebate is the first of its kind to be extended to game developers in Australia
- Shawn Layden: “I would welcome a return to the 12 to 15 hour AAA game” – At Gamelab Live, the former PlayStation exec discussed the industry’s need to rethink the spiralling costs of AAA development
- Call of Duty: Mobile reaches 250m downloads after eight months – Sensor Tower estimates show sharp increase in revenue and downloads since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Report: Digital games market revenue reached $10.2 billion in May (SuperData)
- Digital games spending reaches $10.2b in May as COVID-19 restrictions relax: Grand Theft Auto 5, Civilization 6 see PC spending surges thanks to free Epic Games Store release
- The Last of Us Part 2 smashes sales records | UK Charts: It beats Uncharted 4 to become Sony’s fastest-selling PS4 game
- Examining the indie ins and outs of today’s game distribution platforms
- Epic Games Store hit 61m MAUs during “The Vault” game giveaway: Epic’s Steam competitor reached 13m peak concurrent users during campaign in which Grand Theft Auto 5 was given away for free
- One tricky racing sim: Assetto Corsa Competizione is now on consoles
- ‘Fortnite’ To Test Full-Length Film Screenings With Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception,’ ‘Batman Begins,’ ‘The Prestige’
- Fortnite is a masterclass in flexibility | Opinion: Epic’s battle royale is a cultural phenomenon due to a will to challenge fundamental ideas about what a game is and what its players want to experience
- FaZe Clan Takes Ownership Stake In Meal Replacement Shake Startup ‘CTRL’
- Cloud Gaming – Opportunities and Risks for eSports
- Igniting the fire of eSports regulatory reform
- Esports as sport
- EA: Playing ‘Star Wars: Squadrons’ in VR Will Be “more like being a real pilot”
- Facebook acquires Ready at Dawn: Oculus parent picks up Lone Echo franchise studio to work on VR content
- Oculus will start offering Quest software regardless of quality
- Oculus is winding down Oculus Go support to instead double down on Quest and Rift
- Oculus Go headset discontinued: VR company will stop adding developers’ apps and updates to Oculus Store this December, pledges to open up Quest distribution options
- Quest-curious VR devs will be able to officially bypass the Oculus Store in 2021
- The digitisation of Pokémon: The Pokémon Company’s Peter Murphy discusses the release of the new Isle of Armor DLC
- How playtesting influenced the last days of Control’s development
- Blog: Game composers and the importance of themes – Part 1
- Don’t Miss: A level designer breaks down The Last of Us 2’s trailer level
- Don’t Miss: The untold story of Lumines: Electronic Symphony
- Don’t Miss: What went right (and wrong) during Deadly Premonition’s development
- Video: High-performance animation transitions in Gears of War
- Video: Using deep learning to combat cheating in Counter-Strike
- Unity’s Learn Premium suite of game dev courses is now available for free
- Unity makes premium learning tools free on a permanent basis: More than 350 hours of online courses are now available to everyone due to ongoing impact of COVID-19
- Minecraft, King’s Quest, and more join the World Video Game Hall of Fame
- U.S. Patent no. 10,325,266: Rewarding classes of purchasers
DIGITAL
- TikTok Teens and K-Pop Stans Say They Sank Trump Rally: Did a successful prank inflate attendance expectations for President Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Okla.?
- In the UK, social media use associated with COVID-19 conspiracy theories
- Four Black Creators File Suit Against YouTube, Alleging Racial Discrimination In Algorithm
- Jukin Media Steps In With Copyright Claim After Trump Posts Doctored Video Of Hugging Toddlers
- Trump’s Plan To Turn US Global Media Operations Into State-Sponsored Breitbart… Could Threaten The Open (And Encrypted) Internet
- Google, Amazon condemn Trump order cutting off foreign worker visas
- Civil Rights Organizations Call for Facebook Advertising Boycott
- Facebook Ordered to Turn Over Internal Investigation Documents to Massachusetts Attorney General
- Court Denies Facebook’s Motion to Stay Order Compelling Production of Documents
- Facebook pulls Trump campaign ads for featuring Nazi-associated image
- Facebook’s New Content Moderation Appeals Process
- Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: Facebook Kicks Off Anti-Racist Skinheads/Musicians While Trying To Block Racists
- Viral TikTok Video From Black Artist Kirby Prompts Pepsi To Rebrand ‘Aunt Jemima’ Products
- TikTok faces scrutiny from EU watchdogs over data practices: Last month, Dutch data-protection commission investigated company’s policies to protect children’s data
- Apple caters to China by pulling thousands of “unlicensed” iPhone games
- Apple is changing parts of its app review process after the Hey controversy
- Vice Calls Out Brands For Deeming George Floyd, ‘Black Lives Matter’ Content Unsafe For Advertising
- Instagram Unveils Suite Of Programming, Tools, And Resources In Honor Of Juneteenth
- Sweating the Details: Court Analyzes User Interface to Uphold Online Arbitration Clause
- Southern District Says the Post Is the Story: Paparazzo’s Cardi B snaps are fair use when it comes to lipstick and hurled shoes
- Snap Says It Reaches More 13 To 24-Year-Olds In The U.S. Than Facebook, Instagram, And Messenger Combined
- FTC COPPA Settlement with App Developer Highlights Penalty Policy Considerations
- Twin Proposals Would Reform Section 230’s Liability Protections and Broadly Affect Online Content
- President Trump Loves Section 230 for Himself, Just Not for Anyone Else
- Judge Sides With Twitter Over Devin Nunes In Case Over Satirical Internet Cow: Section 230 Removes Twitter From Frivolous Case
- Americans Would Probably Love Section 230—If They Understood It (Eric Goldman)
- Further Thoughts On Moderation v. Discretion v. Censorship
- “There’s Always a Tweet” Applies to Trump’s Anti-Social Media Rhetoric
- Risk Mitigation For Social Media Cos. In Light Of Trump Order
- Another Court Rejects Turo’s Eligibility for Section 230–Turo v. Los Angeles (Eric Goldman)
- Hello! You’ve Been Referred Here Because You’re Wrong About Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act
- Online harms: what progress in the UK and EU?
- The Communication Decency Act and the DOJ’s Proposed Solution: No Easy Answers
- Social Media Posts During Turbulent Times: FAQs on Employee Rights and Employer Responsibilities
- Electronic Data exclusion cries out for Judicial Interpretation
- Using the internet to cause emotional distress is a felony?
- Google to start fact-checking Google Images
- Google pushes “text fragment links” with new Chrome extension
- Masked arsonist might’ve gotten away with it if she hadn’t left Etsy review
- Twitter terminates DDoSecrets, falsely claims it may infect visitors
- Kim Kardashian West Signs With Spotify For ‘Innocence Project’ Podcast
- CBD Advertisements: What Celebrity Influencers Need to Know
- Reviewing the Americans With Disabilities Act’s Application to Websites–Martinez v. SDCCU (Eric Goldman)
- Insights: Can YouTube’s $100M Black Lives Matter Program Fuel A New Generation Of Marginalized Creators?
- YouTube’s ‘Cobra Kai’ To Kick It At Netflix, Starting With Season 3
- YouTube Launches Virtual Summer Camp With Arts, Sports, And STEM-Related Content
- Select Management Signs Slew Of YouTube Stars, Including Kelsey Darragh, Aaron Burriss, Hey It’s Fei
- YouTube Introduces New Shoppable Ads, ‘Video Action Campaigns’ For High-Traffic Marketing Spots
- Jessica Alba Drops Beauty Interview Series On Newly-Launched YouTube Channel
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 6/22/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/22/2020
- NBA All-Star Stephen Curry To Host YouTube Competition Special ‘Ultimate Home Championship’
- With YouTube Music, Google is holding my speakers for ransom
- Philip DeFranco Signs With Semaphore To Seek Out Licensing Opportunities
- Hulu’s NewFronts Presentation Unveils Interactive Ad Format ‘GatewayGo,’ Nielsen Ad-Targeting Integration
- Roku Kicks Off Virtual NewFronts With Tools To Help Advertisers Weather Pandemic
- Condé Nast Unveils Podcast Network, Tap-To-Buy Video Ad Product At First NewFronts Outing
- Whistle To Launch Social Video Network In Collaboration With Survivalist Host Bear Grylls
- Barstool Sports Touts 950K Views Per Day For Founder Dave Portnoy’s Day Trading Show, Launches Branded Content Division
- Can you 3D print Damascus steel? Pretty much, yeah
- The Coronavirus Laid Bare Our Empty Lip Service To Fixing The ‘Digital Divide’
- Five practical steps to ensure due process during virtual hearings
- TV writers, like all of us, are developing a love-hate relationship with Zoom
- The long, winding, technological road to GPS in every car
A.I.
- China Won’t Win the Race for AI Dominance: Authoritarians Love Data, but Innovation Matters More
- Police arrested wrong man based on facial recognition fail, ACLU says
- In A First, TikTok Lifts Veil On Inner-Workings Of #ForYou Page Algorithm
- Artificial Intelligence and the Boardroom Risk
- The artist and the algorithm: how YouTube is changing our relationship with music
- Endure and survive – The AI of The Last of Us
COMMUNICATIONS
- Pay to Link?: Canadian Heritage Minister Guilbeault Backs Bringing the Link Tax to Canada (Michael Geist)
- Heritage Minister raises possibility of link tax for internet companies (Michael Geist)
- Europeans vow to pursue digital tax plans after US “provocation”
- Charter seeks FCC OK to impose data caps and charge fees to video services
- FCC’s O’Rielly Musters A Tiny Bit Of Courage To Almost Acknowledge Trump’s Executive Order Is Unenforceable Gibberish
- AT&T Has Now Eliminated 41,000 Jobs Since Its $42 Billion Trump Tax Cut
- AT&T Says Being Misleading About ‘Unlimited’ Data Plans Was Ok, Because Reporters Told Consumers It Was Being Misleading
- The Fastest ISP In America Is Community Owned And Operated
- Yet More Layoffs Hit Sprint/T-Mobile, Despite Promises This Assuredly Wouldn’t Happen
- T-Mobile already trying to get out of merger conditions on 5G and hiring
- If T-Mobile’s giant outage affected you, now’s your chance to tell the FCC
- FCC Skeptical About Space X Satellite Broadband Claims
- FCC Seeks Further Comment on TRACED Act’s Traceback Consortium’s Role
- FCC Seeking Comment on the Origination of Programming by FM Translators
- Fifteen Year Drought Over: How the Defense in Evonik/PeroxyChem and T-Mobile/Sprint Successfully Litigated the Fix
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Publishers Sue Internet Archive for free access to E-books
- Second Circuit Declines to Decide if Human Skin Can Be a Tangible Medium of Expression under Copyright Law and Affirms Dismissal of Makeup Artist’s Lawsuit
- Second Circuit Avoids “Making Up” Copyright Ruling Finding Artist’s Claims Preempted
- Copyright and memes: Drake effect, exceptions to infringement
- Ninth Circuit Decision Solidifies the Importance of Adhering to Registration Formalities
- Get ready to explore the boundaries of copyright on a bike before the ECJ (Case C‑833/18 (Brompton))
- A ride towards copyright for functional designs: could the iconic Brompton folding bike enjoy copyright protection? The view from Milan
- Copyright: Text and Data Mining – New Rules?
- Political Campaigns and Unauthorized Music
- Software patentability in Canada and beyond
- Copyright Gets In The Way Of Chef Andres’ ‘Recipes For The People’; Because The DMCA Takedown System Is Still Broken
- Cheez-It Issues A Bogus DMCA Notice To Nuke A Picture It Didn’t Like, Receives Dozens Of Offensive Images In Response
- Copyright Filters And Takedowns Are Broken: Questlove Says YouTube Flagged Him For Playing His Own Tracks
- Amazon and Valentino v. Kaitlyn Pan: contractual breach and counterfeiting
- Kawhi Leonard’s Fight for the “Claw”: An Oregon Court Holds that Nike Owns the “Claw Design” Logo
- Too vague: Prince Harry and Meghan’s trade mark application refused
- Another blow for Meghan and Harry’s trade mark strategy? Let’s investigate…
- Harry & Meghan’s ARCHEWELL US trade mark – not as hopeless as some reports suggest
- Netflix Outsmarts POTUS On Space Force Trade Mark
- Don’t Let Your Trademark Go Up In Smoke: “smoking is cool” Branding Is Prohibited Under Canada’s Cannabis Act
- Supreme Court rules in favour of Apple on trademark debranding
- NOKIA v Kokiya: the letters of the law
- Restaurant Industry Insight – Registering a Descriptive Restaurant Name
- In the company of Jedi´s
- Unfair advantage? Burlington Arcade successful at CJEU
- Three key differences between U.S. and Canadian patent law that can affect patent filing strategies in Canada
- Dropbox’s Patents Invalidated for Patent-Ineligible Subject Matter
- U.S. District Court Again Finds Patents for Updating Toolbar Without User Intervention Invalid
- Federal Circuit: Prior Dismissal Bars Customer Lawsuits
- Non-Infringement Need Not “Be Actually Litigated” to Invoke Kessler Doctrine
- Non-Infringement Need Not Be “Actually Litigated” to Shield Accused Products From Infringement Liability in Subsequent Actions
- Regeneron v Kymab and the effect of claim scope on the requirement of sufficiency of disclosure
- Rights of patentee or general Welfare of the public: which way should the scales tilt?
- Lifecycle of a smart idea: Patent strategy – Optimising life sciences patents
- Aces of the skies – the patent dogfight between DJI and Autel
- FibroGen & Astellas v Akebia & Otsuka – Lord Justice Arnold returns to the Patents Court for monster six patent trial
- Federal Circuit Patent Update
- Fun summer inventions and patents
- A Brief History of Patents & Slavery In Honor of Juneteenth
- Intellectual property in the time of COVID-19
- Brexit: implications for holders of intellectual property rights and domain names
- IP Post-NAFTA: What CUSMA Coming into Force Means for Canadian IP Law
- Revised draft Guidelines operationalizing the Patented Medicines Regulations: notable changes
- Intellectual Property – Top tips for Directors
PRIVACY
- Double-double tracking: How Tim Hortons knows where you sleep, work and vacation: Tim Hortons is logging detailed location data of customers through its app — and many may not realize it’s happening at all
- It’s unconstitutional for cops to force phone unlocking, court rules
- Millions of documents from >200 US police agencies published in “BlueLeaks” trove
- Tech Companies Are Limiting Police Use of Facial Recognition. Here’s Why
- New York City Residents Turn City’s Traffic Cameras Into Cop-Watching Tools
- So Much For Going Dark: FBI Using Social Media, E-Commerce Sites To Track Down Suspects (Including Non-Lawbreakers)
- NIST Releases Cybersecurity Guidance for Manufacturers of IoT Devices
- Alleged Privacy Law Violations Create Potential $5 Billion Issue For Google
- High Court Protects Privacy of Googlers from Insolvency Probe
- Google LLC loses appeal against French Data Protection Authority decision before France highest administrative Court
- Chrome extensions with 33 million downloads slurped sensitive user data
- Top German Court Rules Facebook’s Collection And Use Of Data From Third-Party Sources Requires ‘Voluntary’ Consent
- Privacy Issues of U.S. Collection of Social Media Information from Visa Applicants
- Privacy Concerns Lead To Deletion Of All Data Collected By Norway’s Contact Tracing App
- FTC Pounces on Maker of Children’s App Menagerie
- Immediate Steps Needed to Prevent Your Pandemic WFH Savior Videoconferencing from Turning Into a Future Litigation Nightmare
- One Of The World’s Largest Web Tracking Companies Leaks Tons Of Personal Info From An Unsecured Server
- To evade detection, hackers are requiring targets to complete CAPTCHAs
- Crooks abuse Google Analytics to conceal theft of payment card data
- It’s Long Past Time To Encrypt The Entire DNS
- Is Data Privacy A Privilege? The Racial Implications Of Technology Based Tools In Government
CREATIVITY
- UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Declares Detention of Sri Lankan Author Violated International Law
- Police Memo Says Officers Raiding A Journalist’s Home Were Instructed To Turn Off Their Body Cameras
- Appeals Court Says California’s IMDb-Targeting ‘Ageism’ Law Is Unconstitutional
- Tennessean Newspaper Apologizes For Running “Horrific” and “Utterly Indefensible” Advertisement
- Advertising Falls within Commercial Activity Exception to Sovereign Immunity
- Reese Witherspoon and Draper James in COVID-19 Giveaway Suit
- Schrodinger’s Classified Info: Trump Argues John Bolton’s Book Is Both False & Classified
- In Defamation Law, Context is Everything.
- The Need For A Federal Anti-SLAPP Law Is Clear And Overwhelming
- ViacomCBS Says It Is In No Rush to Make Major Acquisition
- ‘Wunderkind’ London Art Dealer Arrested by FBI
- The “root-and-branch rethink” of the film and TV production industry
- French Constitutional Council Kills Government’s Brand New Hate Speech Law
Jon
News of the Week; June 17, 2020
GAMES
- Judge rejects defence theory of ‘gaming consciousness’ and convicts man of Marpole murders
- Federal Court Affirms Activision’s First Amendment Rights In Using Humvees in ‘Call Of Duty’ Game
- Activision investigating after Modern Warfare update goes rogue on Xbox
- Nintendo issues cease-and-desist for Switch modchip installation service
- Nintendo Cryptically Points Out That Selling ‘Animal Crossing’ Assets For Real Money Violates ToS
- Rockstar stops hackers from spawning KKK members in Red Dead Online
- FDA approves game marketed as a treatment for ADHD: Prescription-only device is first game-based therapy the US agency has approved for any condition
- May I Have This Dance? Epic Games Prevails in Second Dance Emote Suit.
- Fortnite Defeats Another Lawsuit Over Emote Dance Moves–Brantley v. Epic Games (Eric Goldman)
- Duke Nukem and the Dangers of Acquired IP in Serial Game Development
- Gearbox sues 3D Realms for breach of Duke Nukem acquisition contract: After original Duke Nukem composer sues Gearbox over royalties, developer brings in original IP owner
- Manchester United sues Football Manager makers for trade mark infringement
- Developers remove games from Steam over Valve’s Black Lives Matter silence
- Riot Games exec Ron Johnson resigns following inflammatory George Floyd Facebook post: Johnson exercised “really poor judgement” says Riot CEO Nicolo Laurent
- Little Devil Inside dev apologizes for racist stereotypes shown in trailer
- “The industry hasn’t changed enough — not even close”: POC in Play’s Chella Ramanan and Adam Campbell on the industry’s response to the Black Lives Matter movement, and the effort needed to make a lasting change
- Kowloon Nights launches $2m fund for projects by Black creators: Fairchild Initiative aims to empower Black-owned and led studios worldwide
- The itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality has surpassed its $5M goal
- Itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality finishes with $8.1m raised: Over 810,000 people purchased the bundle, which contained more than 1,700 games
- Humble Bundle launches Fight for Racial Justice bundle: 100% of proceeds will support NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Race Forward, and The Bail Project
- Humble’s huge ‘Fight for Racial Justice’ charity bundle has already raised over $1.3M
- Applications are open for Humble’s $1 million Black Game Developer Fund
- GDC renews commitments to supporting game developers in marginalized communities
- Square Enix apologises for “insensitive” Marvel’s Avengers tweet: “Now was not the appropriate time to share this content.”
- Tomb Raider and Deus Ex dev Eidos Montreal opens new R&D studio
- Square Enix announces new Eidos-Sherbrooke studio: The newly created R&D studio will be remote, with premises not due to open until early 2021
- The importance of diversity in games
- The chicanery of Penguin Cretins: Valve maintains its signature silence as wayward developers code-swap games on Steam, leaving users frustrated and confused
- UK government to call for evidence that loot boxes should be classed as gambling: DCMS confirms call will begin later this year, findings will be considered alongside a review of the Gambling Act
- The UK Government sets out its plan of action on immersive technologies (mostly video games)
- Capcom bans ex-EVO champion after racist tweet: Ryan “FChamp” Ramirez apologizes for “very insensitive” post, refuses to call it racist
- Xbox demands racist influencer team disassociate from its brand: Brazilian streamers XboxMilGrau has been banned on Twitch and YouTube, reportedly worked with Microsoft in the past
- Virtual concert company Wave nets $30 million to stage more interactive gigs
- Devs can now dig around in the source code for three games from Blendo Games
- Resident Evil becomes first Capcom franchise to surpass 100 million sales
- Neostream will change character designs using racist stereotypes: The developer was criticised following Little Devil Inside’s appearance at the PS5 reveal last week
- EA extends free Xbox Series X upgrade offer for Madden NFL 21 after player complaints: Publisher is not using Xbox’s Smart Delivery tech, but instead using its own ‘Dual Entitlement’ model
- Xbox expands on Smart Delivery, confirms game progress will carry forward
- PS5 will far outsell Xbox Series X, predicts analyst: Ampere’s Piers Harding-Rolls expects PS5 to sell 66 million sold by end of 2024, compared to 37 million for Series X
- Sony unveils PlayStation 5 design, but remains silent on price
- Spider-Man, Ratchet and Clank, Gran Turismo, and more are coming to PS5
- Sony finally reveals PlayStation 5 hardware—and a discless “Digital Edition”
- PlayStation 5’s reveal was all about continuity | Opinion: Laser-focused on game announcements, Sony’s unveiling was an hour-long promise to maintain the software strategy that has driven the PS4’s success
- Sony announces PlayStation 5 Digital Edition: Two versions of next-gen console shown alongside 26 upcoming games
- PS5 Digital Edition exists because “many consumers purchase solely digitally”: PlayStation boss says no news on price but platform holder is focused on “getting the value equation right”
- GTA Online is getting a standalone release on PlayStation 5
- Grand Theft Auto Online coming to PS5 for free in 2021: Standalone version of GTAV’s online game will be available as a free exclusive for three months
- Grand Theft Auto Online is a killer app for PlayStation 5 | Opinion: The deal between PlayStation and Rockstar has the potential to win over millions of fans for Sony’s next console
- Bethesda’s Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo will be timed PS5 exclusives – New games from Arkane and Tango Gameworks among a handful of console exclusives at PS5 reveal event
- The PlayStation 5 looks to be the biggest game console in decades
- Data suggests almost half of Xbox One users also own a PlayStation 4
- Google cuts Stadia Premiere Edition price from $130 to $100
- Google Stadia Premiere Edition gets a price cut: But it’s no longer offering three months of Stadia Pro for free
- Ubisoft’s next open-world game leaks as an unfinished prototype on Stadia
- The Evolution of Game Genres: NES, Gameboy, and SNES
- Playable Worlds raises $10 million to beef up cloud-based game tech
- For sale to good home: Warner Bros’ gaming division
- AT&T reportedly looking to sell Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment: Take-Two, EA, Activision Blizzard among potential buyers for potential $4 billion purchase of division
- Analyst says a WBIE deal could “set off a wave” of mergers, acquisitions: Stephens’ Jeff Cohen expects largest publishers will be looking to expand their line-ups going into the next generation
- Report: Fortnite maker Epic could sell stake at $17 billion valuation
- Epic reportedly worth $17 billion in new funding round: Bloomberg reports that the Fortnite firm is about to close a $750 million round
- Fortnite “The Device” event was capped at 12m players: But 8.4 million more watched live on Twitch and YouTube
- Latest Fortnite event attracts 12M in-game players, another 8.4M via streams
- Virtual concert firm Wave raises $30m in funding: Series B round will fund “in-game activations and social experiences at the nexus of gaming and entertainment”
- NPD: May US game sales jump 52% – Despite no new releases in the top 10, software sales up 67% as hardware grows 56% for strongest May numbers since 2008
- Mario Kart 8: Deluxe races back to pole position | UK Charts – Ring Fit Adventure holds firm at No.2
- Brawl Stars outpaces Clash Royale on Chinese App Store launch: Supercell’s new game also earned more in one week in China than on its global launch, according to Sensor Tower estimates
- NetEase teams up with Warner Bros for The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War
- New Zealand games industry shrunk 9% in 2019: Rebound expected as next gen console releases loom and subscription service revenue climbs
- The Last of Us Part 2 | Critical Consensus: Naughty Dog’s latest is a great achievement, but a sky-high Metacritic score masks discord among critics about its treatment of violence
- The Last of Us Part 2 review: A less confident, less focused sequel
- Studio 369 formed out of Rune 2 launch disaster
- Unity changes up its business model to prioritize long-term support services
- Playable Worlds lands $10m investment: Galaxy Interactive leads Series A funding for Raph Koster’s sandbox MMO company
- Ziggurat has acquired the BloodRayne franchise and other Majesco licenses
- Ziggurat Interactive acquires BloodRayne and other Majesco licenses: Retro publisher working with BloodRayne dev to revive franchise
- Facebook Gaming Snags TikTok Star Noen Eubanks For Exclusive Livestreaming Deal
- Facebook Gaming Expands Availability Of Key Monetization Tools, Readies New ‘Live Breaks’ Ad Format
- Twitch Looking To Give Creators More Control Over Clips After “Sudden Influx” Of Copyright Claims
- Twitch Faces the Music: A Sudden Influx of DMCA Takedown Notices Hits Twitch
- WWE Lawyers DMCA Tweet With Video Of Independent Wrestling Event, Probably Over A Hashtag That Promotes WWE
- Verizon Inks Three-Year Sponsorship Deal For Riot Games’ ‘League Of Legends’ Championships
- Luckbox closes $3.8m investment round: Esports betting platform prepares to go public after turnover increases 13 times since March
- Is Esports Betting Sports Betting in Iowa?
- Influencers and esports
- COVID-19 & Esports – Part 1 – The Economic and Industry Impact
- COVID-19 & Esports – Part 2 – The Socio-Cultural Context
- COVID-19 & Esports – Part 3 – Implications For the Future
- PlayStation 5 Will Support PSVR, Sony Affirms
- Armed and Gelatinous: Building an arcade cabinet that sticks – Rob Howland and Anthony Prusakowski on taking a goopy game jam title to the arcade, and why that approach might benefit indie developers
- Double Loop’s plans for relaxing mobile games are far from “casual”
- Talking Tiberium: Command & Conquer dev on LAN mode, going open source, and more
- Boomshakalaka: How the original NBA Jam caught fire through chaos
- Pokemon takes another stab at free-to-play with Pokemon Cafe Mix
- Pokemon Go dev Niantic delays plans to end support for 32-bit Android devices
- Pokemon Snap is being revived on the Nintendo Switch
- Over 21 years later, Pokémon Snap is coming back on Switch
- Dissecting the dual-genre design of Disintegration
- Don’t Miss: Creating the ‘hidden horror’ of Observer
- Don’t Miss: Making Insomniac’s Spider-Man do what a spider can
- Don’t Miss: What was it like programming Skyrim?
- Don’t Miss: The game is the boss – Housemarque’s Resogun postmortem7
- Blog: Starcom: Nexus postmortem, an indie dev journey
- Blog: Finding, choosing, and managing moderators
- Video: Golden rules for designing chatbot games
- Watch EA’s Jim Vessella discuss the remastering of Command & Conquer
- Niantic to promote 1,000 small businesses in Pokemon Go for free for a year: Players can nominate favorite local spots across US, Japan, Great Britain, Canada, Mexico
- An EVE Online mini-game is helping researchers better analyze COVID-19 data
- EVE Online’s latest citizen science project to help COVID-19 research: CCP Games has announced the third phase of its Project Discovery initiative
- U.S. Patent no. 10,322,346: Interactive collectible card games with defense and offence team formations
- U.S. Patent no. 10,322,351: Matchmaking system and method for multiplayer video games
DIGITAL
- Undress or fail: Instagram’s algorithm strong-arms users into showing skin
- Instagram Users: Post at Your Own Risk. Your Public Content May Be Legally Sublicensed
- Instagram To Review Its Policies, Algorithms For Any Bias Against Black Community
- Two SDNY Courts Post Opposite Conclusions on Instagram Fair Use
- Zoom cites Chinese law to defend censorship of human rights activists
- Amid pressure, Zoom will end-to-end encrypt all calls, free or paid
- Zoom & China: Never Forget That Content Moderation Requests From Government Involve Moral Questions
- Philippines Spits On Free Speech, Convicts Journalist Maria Ressa For Criminal ‘Cyber Libel’
- Amazon Senses US Isn’t Currently Receptive To Its Cop Tech, Puts Rekognition On Mothballs For A Year
- Internet Archive ends “emergency library” early to appease publishers
- Internet Archive Closing National Emergency Library Two Weeks Early, Due To Lawsuit, Despite How Useful It’s Been
- KleptoSettlement: Behavioral Advertising Data Collection in Kids’ Apps Leads to Avoidable FTC Fine
- Brokerage Account Formation Process Upheld–Valelly v. Merrill Lynch (Eric Goldman)
- Justice Department proposes major overhaul of Sec. 230 protections
- Per Section 230, Facebook Can Tell This Plaintiff To Piss Off–Fyk v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- Cybersecurity Experts Support Supreme Court Review of Enigma v. Malwarebytes Ruling on Section 230(c)(2)(B) (Eric Goldman)
- Ron Wyden Explains Why President Trump (And Many Others) Are Totally Wrong About Section 230
- Justice Department Releases Its Own Preposterous Recommendations On Updating Section 230
- Devin Nunes’ Lawyer Tells Judge To Ignore Section 230, Because Twitter Is Anti-Devin Nunes
- Senator Hawley’s Latest Dumb Anti-230 Plan Would Wipe Out The President’s Advantage On Facebook
- Senator Hawley’s Section 230 Reform Even Dumber Than We Expected; Would Launch A Ton Of Vexatious Lawsuits
- Trust & Safety Professional Association Launches: This Is Important
- eBay execs sent roaches and “bloody pig mask” to harass journalists, feds say
- eBay Execs Thought Sending Dead Pigs, Live Spiders To Small News Website Was A Good Idea
- Facebook Defends Not Censoring Political Ads – Looking at the Differences In Regulation of Political Speech on Different Communications Platforms
- Facebook to Allow Users to Block all Political Advertising
- Facebook Lets Users Turn Off Political Ads, Launches Voter Registration Campaign
- The Bureau targets privacy: Facebook Inc. to pay the Competition Bureau a $9M administrative monetary penalty for misleading representations
- Why one email app went to war with Apple—and why neither one is right
- EC opens antitrust probe into Apple Pay, Apple’s App Store
- The European Commission opens formal antitrust probes against Apple in relation to Apple Pay and the App Store
- The Antitrust Case Against Apple (Bapu Kotapati, Simon Mutungi, Melissa Newham, Jeff Schroeder, Melody Wang)
- A crackdown on illegal content – but at what cost? Debate around the EU’s online liability overhaul
- Disclosing networks of state-linked information operations we’ve removed (Twitter)
- Has Twitter just had its saddest fortnight ever?: A tool that quantifies global happiness on social media recorded an unprecedented dip in mood starting in May.
- Twitter Introduces Audio Tweets, Enabling Users To Share 140-Second Voice Missives
- No, Google Didn’t Demonetize The Federalist & It’s Not An Example Of Anti-Conservative Bias
- An investigation of Google’s ad personalisation: After 10 years using Google services, here’s what I learned about surveillance capitalism
- Google Updates Ad Targeting Policies to Help Prevent Discrimination
- New Google rule bans discriminatory targeting for housing ads
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 6/15/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/15/2020
- YouTube Launches $100 Million, Multiyear Fund To Amplify Voices Of Black Creators
- ‘Dear Class Of 2020’ Becomes YouTube’s Most-Watched Live Original To Date, Raising $2 Million
- YouTube Pulls Creators’ AdSense Fundraisers, Citing Policy Violations—But Will Donate The Amount They Raised
- YouTube To Introduce Channel Customization, Rolls Out Algorithm-Generated ‘Creator Mixes’ For Each Viewer
- YouTube Rebrands Influencer Marketing Platform ‘FameBit’ To ‘BrandConnect’, Taps Google Vet Lori Sobel To Lead Unit
- Buzzy ‘Dad, How Do I?’ YouTube Channel Links With Lowe’s For Father’s Day Contest
- Linus from Linus Tech Tips looks back on YouTube comments and Internet fame
- OpenZFS removed offensive terminology from its code
- Lawsuit vs. Western Digital wants to end any use of SMR in NAS drives
- Collapse of Quadriga crypto exchange was a result of fraud, says OSC: With company bankrupt and founder dead, enforcement action ‘not practical’
- Machine-learning clusters in Azure hijacked to mine cryptocurrency
- Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns From Board, As Company Agrees To Replace Him With Black Candidate
- Viral TikTok Satirist And Donald Trump Imitator Sarah Cooper Signs With WME
- National Security Threat: TikTok
- Cars, Guns, Cider, And Snapchat Don’t Cause Crime
- District of Columbia AG claims online lender violated usury statutes
- Cameo Adds New Product Tier, Enabling Fans To Chat With Celebrities On Zoom
- WarnerMedia Axes HBO Go, Rebrands HBO Now In Wake Of Max Launch
- Netflix Drops Somber Dave Chappelle Special ‘8:46’ On YouTube, Netting 3.4 Million Views In 24 Hours
- Quibi Predicted It Would Net 7 Million Year-One Subscribers. It’s On Track To Bring In Just 2 Million. (Report)
- Eyeing Living Rooms, Quibi Reportedly In Talks To Create Roku, Amazon Fire TV Apps
- Hulu is ending Hulu VR support for most (but not all) virtual reality headsets
- Hulu is Shutting Down Its VR App on Most Headsets Tomorrow
- Snap Taps Rickey Thompson, Denzel Dion For Original Docuseries; Re-Ups With Disney, ViacomCBS, More For ‘Discover’
- The Young Turks To Drop Non-Political Interview Series On Just-Launched Twitch Channel
- ‘Myth: A Frozen Tale’ is Disney Animation’s First Publicly Released VR Short Film, Now on Quest
- After Libra, Digital Yuan and COVID-19: Central Bank Digital Currencies and the New World of Money and Payment Systems (Douglas Arner, Ross Buckley, Dirk Zetzsche, Anton Didenko)
A.I.
- Why general artificial intelligence will not be realized (Ragnar Fjelland)
- Algo IP: Intellectual Property in AI Datasets, Insights and Outputs – the Growing Importance of Trade Secrets
- Deepfakes aren’t very good—nor are the tools to detect them
- Occupational Change, Artificial Intelligence And The Geography Of EU Labour Markets
- If the shoppers can’t come to the shops, let the shops come to them: can AI save our shops?
- Artificial Intelligence and Europe: Risks, Developments and Implications (Jacopo Scipione)
- The Chinese approach to artificial intelligence: an analysis of policy, ethics, and regulation
- Artificial Intelligence and WIPO
- Will Robots Replace Patent Examiners?
- Who’s a Bot? Who’s Not?: It sometimes seems that automated bots are taking over social media and driving human discourse. But some (real) researchers aren’t so sure.
- Can AI mitigate the climate crisis? Not really.
- Getting it right: Using consumer-facing AI tools wisely
- Don’t Miss: A look at the data-driven AI framework behind Destroy All Humans 2
- Boston Dynamics now sells a robot dog to the public, starting at $74,500
COMMUNICATIONS
- What the Federal Court of Appeal Anti-Spam Law Case Means for the Interpretation of CASL (Michael Geist)
- US Falls Out Of Top 10 Fastest Broadband Speeds
- Another 5G Infrastructure Win for the Wireless Industry
- Senators Wyden And Markey Make It Clear AT&T Is Violating Net Neutrality
- AT&T’s “headcount rationalization”—i.e. job cuts—hits thousands more workers
- U.S. Commerce Department Revises Export Controls on Huawei, Permits Some Sharing of Export Controlled Technology in Setting Standards for 5G and Other Technology
- FCC Republican has “deep reservations” about Trump’s social media crackdown
- FCC Adopts Declaratory Ruling and Starts Rulemaking on ATSC 3.0 TV Datacasting Issues – the Broadcast Internet
- FCC proposes $225m fine for spoofed robocalls and state AGs follow suit
- FCC has “serious doubts” that SpaceX can deliver latencies under 100ms
- FCC’s Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment Makes Statement on Civil Rights Demonstrations and the Racial Divide
- FCC Reaches $5 Million Settlement with magicJack
- FCC Proposes Largest Fine in Its History for Telemarketing Violations
- T-Mobile Merger ‘Synergies’ Culminate In Massive 12 Hour Nationwide Outage
- The DOJ’s Plan To ‘Fix’ The T-Mobile Merger Is Already A Hot Mess
- T-Mobile’s outage yesterday was so big that even Ajit Pai is mad
- Platform Mergers: Lessons from a Case in the Digital TV Market (Mark Ivaldi, Jiekai Zhang)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Apple, SOCAN highlights changing role of Copyright Board, says IP professor Ariel Katz
- Federal Court of Appeal Issues Two Decisions on the Copyright Act’s “Making Available” Right
- I’m So Tired: IP Rights Exhaustion
- SA Music LLC v. Amazon.com, Inc.: Court dismisses copyright claims, holding distribution of work through digital music store requires transfer or download of file containing copyright work from one computer to another.
- A co-hop-yright clash
- Wheely good news for product designers?
- Brompton Bicycle – far from folded
- Riding copyright in the right direction?
- I want to Ride my (Brompton Folding) Bicycle
- CJEU confirms that original functional shapes may obtain copyright protection
- The CJEU confirms copyright can subsist in functional shapes provided they are original
- CJEU rules that functional shapes are eligible for copyright protection, in so far as they are original works
- CJEU on eligibility of functional shape under Copyright Law
- Can copyright protect technical products? Brompton provides some answers
- The Brompton Bicycle – the collapsible bike with a collapsing monopoly?
- WIPO brings ‘poor man’s copyright’ into digital age
- Copyright protection for Brompton’s folding bicycle? CJEU gives green light to the possibility across Europe
- Karen Hepp v. Facebook, Inc.: Dismisses news anchor’s right of publicity claims against Facebook & others, holding exception to safe harbor based on “any law pertaining to intellectual property” does not apply.
- Do You Like The Creepy Dolls Horror Subgenre?
- Pablo Star Ltd. v. The Welsh Government: Court rejects Welsh government’s motion to dismiss on sovereign immunity grounds finding use of photographs in tourism ads is commercial activity without immunity.
- Social media influencers beware: Street art is protected by copyright
- Inaccuracies in copyright registration doom fabric designer’s big jury verdict against H&M
- Stop Asking Marvel To Keep Cops From Wearing Masks With ‘The Punisher’ Skull On It
- Toys “R” Us Successful in Depreciation of Goodwill Claim Against “Herbs R Us”
- Canada: Protective Orders in Trademark Cases
- Netflix Trumps US Armed Forces in Space Race
- Booking.com: Does a dot.com make a brand name distinctive?
- Yes, your product is incredible, but should you call it that?
- The Kimono controversy: a matter of cultural awareness and risk management
- Dissecting SkyKick
- Supreme Court Suggests Claim Preclusion May Be Less Relevant to Trademark Cases and Questions Its Applicability to a Defense Rather than a Claim
- A trademark tasting session to celebrate World Gin Day
- Time to Brighton up that brand portfolio?
- Trade marks: Don’t register them “purely as a legal weapon”
- The Scent of a Crayon: Unique Complications with Scent and Other Non-Traditional Trademarks in Canada
- 3M Continues to Use Lanham Act to Combat Nefarious Use of 3M Mark for N-95 Masks
- Flag Day Greetings
- My Big Fat Greek Lawsuits
- Ninth Circuit Closes Lips on Confusion Claims Against Pucker Vodka
- Flying on Red Bull’s wings
- UK High Court issues latest decision in MERCK trademark saga
- L’Oreal Appeals $66 Million Trade Secret Judgment
- UK based .eu domain name owners beware – Brexit is coming
- Southern District Of New York Grants Motion To Dismiss Patent And Trade Secret Claims, Finding Patents Ineligible Under Section 101 And That Trade Secret Claim Failed To Identify A Protectable Secret
- Follow the Rules! Recent Changes to Canada’s Patent Procedures
- PTAB Designates As Informative a Decision Instituting Post-Grant Review for a Design Patent Lacking Ornamentality
- Federal Circuit Affirms Rule 12(b)(6) Dismissal Because the Patent Was Directed to the Patent-Ineligible Abstract Idea of Teaching a User to Play the Guitar
- Encrypting/decrypting audio data with reduced latency: technical
- PTAB Decision on Functional Language for a Camera Claim Limitation
- Efficient use of search tools for prior art and patent searching
PRIVACY
- B.C. woman finds photos, videos of herself for sale online. And it’s legal
- High-tech surveillance amplifies police bias and overreach (Andrew Ferguson)
- Quebec Introduces New Amendments to Its Privacy Regimes
- Congressional Reps Demand Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Stop Surveilling Protesters
- Tradeoffs: Facebook Helping The FBI Hack Tails To Track Down A Truly Awful Child Predator Raises Many Questions
- UPnP flaw exposes millions of network devices to attacks over the Internet
- Knoxville shuts down parts of its network after being hit by ransomware
- Intel will soon bake anti-malware defenses directly into its CPUs
- More than 7 in 10 Americans won’t use contact-tracing apps, data shows
- Political groups use “deeply spooky” protester location data, report finds
- Tracking Kids Through Your App? Think Again.
- Data Sharing Without Borders: New ‘landmark’ US-UK data sharing agreement.
- Data protection, gaming affiliates, & direct marketing – processor or controller?
- Highest German Court Rules on Cookie Consent (Planet49)
- Can You Build A Privacy Law That Doesn’t Create Privacy Trolls?
- A tale of two cybers – how threat reporting by cybersecurity firms systematically underrepresents threats to civil society (Lennart Maschmeyer, Ronald Deibert, Jon Lindsay)
- Own Data? Ethical Reflections on Data Ownership (Patrik Hummel, Matthias Braun, Peter Dabrock)
CREATIVITY
- Appeals Court Again Says That The White House Can’t Just Remove A Press Pass Because It Didn’t Like A Reporter Mocking Seb Gorka
- The First Amendment Protects Radio Hosts Covering Online Attacks Against A Sports Referee
- Trump Campaign Is So Pathetic It Claims CNN Poll Is Defamatory; Demands Retraction
- Legally Bombed: Reese Witherspoon’s Clothing Company Earns Failing Grade on ‘Free Dress’ Giveaway
- Stolen Banksy mural rediscovered in Italian farmhouse
- Is it Misleading to Name a Product “Potato Skins Snacks” When the Product Isn’t Made From Potato Skins?
- Retrial Ordered in Libel Case Concerning UK Polish-Language Newspaper
Jon
News of the Week; June 10, 2020
GAMES
- Ubisoft Alleges Rainbow Six Siege Infringement by Ejoy.com
- Sony fined $3.5 million for issuing ‘misleading’ refund advice to PlayStation users
- Investors argue against excessive pay package for Activision CEO
- Activision Blizzard shareholders upset over CEO Bobby Kotick’s compensation: Publisher defends Kotick’s pay despite his “apparent failure” to meet performance targets
- UK government calls for more evidence in ongoing loot box debate
- UK could class loot boxes as gambling to protect children: Ministers call for evidence on video games such as Fifa that charge money for rewards
- Government Response to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Report on Immersive and Addictive Technologies (U.K. Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
- Escape from Tarkov dev Battlestate will clamp down on real world trading
- Brantley v. Epic Games, Inc.: Trademark & related claims targeting use of “Running Man” dance move in Fortnite dismissed; claims pre-empted by Copyright Act & failure to allege protectable trademark.
- Riot exec resigns after blaming George Floyd’s death on his lifestyle
- Riot Games exec placed on leave for Facebook post blaming George Floyd’s death on “criminal lifestyle”: “The sentiment…is…counter to our belief that addressing systemic racism requires immediate societal change”
- Riot pledges $10 million to create pathways for minority-led studios
- Itchio’s Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality has raised $2.4M with one week left to go
- Canadian publisher Klei donates $1 million to Black Lives Matter charities
- EA Sports pledges to up efforts to fight toxic behavior in its games: Publisher promises increased resources, in-game tools, better filters amid global protests against racism and police brutality
- Games industry donates to Black Lives Matter and more to support US protests
- Neil Druckmann: The Last of Us Part 2 will “normalise stuff that is normal” – Naughty Dog director reacts to leaks, says people who will “benefit most from this story are the ones yelling the loudest”
- Naughty Dog ramps up accessibility options for The Last of Us Part II
- Red Candle Games’ Devotion is getting a relaunch (in Taiwan)
- Devotion gets a physical release in Taiwan: Red Candle Games’ horror title returns in limited capacity after developer pulled it from Steam last year
- Guinness World Records People Accidentally Claiming Copyright On Tons Of ‘Super Mario Bros.’ Speedruns
- Sky Sports working with FIFA devs to artificially fill Premier League stadiums
- EA Access inches closer to Steam launch as more EA games go up for sale
- Epic Games Store scores next Total War game as exclusive: A Total War Saga Troy will only be available through Epic for the first year, will be free for the first 24 hours
- Ahead of PS5 showcase, Microsoft confirms Hellblade II will run on Unreal 5
- Nintendo claims 300K accounts have been hacked after NNID security breach
- Hacks Are Always Worse Than Reported: Nintendo’s Breached Accounts Magically Double
- From Zelda to Civ to Frostpunk—can climate change be fun?
- Online sales up 517% at GameStop, though overall sales are still on a decline
- GAME re-opening stores on June 15: All stores in England and North Ireland will open doors next Monday, but Belong Arenas remain closed
- UK retailer Game will isolate trade-in stock for three days to stop COVID-19
- My.Games offers 90/10 revenue split to devs that promote its store: All other studios will get 70/30 as company seeks to reward those that bring new users to its marketplace
- Cyberpunk 2077 will come to Stadia after console, PC launch
- Sony’s Back Button Attachment is finally back in stock, so here’s our review
- Despite 100GB video games, average download times are decreasing
- How Sega hopes to use Japanese arcades as streaming data centers
- Outer Worlds on Switch: A monumental, messy conversion on weak hardware
- Command & Conquer Remastered Collection review: Loving the smell of Tiberium
- Bungie will cycle out content to keep Destiny 2 fresh well into next-gen
- Destiny 3 may never exist—to that end, the series will wipe older campaign content
- Mobile publisher Playrix acquires Croatian game studio Cateia Games
- Playrix acquires Croatian PC developer Cateia Games
- Kalypso Media has acquired Port Royale developer Gaming Mind Studios
- Australian games industry valued at $3.6b in 2019: Software, hardware, and accessories sales were down, but subscription revenue rose 28% year-over-year
- Guilty Gear dev Arc System Works opens new division to expand globally
- Arc System Works to expand international business with new division: Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari becomes chief creative officer as part of broad restructuring
- Unity report shows massive spike in video game business due to COVID-19
- Unity: Fine-tuning solutions to gaming’s “massive content problem” – Brett Bibby on helping developers to meet a 100x increase in game content, and Unity’s solutions to the spread of remote working
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has sold over 1 million copies worldwide
- Chinese game company NetEase has opened a new studio in Japan
- Tinybuild: Indie publishers must move beyond “transactional relationships”
- You have five seconds: Why you need strong visual design in your indie game: Skelattack’s creator David Stanley on why first impressions are everything, plus art tips so your assets stand out
- YouTube Pacts With Geoff Keighley For Exclusive ‘Summer Game Fest’ Programming
- The Esports Boom: A Temporary ‘Sports Fix’ or in a League of Its Own?
- Boom.tv raises $10m in Series A funding: Bitkraft leads investment round to support Code Red ProAm series, esports entertainment platform
- I choose you: Pokémon Draft League brings pro sports excitement to the game
- FaZe Clan To Release Movie Slate Beginning This Year In Pact With ‘Invisible Narratives’
- SimRefinery, a long lost training simuator from Maxis, has been recovered
- A lost Maxis “Sim” game has been discovered by an Ars reader [Updated]
- Deep Dive: Designing the Super Mario Maker-inspired I Wanna Maker
- Video: Harmonizing the creative and business goals of Dead by Daylight
- Video: Designing Headliner to teach players about media manipulation
- Video: Designing Mortal Kombat 11’s empowering tutorial mode
- Don’t Miss: Big Huge Games’ postmortem of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
- Don’t Miss: A postmortem of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
- Don’t Miss: Making Oxenfree’s narrative unfold like a free-flowing conversation
- Don’t Miss: What went right (and wrong) during the development of Persona 4
- Don’t Miss: As traffic hits all-time high, Jackbox adjusting to dev’ing from home
- Blog: Steam’s wishlist conversions – how hot are yours?
- Blog: Understanding open world level design – Part 5
- Blog: Moving on stairs in a 2D side-scroller
- Blog: Some thoughts about research and upgrades in RTS games
- Blog: Making a SNES game in 2020
DIGITAL
- CDT First Out The Gate In Suing To Block Donald Trump’s Silly Executive Order On Section 230
- Think Of The Kitten: A Crash Course On Section 230
- Twitter Taking Down Trump Campaign Video Over Questionable Copyright Claim Demonstrates Why Trump Should Support Section 230
- Senators Rubio, Hawley, Loeffler And Cramer Ask The FCC To Reinterpret Section 230 In A Totally Ridiculous Manner
- Looking at the President’s Executive Order on Online Media – Part 2, What Real Risk Does It Pose for Media Companies?
- The President Goes on the Offensive Against Social Media Platforms
- My Galley by CJR Interview on Trump’s Anti-Section 230 Executive Order (Eric Goldman)
- Section 230 Ends Demonetized YouTuber’s Lawsuit–Lewis v. Google (Eric Goldman)
- Section 230 Applies to Publicity Rights Claim–Hepp v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- What is a “True Threat” Online?–In re. R.D. (Eric Goldman)
- #ShareTheMicNow Campaign Seeks To Magnify The Voices Of Black Women On Instagram
- Former NFL Player Emmanuel Acho Launches Viral ‘Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man’ Series
- Facebook Shareholders The Latest Group To Ask Facebook To Drop Its Encryption Plans
- Coming This Summer: Facebook Will Begin Blocking Advertisements From State-Controlled Media Entities In The United States
- The Internet’s most important—and misunderstood—law, explained
- Apple is now worth 1.5 trillion dollars
- Norway Supreme Court Signs Off On Apple’s Harassment Of An Independent Repair Shop
- Instagram just threw users of its embedding API under the bus
- IBM asks Congress for police reform, leaves facial recognition business
- “Culture of workplace fear” leads to COVID-19 spread at Amazon, suit says
- Online content sharing – pay to play?
- Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Film App ‘Whatifi’ Launches With $10 Million In Venture Funding
- YouTube Provides Rare, Robust Window Into Monetization Guidelines For Creators
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/08/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/01/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 6/08/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 6/01/2020
- U.S. Kids Spend 86 Minutes Per Day Watching YouTube Videos—And 82 Minutes Watching TikTok (Study)
- Despite National Security Concerns, This Congressman Has Launched A Quippy TikTok Account
- Don Henley Tells Senators: We Must Change Copyright Law… Because The People Like TikTok?
- Jake Paul Charged With Criminal Trespass And Unlawful Assembly After Denying Looting At Arizona Mall
- Instagram and Embedding Photos – An Update and a Bombshell (?) from Instagram
- New CAP/CMA Guidance: #Ad(vice) for Influencers
- Influencer marketing and obvious brand references
- The Playlist: DLA Piper’s music law updates
- Google Meet takes on Zoom with AI-powered noise cancellation
- Zoom defenders cite legit reasons to not end-to-end encrypt free calls
A.I.
- Algo IP: Intellectual Property in Algorithms, Computer Generated Works and Computer Implemented Inventions
- Protecting AI inventions
- Artificial Intelligence Systems and IP
- What if HAL could have IP rights? WIPO joins the conversation on AI and IP
- This bot hunts software bugs for the Pentagon
- Balancing the stealth AI in Splinter Cell: Blacklist
COMMUNICATIONS
- CASL is Constitutional: Federal Court of Appeal Upholds Constitutionality of Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (Michael Geist)
- No Opinions Permitted: Broadcast Panel Rules Jokingly Criticizing Canadian Content During Radio News Segment Violates Code of Ethics (Michael Geist)
- Verizon Appeals NAD Decision Regarding 5G Claims
- 5G Conspiracy Idiots Now Threatening Telecom Workers That Don’t Even Work In Wireless
- Cox slows Internet speeds in entire neighborhoods to punish any heavy users
- Major ISP Cox Begins Throttling Entire Neighborhoods for ‘Excessive Usage’
- Small ISP cancels data caps permanently after reviewing pandemic usage
- Cable Customers Have Paid $3.5 Billion For Sports They Can’t Watch
- Ajit Pai caves to SpaceX but is still skeptical of Musk’s latency claims
- FCC failed to monitor Chinese telecoms for almost 20 years: Senate report
- FCC Delays Law Banning Your ISP From Charging You ‘Rental Fees’ For Hardware You Already Own
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Entertainment Software Assoc. v. Society Composers, (2020 FCA 100)
- CMRRA-SODRAC Inc. v. Apple Canada Inc., (2020 FCA 101)
- Read All About It: SDNY Rejects Newsweek’s Defenses Over Embedded Content Copyright Claims
- Brown v. Netflix Inc.: Use of eight seconds of children’s song “Fish Sticks n’ Tater Tots” in documentary film depicting burlesque dancer in “reverse mermaid” costume was held to be transformative fair use
- Major Publishers Sue The Internet Archive’s Digital Library Program In The Midst Of A Pandemic
- After Taming Open Access, Academic Publishing Giants Now Seek To Assimilate The World Of Preprints
- The Federal Court of Appeal Makes its Making Available Judgment Available: It’s Not Just About “The Vibe”
- Access Copyright v. York University – Some Thoughts on the Federal Court of Appeal’s Judgment (Howard Knopf)
- Judge Orders Down ‘N Out Burger Joint To Hand Over All Signage To In-N-Out, Which Has Almost No Presence In Australia
- Unauthorized Photographs: The Rights Of The People We Capture
- With website blocking and international treaties, copyright law evolves with the digital domain
- Copyright: Works of artistic craftsmanship and Cofemel
- No, California Law Review, Food Plating Does Not Deserve Copyright Protection
- Is 3D printing a threat to the value of IP portfolios?
- Making the best of a bad situation – Canadian trademark trends in a time of change
- Trademarks: Specifications and bad faith
- Supreme Court Helps Trademark Owners: Proof of “Willfulness” Is Not Required To Recover Infringer’s Profits
- Baskin in glory: the Tiger King loses zoo to rival in trade mark battle
- Trump Campaign Gets Parody Cartoon Taken Down Off Redbubble Over Trademark Claim On MAGA Hats
- Infringement Action Under PM(NOC) Regulations Cannot Become Moot
- Traditionally bred plants and animals are no longer patent eligible at the European Patent Office – what is still protectable?
- Impact of COVID-19 on patent ecosystem
- Design Patent Protection for Fashion
- Joint Ownership of Patents: It Is Not Always Nice to Share
- A Non-Precedential Case Study: Federal Circuit Says District Court Did Not Clearly Err in Holding Dosing Patent Invalid Based on Obviousness and Obviousness Type Double Patenting
PRIVACY
- FTC settles with children app developer for COPPA violations
- Iran- and China-backed phishers try to hook the Trump and Biden campaigns
- DEA Wants In On The Fun, Asks DOJ To Give It Permission To Surveil George Floyd Protests
- Senator wants to know if police are using Clearview to ID protesters
- Chicago Mayor Says City’s Police Officers Will Be ‘Stripped Of Their Powers’ If They Turn Off Their Cameras
- Hackers for hire targeted hundreds of institutions, says report
- Schools turn to surveillance tech to prevent COVID-19 spread
- Plundering of crypto keys from ultrasecure SGX sends Intel scrambling again
- Investigation Shows Governor’s Claims That Democrats Tried To Hack The Georgia Election Were B.S.
- Researchers say online voting tech used in 5 states is fatally flawed
- Study Shows Major E-Voting System Open To Numerous Hacking Attacks
- Carnegie Mellon Researchers Design ‘Nutrition Label’ For The Internet Of Broken Things
CREATIVITY
- Fox News Is a Flaming Pile of Garbage, But You Can’t Sue Them for That–WASHLITE v. Fox News (Eric Goldman)
- #NoRightsMatter: US Postal Service, Law Enforcement Team Up To Seize ‘Black Lives Matter’ Facemasks
- Sheriff Goes All In On Violating The First Amendment After Assaulting A Protester For Carrying A ‘F*CK TRUMP’ Sign
- Adam Rapoport: Bon Appetit editor resigns over ‘racist culture’
- Staff Of Bon Appétit Apologized For Being Complicit In Racism: “The deeply offensive photo circulating of Adam is horrific on its own, but also speaks to the much broader and longstanding impact of racism at these brands.”
- New Report Details Pervasive Culture of Racism at Bon Appétit: ‘Nowhere Have I Ever Felt More Isolated’: Business Insider report describes “toxic” workplace in which people of color are regularly sidelined & paid less
- If The NY Times Doesn’t Publish My OpEd On Why James Bennet Is An Incompetent Dweeb, It Must Hate Free Speech
- No, The Resignation Of NYT Editor James Bennet Does Not Mean American Newsrooms Have ‘Turned Into College Campuses’
- Big Little Material Omissions: Reese Witherspoon and Draper James Subject of Class Action Lawsuit
- Guelph Treasure Heirs Respond to U.S. Brief that Argued Nazi Art Theft Was a Domestic Affair
- The F-word’s hidden superpower: Repeating it can increase your pain threshold
- Electric race cars and human drama on display in And We Go Green
Black Lives Matter Online Virtual Issue of the Information, Communication & Society Journal (“iCS”)
Like millions of other academics and citizens worldwide the senior editorial team of the iCS Journal were shocked and appalled by the brutal killing of George Floyd as yet another example of the unrelenting and deep-seated racism in our societies. iCS like many other journals has always sought to publish and disseminate research findings that address questions of race, ethnicity and discrimination in order to expose such injustices. It is of course no surprise that the discrimination found in everyday life is sadly replicated online and through social media. Following the suggestion of one of their Editorial Team, Victor Avila Torres, they have selected the following published articles dealing with online racism, discrimination and discursive oppression for wider circulation. In solidarity with the Black Lives Matter campaign these are now freely available to download and share.
Anastasia Kanjere (2018) Defending Race Privileges on the Internet: How witness uses innocence discourse online
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1477972?src=recsys&
Jen Schradie (2012) The Trend of Class, Race and Ethnicity in Social Media Inequality
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2012.665939
Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández (2017) Platformed Racism: the mediation and circulation of an Australian race-based controversy on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1293130
Summer Harlow and Anna Benbrook (2017) How #Blacklivesmatter: Exploring the role of hip-hop celebrities in constructing racial identity on Black Twitter
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1386705
Andre Brock, Lynette Kvasny and Kayla Hales (2010) Cultural Appropriations of Technical Capital: Black women, weblogs and digital divide
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2010.498897
Kishonna L. Gray (2012) Intersecting Oppressions and Online Communities: Examining the experiences of women of color on Xbox Live
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2011.642401
Apryl Williams and Vanessa Gonlin (2017) I Got All My Sisters With Me (On Black Twitter): Second screening of ‘How to get away with murder’ as a discourse on black womanhood
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1303077
Karen Mossberger, Caroline J. Tolbert and Christopher Anderson (2016) The Mobile Internet and Digital Citizenship in African-American and Latino Communities
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1243142
Deborah Gabriel (2016) Blogging while Black, British and Female: a critical study on discursive activism
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1146784
Seeta Pena Gangadharan and Jedrzej Niklas (2019) Decentering Technology in Discourse on Discrimination
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1593484
Correa, T. and Jeong, S.H. (2010) Race and Online Content Creation: Why minorities are actively participating in the Web
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2010.514355
Kanjere, A. (2018) Defending race privilege on the Internet: how whiteness uses innocence discourse online
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1477972
Lu. J.H., and Steele, C.K. (2019) ‘Joy as resistance’: cross-platform resilience and (re)invention of Black oral culture online
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1575449
Book Reviews:
Yan Wang (2018) Constructing Digital Cultures: Tweets, trends, race and gender by Judith E. Rosenbaum
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1550098?src=recsys
Kinga Polynczuk-Alenius (2019) Algorithms of Oppression: How search engines reinforce racism by Safya Umoja Noble
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1593485?af=R
Jon
News of the Week; June 3, 2020
GAMES
- Keepin’ It Real: Courts Recognize the Legitimate Goal of Video Game Makers
- Something on Which Even Patent Litigators Can Agree: McRO v. Bandai, Inc. Clarifies the Framework for Enablement Challenges and for Enablement Defenses
- EB Games Australia admits to misleading customers over Fallout 76 refunds
- EB Games offers refunds for Fallout 76: Retailer admits to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission it likely misled customers over their rights
- Games industry speaks out in support of black communities amid violence in US: Microsoft, Sony, and Riot Games among those advocating for the unheard as riots and police brutality rock US cities
- Humble is putting $1 million toward publishing games from Black game devs
- Game companies delay events, make donations amid police brutality protests
- Infinity Ward pledges to “do more” to moderate racist content in its games: Call of Duty developer to add more resources to block hateful content following week of protests, police violence
- Gaming’s lost boys embrace their inner censor | Opinion: The Last of Us 2 attracts reactionary fury for depicting diversity — and the erstwhile free speech warriors now find themselves cheering for government censorship
- The Outer Worlds writing team honored with Nebula Award
- GWU Seattle calls for removal of GWU International member over ‘exclusionary behavior’
- The Last of Us Pt. 2 hands-on: You can’t pet the dog—but you can expect terror
- Denuvo security software removed from Doom Eternal and Metro Exodus: Despite speculation, removal of Anti-Cheat and Anti-Tamper was not in response to performance issues
- Denuvo’s Anti-Cheat Software Now Getting Ripped From Games At Record Speed Too
- CS:GO tournament victors banned for cheating: Eagle-eyed viewers catch cheaters after technical issue left flaw in tournament’s anti-cheat measures
- The unexpected and creative ways devs are dealing with remote work
- Sony delays June PS5 event ‘to stand back and allow more important voices to be heard’
- PlayStation 5 games to be revealed on June 4th: Over an hour of new games to be shown next week
- Sony’s Jim Ryan: “We are going to launch PS5 this holiday and we’re going to launch globally”: PlayStation on how COVID-19 has (and hasn’t) changed its launch plans for its next console
- Sony says after July 13th, new PS4 games must be PS5 compatible
- New PS4 games must also run on PlayStation 5 from July, Sony tells devs: Updates to existing games “strongly recommended” to add compatibility.
- Sony requires PS5 compatibility for all future PS4 releases: Games submitted for certification after July 13 must be playable on upcoming console
- Xbox Series X will add HDR support to backwards compatible titles
- Xbox Series X backward compatibility will add HDR, 120 fps support to older games: Thousands of games will be supported on the next-gen Xbox
- Phil Spencer says Xbox Series X on track for worldwide launch this holiday: Xbox boss discusses plans upcoming next-gen console on former Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime’s podcast
- Double Fine winding down Presents publishing label following Microsoft purchase
- Google’s “overpromising” led to Stadia “disappointment,” says RDR2 publisher: If you’re paying $60 for a game, “are you really unwilling to buy a $300 console?”
- Sega reveals Game Gear Micro: Miniature retro handheld confirmed for October Japan launch in four colors, each with a different selection of four games
- Sega’s tiny Game Gear Micro is 92% smaller than the original
- 30 years later, a lost Days of Thunder NES game recovered from 21 floppy disks
- Codemasters secures FIA World Rally Championship license from 2023
- Codemasters to create games based on the World Rally Championship: Racing game specialist signs five-year licensing deal
- Professional Race Car Driver Hires Expert Gamer To Race His Video Game Car
- EA renews Madden NFL license through 2026
- EA renews NFL, NFLPA deal: Multi-year agreement ensures Madden NFL will continue to be the only simulation title with the licenses of the league and its players association
- EA maintains exclusive Madden NFL license in multiyear renewal: NFL, NFLPA extend long-term deals for simulation football video games
- If GTA5 keeps selling, would Take-Two wait to launch GTA6?: CEO Strauss Zelnick responds to concerns of the publisher cannibalizing its own successes
- Take-Two tried to poach entire Kerbal 2 dev team as it cancelled deal with their studio
- Star Theory reportedly shutters after Take-Two takes over Kerbal Space Program 2: Lack of other projects and GDC’s cancellation force studio to close in March
- NetEase to open secondary listing on Hong Kong stock exchange: New listing approved, Chinese publisher reportedly hopes to raise $3 billion
- Rovio acquires (and rebrands) Darkfire Heroes dev Darkfire Games
- Zynga acquires mobile gaming company Peak for $1.8 billion
- Zynga acquires Toon Blast and Toy Blast developer Peak for $1.8 billion
- Zynga to acquire Toon Blast developer for $1.8bn: Acquisition of Peak Games expected to increase Zynga’s global audience by 60%
- African mobile game publisher Carry1st secures $2.5 million to expand operations
- CD Projekt starts 2020 off with a record Q1 as The Witcher series continues its reign
- The Witcher franchise has crossed 50 million sales
- The Witcher series surpasses 50m units sold: That’s up from 40 million around the same time last year
- Mobile gaming sees record weekly downloads amid COVID-19 lockdown: Average weekly installs reached 1.2 billion as downloads increase by 35% from January to March 4
- David Braben: “Physical games will go away in two to three years” – Frontier CEO says investors see games industry as a “safe haven” during recession at today’s Investment Summit Online
- Game discoverability and the Nintendo Switch: What’s selling?
- UK boxed games market delivers strongest April in five years: Latest GfK figures show PS4, Xbox One and Switch sales up 48% for the first four months of 2020
- Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition takes No.1 | UK Charts: PlayStation 4 sale shakes up the top 40
- Creative Assembly launching Total War Saga: Troy for free on the Epic Games Store
- Sweeney: EGS free game promos boost a game’s Steam and console sales too
- Steam Cloud Play beta lets developers enable GeForce Now integration
- Nvidia launches opt-in process for GeForce Now: Hardware manufacturer responds after multiple game companies pulled their catalogues from its streaming service
- Roblox’s continuing construction of a social, creative space: Matthew Curtis talks about prioritising better monetization, discoverability, and technology for the platform’s creators
- Avakin Life reaches 1.4m daily active users: Online virtual world and social app now has 200 million registered users since 2013 launch
- Life is Strange developer Dontnod opens new studio in Canada
- Dontnod Entertainment opens new Canadian studio: Life is Strange developer alludes to new projects at its first international studio
- Just Cause developer Avalanche is opening a new UK studio
- Avalanche opens new UK studio: New Liverpool-based developer expected to house 50 staff by 2022
- Paradox to sign collective bargaining agreement with Swedish labor unions
- Paradox opens studio in Barcelona to focus on grand strategy development
- Paradox opening Barcelona studio: Europa Universalis designer Johan Andersson will lead Paradox Tinto efforts on grand strategy games
- Lego Ventures: Fortnite is the “first credible metaverse”
- Bandai Namco cancels support for physical 2020 World Tour events: COVID-19 pushes Tekken, Soulcalibur, and Dragon Ball FighterZ tournaments to digital venues
- One Month After the ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Surge, VR Usage on Steam Remains at Record High
- Magic Leap Founder Rony Abovitz to Step Down as CEO
- Magic Leap CEO Ronny Abovitz to step down: Abovitz will continue as CEO until a replacement is found, and remain on the board after the transition
- HTC co-founder reveals new VR headset and social platform: Priced at $599, Mova headset offers hand-tracking and 5G while social platform Manova makes big promises
- VGDC: Brandon Sheffield’s ‘All Time Greats’ article/video picks
- Q&A: Storytelling through erasure in the astonishingly unique If Found
- Video: Achieving high-quality game VFX on mobile devices
- Video: Building intrinsically motivated teams via self-determination theory
- Don’t Miss: Inside the narrative design of Star Wars Battlefront 2
- Don’t Miss: A look back on the usefulness of video game manuals
- Don’t Miss: Creator Alexey Pajitnov on the past, present, and future of Tetris
- Blog: Lessons from the history of mobile 4X strategy
- Blog: Understanding open world level design – Part 2
- Blog: Understanding open world level design – Part 3
- Blog: Understanding open world level design – Part 4
- Blog: A level design breakdown of the Ghost of Tsushima trailer
- Blog: Can Amazon’s first big-budget game succeed as a slow-burner?
- Obituary: Darklands creator Arnold Hendrick
- Control, Sayonara Wild Hearts lead winners of 2020 Nordic Game Awards
- U.S. Patent no. 10,322,336: Haptic braille output for a game controller
DIGITAL
- Russian hackers are exploiting bug that gives control of US servers
- White House, Trump accounts both get Twitter rulebreaker warning
- No, Twitter Fact Checking The President Is Not Evidence Of Anti-Conservative Bias
- Facebook employees revolt over Zuckerberg’s stance on Trump
- Employees, civil rights groups blast Facebook inaction on Trump statements
- Facebook’s Oversight Board Can’t Intervene, So Stop Asking
- President Trump’s Executive Order
- Trump Prepares Order to Limit Social Media Companies’ Protections: The move is almost certain to face a court challenge and signals the latest salvo by President Trump to crack down on online platforms.
- A Quick Take on the May 26 Executive Order on Platforms and CDA 230
- Executive Order “Clarifies” (Rewrites) Online Speech Protections
- Trump’s “Preventing Online Censorship” Executive Order Is Pro-Censorship Political Theater (Eric Goldman)
- The Two Things To Understand About Trump’s Executive Order On Social Media: (1) It’s A Distraction (2) It’s Legally Meaningless
- Executive order targeting social media companies unlikely to change foundational internet law
- Section 230 Executive Order Strikes Back at Twitter, But Legal Impact Likely to be Limited
- Trump’s Executive Order Targeting Social Platforms Could Hurt “Internet Freedom,” Google Says
- President Trump’s Social Media Executive Order Would Restrict Legal Protections for Internet Speech
- Trump Issues Executive Order Aimed at Curtailing Online Platforms’ Immunity for User Generated Content
- Executive Order Aimed at Restricting Civil Liability Protections Afforded to Social Media Companies
- The Implications of Trump’s Executive Order and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
- The President’s Executive Order on Online Media – What Does Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act Provide?
- Trump is desperate to punish Big Tech but has no good way to do it
- Leaked draft details Trump’s likely attack on technology giants
- Joe Biden Wastes A Huge Opportunity To Support Free Speech; Still Wants To ‘Revoke’ Section 230
- The Communications Decency Act Suddenly Is Center Stage Again
- Why the USMCA Locks in the Internet Platform Liability System in the U.S., Canada and Mexico (Michael Geist)
- Trump’s Final Executive Order On Social Media Deliberately Removed Reference To Importance Of Newspapers To Democracy
- Zuckerberg dismisses fact-checking after bragging about fact-checking
- Mark Zuckerberg’s Ridiculously Wrong, Misleading, And Self-Serving Statements Regarding Twitter Fact-Checking The President
- New Study Finds No Evidence Of Anti-Conservative Bias In Facebook Moderation (If Anything, It’s The Opposite)
- Are Targeted Ads the Result of Wiretapping? Facebook Asks the Ninth Circuit to Reconsider.
- DC Appeals Court Dumps Lawsuit Claiming Multiple Tech Companies Are Engaged In An Anti-Conservative Conspiracy
- Court Rejects Another Lawsuit Alleging that Internet Companies Suppress Conservative Views–Freedom Watch v. Google (Eric Goldman)
- Court’s Enforcement of Hybrid Clickwrap Agreement to Defeat TCPA Claim Provides Lessons for Marketers
- Consent in online contexts – the German Federal Court of Justice’s decision on Planet49 and Facebook
- Red Pills and NPCs: How geek culture become political (Andres Guadamuz)
- Nest users now covered by Google’s ultra-secure Advanced Protection Program
- FDA and FTC Joint Warning Letters Target Amazon Affiliates Making False COVID-19 Claims
- Court Discovers Rare and Elusive “Enforceable Browsewrap”
- Big Tech goes on pandemic M&A spree despite political backlash
- Everyone’s ordering delivery, but apps aren’t making money
- Western Digital gets sued for sneaking SMR disks into its NAS channel: WD clearly underestimated the consumer outrage they’d face over SMR disks.
- Are Google’s cookies crumbling?
- Amid YouTube’s Pivot Away From Scripted Originals, Axed ‘Step Up’ Series Dances On At Starz
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 5/25/2020
- YouTube makes video chapters official
- YouTube Fully Rolls Out ‘Chapters’ For Easier Video Navigation And Re-Watching
- YouTube Squads Up Dozens Of Creators—Including Typical Gamer, Daithi De Nogla, CouRage—For Charity ‘Warzone’ Tournament
- Insights: HBO Max May Change A Lot, And Complicate A Lot More
- How Social Media Usage Of Popular DIY Hashtags Has Changed
- Video Messaging Startup ‘Loom’ Closes $29 Million Funding Round At $350 Million Valuation
- TikTok Taps Bill Nye, Lilly Singh, Tyra Banks For $50 Million Educational Content Initiative
- Chinese Tech Giant ByteDance Reportedly Working To Bring TikTok’s Operations Stateside
- 3D printing in the time of COVID-19: A triad of legal perspectives
- International Norms Governing Behaviour in Cyberspace: The UN’s Charter
- Website Terms and Conditions: More Important than Ever
A.I.
- ACLU sues facial recognition firm Clearview AI, calling it a ‘nightmare scenario’ for privacy: Alleging Clearview violated a well-known Illinois biometric privacy law
- Clearview Says Section 230 Immunizes It From Vermont’s Lawsuit Over Alleged Privacy Violations
- Securus Quietly Settles Lawsuit Over Illegally Spying On Inmate Attorney Conversations
- Microsoft sacks journalists to replace them with robots: Users of the homepages of the MSN website and Edge browser will now see news stories generated by AI
- Walmart employees are out to show its anti-shoplifting AI doesn’t work
- With a Side of Knowledge podcast talks AI, bias with race and technology expert Mutale Nkonde
- How Artificial Intelligence Can Comply with the Federal Trade Commission Act
- Patent Law Alert – AI Machines Are Not Human Inventors
- Protecting AI and machine-learning inventions
COMMUNICATIONS
- AT&T exempts HBO Max from data caps but still limits your Netflix use: AT&T-owned HBO Max gets special treatment on AT&T network.
- Net Neutrali-what? AT&T’s New Streaming Service Won’t Count Against Its Broadband Caps. But Netflix Will.
- AT&T’s Streaming Headaches Continue As Contract Feuds Keep New TV Service Off Amazon, Roku
- FCC Republican excitedly endorses Trump’s crackdown on social media
- Last Minute Addition To Louisiana Bill Hamstrings Community Broadband
- A $350 “anti-5G” device is just a 128MB USB stick, teardown finds: 5GBioShield uses “quantum nano-layer technology” to restructure reality itself.
- Robocalls Down 50% in Eight Months!: How Changes in Technology and Regulator Priorities Have Accomplished What Lawsuits Never Could
- FCC Waives Broad Outreach Recruitment Requirements to Allow Re-hiring of Employees Laid Off Due to COVID-19
- What’s New in 5G – June 2020
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- JAVEX vs. JAVELO – Federal Court of Appeal applies Vavilov to first Trademark Opposition Appeal
- Lawsuit over online book lending could bankrupt Internet Archive
- Italian Public Prosecutor Says Project Gutenberg’s Collection Of Public Domain Books Must Be Blocked For Copyright Infringement
- Nothing “Fishy” About Use of Children’s Song “Fish Sticks n’ Tater Tots” in Documentary about Burlesque Dancers, Court Rules
- Chalk this One Up to the Utilitarian Nature of a Toy Chalk Holder
- Southern District of New York: Embedding Public Instagram Post Does Not Infringe Photographer’s Copyright
- Leonard v Nike: Copyright in the Klaw
- District Court Mostly Refuses To Terminate The Litigation Testing The Copyright Termination Provision
- Protection of store layout under copyright law: the KIKO case
- Defendant Must Prove that Copied Portion of Copyrighted Work is Unprotectable
- Open Source Software: the Affero GPL, the ‘as a Service’ world and the CAL
- SpaceX launch footage was taken down thanks to bogus copyright claim
- Just As The Copyright Office Tries To Ignore The Problem Of Bad Takedowns, NBC & Disney Take Down NASA’s Public Domain Space Launch
- Copyright Blocks Interview Of Protesters Because Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’ Was Playing In The Background
- Copyright Office Finds DCMA Tilts Away From Copyright Owners; Will Congress Act to Change That?
- Conducting Your Way Through Music Licensing: The Most Common Issues
- In The Midst Of A Pandemic And Widespread Unrest, Senate Republicans Think It’s Time To Use Copyright To Make The Richest Musicians Richer
- Reversing Examining Attorney, TTAB Gives the Green Light to Color Mark Application
- Private Prison Company Sues Netflix Over Use Of Logo In ‘Messiah’
- Down N’ Out – Down on their luck
- Lucky Brand Strikes Gold After SCOTUS Rejects Marcel’s Defense Preclusion Argument
- Are GODIVA’s “Belgium 1926” Chocolates Made in Belgium?
- Amended Patented Medicines Regulations will come into force on 1 January 2021
- Federal Circuit: Patent Eligibility Turns on the Content – Not Length – of the Claims
- EPO: Plants and Plant Materials Not Patentable if Exclusively Obtained by Essentially Biological Process
- EPO does not follow the US and JEM on Patentability of Plants
- Our Top 5 Added Matter Drafting Tips
- The importance of IP due diligence
PRIVACY
- Federal Court Says Sneaking A Warrantless Peek At A Cellphone Lock Screen Violates The Fourth Amendment
- Privacy and breach of confidence cases against the media
- Arizona AG Sues Google For Location Data Failures, After Telecom Got A Wrist Slap For Far Worse Behavior
- iPhone privacy prompts discriminate against non-Apple apps, complaint says
- iPhone looters find devices disabled, with a warning they’re being tracked
- Cisco security breach hits corporate servers that ran unpatched software
- Ransomware gang is auctioning off victims’ confidential data
- German Constitutional Court Says Unjustified Surveillance Of Foreign Citizens Is Illegal
CREATIVITY
- California Anti-SLAPP Law Gives Rachel Maddow An Early Exit From Conservative News Network’s Bogus Libel Lawsuit
- Lenny Dykstra Deemed ‘Libel-Proof’ In Defamation Suit Loss To Ron Darling And Publisher
- Some Thoughts About Combating Racist Content in Advertising
- Dallas PD Asks Residents To Snitch On Protesters, Gets A Load Of K-Pop Videos Instead
- Dearth of women in classic Hollywood was result of studio system, study finds
- Cops — Newly Wary Of Looking Like Authoritarian Assholes — Open Fire On, Arrest Journalists
- Bangladeshi Government Decides There’s No Time Like The Present To Censor/Arrest More Journalists
- Scotland’s first “virtual appeal” reaffirms the value of fair comment
- SmileDirectClub Sues NBC For $2.85 Billion, Claims Factual Statements And Quotes From Customers Are Defamatory
Jon
News of the Week; May 27, 2020
GAMES
- Manchester United sues Sega over Football Manager trademark use: Sega and developer Sports Interactive reply that club’s name, logo have been used since 1992 “without complaint”
- Rainbow Six: Siege clone Area F2 has been taken offline following lawsuit from Ubisoft
- The Last of Us Part 2 reportedly banned in the Middle East: Upcoming hit believed to be “banned by the competent authorities” of United Arab Emirates and Saudia Arabia
- Naughty Dog uses new Twitter feature to block Last of Us Part II spoilers
- FTC Settles with Digital Game Company Over Allegedly False COPPA Safe Harbor Claims
- G2A confirms stolen game key sales, pays $40,000 to Factorio devs
- G2A to pay Factorio dev $39,600 after allowing illegal game key sales
- Hackers infect multiple game developers with advanced malware
- First Amendment May Protect Use of Trademarks As Artistic Expression: AM General LLC v. Activision Blizzard, Inc. et al.
- EA and NFL to extend partnership until 2025: Madden publisher could have exclusivity for football simulation games until 2026 if series “achieves certain revenue goals”
- EA is releasing the source code for Command & Conquer: Red Alert and Tiberian Dawn
- EA releasing source code for Command & Conquer and Red Alert: Code will go open source alongside Remastered Collection next month
- Nintendo Escapes Digital Pre-Order Dispute in EU
- A Place Where We Can Be Together: Animal Crossing has become a place for weddings and graduations
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 3.6m digital units in April – It’s now the top Nintendo Switch title in lifetime digital sales and digital revenue
- Game Discoverability & The Nintendo Switch: Where We’re At
- COVID-19: Video games good for mental health during pandemic, says U of S prof
- NPD: US console sales in April up 163% to $420m – Video games hardware and software generated $1.5 billion last month, making it the biggest April on record
- Report: Video game sales increased by 73% in April, setting new records for the month (NPD Group)
- Worldwide digital games market: April 2020 – Game spending totaled a record-breaking $10.5B in April 2020, showing the continued strength of the medium during the COVID-19 crisis.
- U.S. console-hardware spending hits mammoth $420 million in April
- App Annie: Mobile gaming will widen its lead over console and PC titles in 2020
- Nexon CEO: COVID-19 has spotlighted gaming’s importance – Owen Mahoney suggests that gaming’s resilience in the face of pandemic is reflective of its broader role within entertainment
- The giants of the video game industry have thrived in the pandemic. Can the success continue?
- How COVID-19 is taking gaming and esports to the next level
- Don’t expect huge change in the post-COVID industry | Opinion: Expectations of radical change in the wake of the pandemic are overblown — in-person working will remain the default paradigm
- Why games firms are ready to go back to the office | Podcast: We discuss recent comments from Satya Nadella and Strauss Zelnick, plus PlayStation Now vs Xbox Game Pass
- As traffic hits all-time high, Jackbox adjusting to dev’ing from home
- The IGDA debuts standards, reporting system to curb bad industry behavior
- IGDA: “We’re not looking to call people out — we’re looking to improve the industry” – Renee Gittins on the IGDA’s push to tackle crunch, diversity and more with a database of reported bad behaviour
- UK Charts: Maneater debuts at No.6 as Nintendo dominates: Animal Crossing and Mario Kart claim the top two positions
- Seven Deadly Sins push Netmarble Q1 revenues up – The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross became the mobile publisher’s second biggest game less than a month after worldwide launch
- How the Dauntless community taught Phoenix Labs about trust: Phoenix Labs’ Nick Clifford explores the value of building lasting relationships within your community, and how to get there
- Amplifier Game Invest acquires Italian developer DestinyBit
- Little Nightmares has sold over 2 million copies worldwide
- Don’t expect next-gen console launches in China anytime soon | Opinion: The suspension of the PlayStation Store in China underlines the problems that Sony and Microsoft continue to face, says Apptutti’s Daniel Camilo
- Stadia exclusivity pushes PS4, Xbox One versions of Serious Sam 4 into 2021: Croteam’s upcoming shooter will launch on Google’s streaming service and Steam in August
- Xbox Family Settings app will help parents manage their kids’ gaming habits
- Xbox boosts responsible gaming strategy with Family Settings app: The platform holder discusses the evolution of its safety ecosystem and the new family features developed for its app
- After some high-profile opt outs, Nvidia GeForce Now swaps to an opt-in library
- Naughty Dog tests new Twitter feature to limit The Last of Us Part 2 spoilers: PlayStation studio cuts off replies following social media abuse over upcoming blockbuster
- Gamestream raises $3.8 million to grow its B2B-focused cloud gaming platform
- Gamestream raises €3.5m to build up B2B cloud gaming technology: Eponyme Partners leads investment round in turnkey cloud gaming service
- Game companies in Spain to benefit from $21.9 million in protective financing
- Spanish game devs to benefit from €20m in government finance: Culture industries hit by COVID-19 pandemic can apply for financing on “beneficial” terms
- Italy announces fund to support country’s game studios during COVID-19 crisis
- Italian government approves €4m fund for games developers: Trade body IIDEA’s First Playable Fund will offer up to €200,000 per prototype
- Slovakian games industry has nearly doubled in size since 2016: Fledgling sector expected to turnover €55 million in 2020
- CD Projekt’s market cap rivals Ubisoft — but not for much longer | Opinion: Polish publisher is riding high on The Witcher and Cyberpunk, but Ubisoft is about to emerge from a year of uncertainty with five AAA launches
- Tencent will be “taking the System Shock franchise forward”: OtherSide Entertainment’s role on the third game unclear after deal with the Chinese publisher
- Tencent acquires 20% stake in Marvelous, Inc.
- Tencent acquires 20% stake in Story of Seasons dev Marvelous for $65 million
- Tencent takes 20% stake in Marvelous for $65m: Investment from Chinese giant will enable Story of Seasons developer to build new and existing IP
- PlatinumGames dispels rumors that Microsoft is buying it – Atsushi Inaba: “That conversation has not come to our doorstep at all”
- Cheating in Esports tournaments – legal arguments for discouraging bad players
- Audi parks driver for using a ringer in charity esports race
- League of Legends putting ads on the playfield: Viewers of official esports matches will see Mastercard, Alienware, other brands featured on in-game banners
- The E-Sports and Gaming Industries Offer Vital Tools to Musicians in the Wake of COVID-19
- Ninja Launches Star-Studded, Six-Week ‘Fortnite’ Tournament On His Mixer Channel
- Ninja Teams With Killer Merch For Clothing Brand Relaunch, ‘Fortnite’ Capsule, Future Streetwear Drops
- Amazon Games and Bandai Namco are bringing a free Pac-Man game to Twitch
- Twitch signs three more exclusivity deals with top streamers: Streaming platform wars escalate as Summit1G, Dakotaz and JoshOG commit to multi-year partnerships with Twitch
- Twitch Inks Exclusive Streaming And Appearance Deals With Summit1G, Dakotaz, JoshOG
- Twitch Launches New Corporate Channel Dedicated To Gaming News, Event Coverage, More
- Fortnite is morphing into a movie theater with help from Christopher Nolan
- Christopher Nolan Premieres ‘Tenet’ Trailer Inside Fortnite, With Another Film Arriving In-Game This Summer
- With Theaters Closed, The Trailer For Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’ Debuts In Fortnite Instead
- CAA Signs Facebook Gaming Creator Jonna Mae (Exclusive)
- Markiplier And Jacksepticeye’s Clothing Brand Cloak Digs Up ‘Minecraft’ Partnership
- Minecraft Dungeons review: A smashing good Diablo clone for any age
- Minecraft Dungeons | Critical Consensus: Mojang is commended for making a kid-friendly action-RPG, but critics question its value for more experienced players
- Analyst speculates on Grand Theft Auto release from Take-Two marketing spike: Publisher refutes speculation, saying unusually high marketing commitments for fiscal 2024 are to external parties
- AR Pokemon will soon be able to hide behind real-world objects in Pokemon Go
- Niantic adds ‘reality blending’ to Pokémon Go to make your virtual pals even more realistic: A new AR feature to make pokémon more believably blend with the environment
- Magic Leap raises $350m after mass layoffs: But augmented reality firm withdraws notice regarding potential redundancies for remaining staff
- Magic Leap withdraws conditional layoff notices after raising $350 million
- Why it took five years to build Lego Super Mario: “The only brief was: do something that only these two companies could do together”
- Dread X Collection: Evoking Kojima’s PT in context, not content: Dread XP’s Ted Hentschke says Silent Hill teaser and horror film anthologies inspired his approach to indie horror game dev
- How does a hit like Katana Zero change things for a creator?: Juggling multiple projects helped produce Justin Stander’s breakthrough hit, but he’s now looking forward to creating one thing at a time
- An extensive look at Maxis’ short stint in serious simulation games
- Don’t Miss: A classic game postmortem of Westwood Studios’ Command & Conquer
- Don’t Miss: Designing the Elusive Targets system in 2016’s Hitman
- Don’t Miss: A postmortem look at how Blizzard built Diablo II
- Video: A new strategy for narrative desigers
- Blog: Narrative vs. gameplay – A toolbox for harmonious coexistence
- Blog: Demystifying C#’s under-utilized superpower for game development
- Blog: Launch day depression (and why i’m over it)
- Blog: Highlights of global accessibility awareness day 2020
- Blog: Why new players matter to indie developers
- Blog: Creating stronger bonds between players and NPCs through group conflict
- Game Tech Deep Dive: Gears Tactics – When art meets scalability
- U.S. Patent no. 10,315,119: Video game with concurrent processing of game-related physical objects
- “Abstract Assertion of Breadth” Does Not Prove Non-Enablement: Patent on method of animating faces invideo games
DIGITAL
- ‘Trump’s executive order expected to target Twitter, Facebook and Google
- President to Unveil Executive Order to Address CDA Section 230 Protections
- Newsweek Publishes Facts Optional, Wronger Than Wrong, Piece About Section 230
- So Wait, People Really Think The Barr DOJ’s Investigation Into Google Is In Good Faith?
- Why Content Moderation Codes Are More Guidelines Than Rules
- Proposed bill would ban microtargeting of political advertisements: Just because ads can be targeted to individuals doesn’t mean they should be.
- Facebook Pays Multimillion Dollar Penalty in First Case in Canada to Subject Privacy Policies to Misleading Advertising Laws
- Facebook Executives Shut Down Efforts to Make the Site Less Divisive: The social-media giant internally studied how it polarizes users, then largely shelved the research
- Bombshell report: Facebook has known that it is fomenting extremism for years — and refuses to stop
- Plaintiffs Push For Preliminary Approval Of $550 Million Settlement In Facebook Privacy Class Action
- Grandmother ordered to delete Facebook photos under GDPR: Woman must delete photographs of her grandchildren posted on Facebook and Pinterest without their parents’ permission, a court in the has ruled.
- Facebook launches independent “Oversight Board” for hate speech, harassment and privacy
- Mr Zuckerberg, Tear Down My Wall
- Facebook workers get remote work option—but it could come with a pay cut
- Former NSO Employees Says The Company Impersonated Facebook To Deploy Malware
- Twitter’s first fact-check on President Trump calls out “false claims”
- Trump Is a Problem That Twitter Cannot Fix: When a duly elected president is bent on spreading misinformation, tech companies can rein him in only so much.
- Twitter Grapples Anew With Its Trump Conundrum: The social media company came under fire — again — for not removing Mr. Trump’s posts that contain falsehoods.
- Trump, Twitter, And Free Speech
- When The Problem Isn’t Twitter But President Trump
- Delayed implementation but the UK Government remains committed to regulating online harms
- Neighbouring rights: interim measures imposed on Google in the press sector
- Democrats want to restrict political ad targeting ahead of the 2020 election: Time is running out for new rules to apply to this election
- The Boogaloo Movement Is Not What You Think
- Keeping up with the Kardashians in “Kuarantine”
- The FTC: Influencing the Future of the Influencers
- Deletion Of Comments Criticizing Chinese Government Was A Contextual Error, YouTube Says
- YouTube auto-deletes comments with phrases critical of Chinese government
- YouTube Is Considering Letting Creators Self-Limit The Reach Of Their Videos To Lessen Harassment
- ViacomCBS Snaps Up John Krasinski’s YouTube Web Series ‘Some Good News,’ Will Produce Future Episodes With New Host
- How Does John Krasinski’s Newly Sold ‘Some Good News’ Stack Up Against Late-Night Shows?