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News of the Week; December 9, 2020

By Jon Festinger on December 14, 2020

GAMES

  1. Activision lawsuit accuses Netflix of poaching CFO 
  2. Activision sues Netflix for poaching former CFO: Suit alleges Netflix incited Spencer Neumann to break his contract to become CFO of Netflix
  3. Consumer rights groups launch joint investigation into Nintendo Switch Joy-Con drift
  4. Nintendo Plays ‘Control Inception’, Cancelling Splatoon Broadcast After Teams Protest Canceling Smash Bros. Tourney
  5. Ubisoft names VP of global diversity and inclusion to improve workplace culture
  6. Bale and Ibrahimovic’s responses to FIFA 21 echoes the complications of sports person’s image rights
  7. Cyberpunk 2077 features epileptic triggers
  8. Cyberpunk 2077 under fire for epileptic triggers
  9. Cyberpunk 2077 could trigger seizures in photosensitive players
  10. CD Projekt adding seizure warning to Cyberpunk after reporter finds multiple triggers
  11. Cyberpunk 2077 is equal parts beautiful and messy
  12. Highlights from the Foreign Investment Review Committee’s Town Hall with the Investment Review Division and Cultural Sector Investment Review
  13. Newsflash: Update on Epic Games’ dispute with Apple
  14. Epic Games is ditching in-person Fortnite events in 2021
  15. Twitch harassment policy update aims to focus less on intent, more on impact
  16. Twitch revises hateful conduct and harassment policy
  17. Twitch Institutes Sweeping Changes To ‘Harassment And Hateful Conduct’ Policies, Beginning Jan. 22
  18. Twitch removes ‘blind playthrough’ tag after feedback over ableist language
  19. BioWare studio GM and Dragon Age lead are both leaving company
  20. GM Casey Hudson, Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah depart BioWare
  21. Next-gen consoles helped raise GameStop’s November store sales by 16.5%
  22. GameStop has closed 462 stores so far this year, 783 in last two years
  23. Did Genshin Impact swipe an opportunity from under Nintendo’s nose? | Opinion
  24. Small developers and creators can now use FMOD Studio for free
  25. Modio raises $4 million to grow its cross-platform modding service
  26. Destiny 2 will open up cross-platform play in 2021
  27. Platform share, platform share, platform share!
  28. SIE head pushes back against claims that PlayStation is deprioritizing Japan
  29. How Young Horses leveraged PS5’s unique features in Bugsnax
  30. Xbox to expand cloud gaming beta to iOS and PC in 2021
  31. Xbox cloud gaming service hits iOS, Windows PCs in spring 2021
  32. Xbox Game Pass cloud streaming arrives for iOS, PC next spring
  33. Stadia expands to 8 more European countries
  34. Analyst: Research reveals 4 in 5 consumers don’t know what cloud gaming can offer
  35. Facebook launches Black Gaming Creator Program
  36. Ubisoft appoints former Uber D&I head as VP of global diversity and inclusion
  37. 72% of all 2020 mobile revenue generated by games at $81bn
  38. Digital Black Friday sales jump almost 50% over 2019 l UK Download Charts
  39. Honor of Kings once again tops mobile game spending charts in November
  40. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands sells 3.7 million copies in 24 hours
  41. Call of Duty has brought in $3 billion in past year
  42. Call of Duty made $3 billion for Activision in 12 months
  43. Fashion x Gaming: Fashion Catches the Gaming Bug
  44. Lumikai invests $1m in Bombay Play
  45. MTG acquires Hutch for an expected $375 million
  46. MTG acquires UK mobile studio Hutch Games for initial $275 million
  47. Kalypso Media fully acquires Realmforge Studios
  48. MyGames grabs minority stakes in three mobile studios
  49. Control has sold more than 2m units
  50. Aglet raises $4.5m for location-based sneaker game
  51. Tencent invests in Wizard Games
  52. ZeniMax Online Studios forms new satellite studio in San Diego
  53. Gfinity acquires Epicstream as it seeks growth amid financial troubles
  54. Starbreeze has paid off most of its creditors
  55. Payday maker Starbreeze settles debts with majority of creditors
  56. A word from a Destiny 2 acolyte | Why I Love
  57. A look back at the storied history of action RPG Torchlight
  58. Metal Gear Solid film reportedly will star Oscar Isaac
  59. FIFA 21 holds No.1 during Cyber Monday sales week | UK Boxed Charts
  60. Halo Infinite delayed to Fall of 2021
  61. Halo Infinite gets new fall 2021 release date
  62. Minecraft tops YouTube’s list of most watched games of 2020
  63. Not all Steam wishlists are created equal: GameDiscoverCo’s Simon Carless explores why developers are seeing wildly different conversion rates of wishlists after launch
  64. Manticore bolsters Core platform with ‘creator-friendly’ Perks monetization
  65. Manticore announces a 50% revenue share for users of its Core game creation platform
  66. Facebook Launches ‘Black Gaming Creator Program’ With Monthly Pay, Other Perks
  67. More Than 350 Gaming Creators Hit 10 Million Subscribers In 2020, YouTube Says
  68. Wendy’s Teams With Tfue, Myth, Flight23white, itsHafu, And xChocoBars For ‘Never Stop Gaming’ Menu
  69. Epic won’t hold in-person Fortnite events in 2021
  70. FaZe Clan Launches ‘FaZe Academy’ Talent Incubator, Through Which All Future Recruits Must Pass
  71. FTC Sues Facebook Over Alleged Monopolization – What it Could Mean for Oculus
  72. Wacom Unveils VR Pen Built for “the next creative future”
  73. A deep dive into the making of King of Cards’ Joustus mini-game
  74. Case study: making Core Defense a solo dev success
  75. Blog: Six mistakes that’ll drain the ‘Juice’ out of your game
  76. Blog: Understanding pain points in game design
  77. Blog: Using luck to your advantage in marketing
  78. Blog: Building a mono profiler for Unity
  79. Video: The cost of doing nothing about trolls
  80. Video: The efficient art direction of Tooth and Tail
  81. Best of 2020: How a new wave of developers are using voxels to create jaw-dropping worlds
  82. Best of 2020: Iran video games timeline – from 1970 to 2019
  83. Best of 2020: Leveraging physical animation to sell Force powers in Jedi: Fallen Order
  84. Best of 2020: How deeply personal RPG The Wagadu Chronicles explores new realms of Afrofantasy

DIGITAL

  1. The FTC, 48 Attorneys General File Antitrust Lawsuits Against Facebook
  2. FTC, 47 states file suits to break up Instagram and WhatsApp from Facebook
  3. Feds say Facebook broke US law offering permanent jobs to H-1B workers
  4. Open Season: FTC & 48 Attorneys General File Separate Antitrust Lawsuits Against Facebook
  5. The tech industry needs regulation for its systemically important companies
  6. Trump Doubles Down On Threat To Defund Military Because People Are Mean To Him Online; Republicans Threaten To Override His Veto
  7. Trump Makes It Official: He’s Going To Pull Military Funding, Because Congress Won’t Kill The Open Internet
  8. Senator Tillis Is Mad That Twitter Won’t Testify About Copyright Infringement; Since When Is Twitter A Piracy Problem?
  9. Dead Celebrities and Digital Doppelgangers: New York Expands Its Right of Publicity Statute and Tackles Sexually Explicit Deepfakes
  10. Rebekah Vardy v Coleen Rooney: What next in the war of the WAGs?
  11. Court Again Enjoins Anti-TikTok Executive Order–TikTok v. US (Eric Goldman)
  12. Google parts with top AI researcher after blocking paper, faces blowback
  13. Google illegally spied on and retaliated against workers, feds say
  14. YouTube bans videos claiming Trump won
  15. Google and YouTube Aren’t “Censoring” Breitbart Comments–Belknap v. Alphabet (Eric Goldman)
  16. It’s Meshugenah to Operate a Streaming Mixtape Site–Atlantic v. Spinrilla (Eric Goldman)
  17. Section 230 Protects Amazon from Manufacturer’s Ad Copy–Brodie v. Amazon (Eric Goldman)
  18. CRM Software Vendor Didn’t Qualify for Section 230–Tan v. Konnektive (Eric Goldman)
  19. Biden’s Top Tech Advisor Trots Out Dangerous Ideas For ‘Reforming’ Section 230
  20. Content Moderation Case Study: Google’s Photo App Tags Photos Of Black People As ‘Gorillas’ (2015)
  21. Content Moderation Case Study: Scammers Targeting Scrabble Chat (2020)
  22. Reform The DMCA? OK, But Only If It’s Done Really, Really Carefully
  23. Pornhub under investigation by Visa, MasterCard amid abuse allegations
  24. Pornhub blocks uploads and downloads in crackdown on child-sexual-abuse videos
  25. Social media bet on labels to combat election misinformation. Trump proved it’s not enough
  26. Tackling misinformation: What researchers could do with social media data
  27. Toward a Digital Economy That’s Truly Collaborative, Not Exploitative
  28. 2021 predictions: increased regulation of online platforms
  29. Debate: Is open scholarship even possible with Zoom?
  30. After years of fighting it, Nest will work with Samsung’s SmartThings
  31. Amazon Sues Social Media Influencers for Promoting Counterfeit Goods
  32. Amazon and U.S. IPR Center announce “Operation Fulfilled Action”
  33. YouTube Finally Bans Content Endorsing Election Conspiracies
  34. YouTube Will Now Support ‘High Dynamic Range’ Video Quality For Live Streams
  35. YouTube Wants To Use Creators’ Data To See If Its Algorithms Target Marginalized People
  36. Influencer marketing Q&A
  37. Logan Paul Will Fight Floyd Mayweather In An Exhibition Match On February 20
  38. Juanpa Zurita, Kyle Exum, NikkieTutorials, More To Bestow First-Ever ‘Streamys Creator Honors’
  39. Charli D’Amelio Invests In Teen-Targeted Banking Startup ‘Step,’ Which Just Raised $50 Million
  40. How Much More Money Do Creators Make During the Holidays?
  41. Loren Gray, TikTok’s Fourth Biggest Creator, Debuts ‘&Always’ Jewelry Brand
  42. For Its Latest Drop, Startup ‘Stir’ Blindly Paired Creators To Collab On Custom Face Masks
  43. Brands Taking Stands: Six Non-Negotiable Tenets For 2021
  44. Where Netflix goes, the world follows – BBFC suggests that all streaming sites should introduce age-ratings in the UK
  45. AT&T, HBO Put Another Bullet In Antiquated Theatrical Release Windows
  46. Warner Bros. will release entire 2021 film slate in theaters and on HBO Max
  47. Georgia Court Streams Ridiculous ‘Kraken’ Lawsuit Hearing On YouTube; Then Tells People They Can’t Repost Recordings
  48. Federal Court System Pushes Back Against Free Access To Court Documents
  49. Trial by Webex, but Not Zoom?
  50. In narrow ruling, law firm escapes liability for not thwarting real estate cyber-scam
  51. B.C. Technology Sector Makes the Grade – But Not Yet Top of the Class
  52. Apple’s new AirPods Max over-ear headphones cost $549
  53. Apple’s Failure To Ensure Backwards Compatibility In Big Sur Leaves Developers Quite Sour
  54. Enrollment opens for Apple’s fee-reducing Small Business Program
  55. Google promises “spectacular” city GPS improvement with 3D building data
  56. New RISC-V CPU claims recordbreaking performance per watt
  57. Quantum device performs 2.6 billion years of computation in 4 minutes
  58. Google’s secretive Fuchsia OS is open for contributions
  59. Lidar startup goes public, makes founder a billionaire
  60. “A damn stupid thing to do”—the origins of C
  61. Grand theft GPU: $340,000 worth of RTX 3090s “fell off a truck” in China

A.I.

  1. Is Canada on the Brink of AI and Diagnostics Patent Rush?
  2. Use of patents in artificial intelligence: What does the new CIPO report say?
  3. Intellectual property rights to AI works: The EP proposal
  4. Artificial Intelligence and Creativity: Why We’re Against Copyright Protection for AI-Generated Output (Creative Commons)
  5. New York Schools Putting Students In The Crosshairs Of Tech That Targets Minorities, Thinks Broom Handles Are Guns
  6. Executive Order 13960 Establishes Government-wide Principles for its Use of AI
  7. AI Update: New Executive Order on Promoting the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Federal Agencies Pushes Developing Public Trust for Future Expansion
  8. Shining a Headlight on AI Blindspots
  9. Guidance on artificial intelligence and data protection
  10. This Arizona college student has taken over 60 driverless Waymo rides
  11. Uber abandons dreams of self-driving domination, sells self-driving unit
  12. The A.I. behind unique ‘interactive reality TV’ game Rival Peak
  13. Looking ahead to 2021: AI – A brave new world?

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day 11: The “Regulate Everything” Approach – Licence or Registration Required (Michael Geist)
  2. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day 12: The “Regulate Everything” Approach – The CRTC Conditions (Michael Geist)
  3. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day 13: The “Regulate Everything” Approach – Targeting Individual Services (Michael Geist)
  4. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day 14: The Risk to Canadian Ownership of Intellectual Property (Michael Geist)
  5. Broadcast Reform Bill Could Spell the End of Canadian Ownership Requirements (Michael Geist)
  6. The Trump FCC Has Failed To Protect Low-Income Americans During A Health Crisis
  7. GOP Confirms Unqualified Simington to FCC With Eye On Crippling Biden FCC
  8. GOP clinches 2-2 deadlock for Biden FCC as Senate approves Trump nominee
  9. With Simington Vote, The GOP And Big Telecom Maneuver To Cripple The Biden FCC
  10. McConnell pushes Trump nominee toward vote that would deadlock Biden FCC
  11. A New White House, a New FCC
  12. $125,000 FCC Penalty to Broadcaster for Tower Structure and Contest Rule Violations – Including Violation of Rule Against Broadcasting Seemingly Live Recorded Programming Without Informing Listeners
  13. FCC Starts Rulemaking on Possible Adoption of GeoBroadcast Solutions Zonecasting Proposal to Allow FM Boosters to Originate Limited Amounts of Programming
  14. FCC Terminates Proceeding to Dedicate TV Channel in Each Market to Unlicensed Wireless Use
  15. FCC acts on blocking one-ring scam calls
  16. SpaceX gets $886 million from FCC to subsidize Starlink in 35 states
  17. The FCC, 2.5 GHz Spectrum, And The Tribal Priority Window: Something Positive Amid The COVID-19 Pandemic
  18. Facing Massive Subscriber Defections AT&T Chooses: Rate Hikes & New, Bogus Fees
  19. Somehow, 5G Paranoia Is Only Getting Dumber
  20. Largest Auction for 5G Spectrum Starts Today! 
  21. What’s New in 5G – December 2020
  22. U.S. Broadband Speeds Jumped 90% in 2020. But No, It Had Nothing To Do With Killing Net Neutrality.
  23. Benton Study Again Shows How ‘Open Access’ Broadband Networks Can Drive Competition, Improve Service
  24. Colorado’s Broadband Internet Doesn’t Have to Be Rocky
  25. Insurer Can’t Mute TV Station’s Recovery for $25 Million Malpractice Claim
  26. Verizon has been leaking customers’ personal information for days (at least)
  27. Samsung finally starts its Android 11 rollout, three months after release 
  28. UK Government proposes laws to implement Huawei equipment ban and stricter telecommunications security controls
  29. A good day for UltraHD: HBO Max, The Lord of the Rings will stream in 4K HDR

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

  1. Linking and Copyright Law in the European Union – Where do we go from here?
  2. Another Court Says Embedding Instagram Photos May Be Fair Use–Boesen v. United Sports (Eric Goldman)
  3. 576 German Artists Want EU Copyright Directive Made Worse, With No Exceptions For Memes Or Mashups
  4. Nancy Pelosi Sells Out The Public: Agrees To Put Massive Copyright Reform In ‘Must Pass’ Spending Bill
  5. ACLU Tells Congress: Do Not Add Copyright Trolling Bill To Government Funding Bill
  6. Legendary MC5 Guitarist Wayne Kramer Doesn’t Like the Smell of Proctor & Gamble’s “Guitar Solo” Body Wash 
  7. Taking down copycat websites and defending against cybersquatting
  8. GSK v Teva – The Federal Circuit’s First Look at Skinny Labels and 35 U.S.C. 271(b)
  9. Deus ex Machina Motorcycles Pty. Ltd. v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (Cal., 10.23.20): Dismissal of trademark claims of Australian motorcycle brand against MGM for use of mark in The Sun Is Also a Star.
  10. The Bentley Clothing and Bentley Motors trade mark dispute: Take 2
  11. Can a Company Own ‘Enby’? Sex Toy Company Sues Black/Trans-Owned Company for Trademark Infringement 
  12. “Too many cooks… ‘Fit Kitchen’ trade mark infringed”
  13. “Naked” at the Federal Circuit 
  14. General Liability Insurer Must Defend Trademark and Other IP Claims 
  15. Tips When Using the Madrid Protocol to Register a Trademark in Canada
  16. Global brand expansion: Why Canadian trademark owners should consider whether international registration is right for them
  17. First Circuit Reversal Highlights Importance of Satisfying Trade Secret Definition
  18. Protecting trade secrets in the era of remote working 
  19. Patent Term Extension in Canada: an Overview of Certificates of Supplemental Protection
  20. 2020: A year of clarity for Canadian life sciences and software patents
  21. Canadian Intellectual Property Office issues new guidelines for reviewing patent applications
  22. Federal Court of Appeal clarifies standard for granting leave in NOC cases
  23. Employment Law and Patent Law Collide: Federal Circuit Rules that California’s Non-Compete Restrictions Also Limit the Scope of Patent and Invention Assignment Clauses
  24. Patent-Eligible Subject Matter in Biotech Should Recite More Than a “Telescope”
  25. Deciding Whether Your Software Is Patentable
  26. The UK Retains the Doctrine of Exhaustion of IP Rights After the Transition Period
  27. IP Litigation Quarterly Update: Q3 2020

PRIVACY

  1. A year featuring a flurry of Canadian privacy legislative reform
  2. CPPA: identifying the inscrutable meaning and policy behind the de-identifying provisions
  3. Long-awaited privacy reform welcomed by lawyers, could help bring national consistency
  4. ICE Sends Subpoena To BuzzFeed, Hoping To Force It To Turn Over Its Sources
  5. Patriot Act Used By The FBI To Collect Internet Browsing Data, Contradicting Claims Made To Oversight
  6. Florida State Police Raid Home Of COVID Whistleblower, Point Guns At Her & Her Family, Seize All Her Computer Equipment
  7. Nation-state backed hackers going after COVID vaccine supply chain
  8. COVID-19 vaccine data has been unlawfully accessed in hack of EU regulator
  9. Premiere security firm FireEye says it was breached by nation-state hackers
  10. NSA says Russian state hackers are using a VMware flaw to ransack networks
  11. Feds logged website visitors in 2019, citing Patriot Act authority
  12. Massachusetts Poised To Become The Next State To (Temporarily) Ban Facial Recognition Tech
  13. Federal Court Says Sanctions Are On The Way For Portland PD Over Violations Of Protest Restraining Orders
  14. CBP’s warrantless use of cell phone location data is under investigation
  15. After Being Notified Of Info It Should Have Already Been Aware Of, LAPD Bans Clearview Use By Investigators
  16. Provision Added To Defense Bill That Would Make Federal Officers Policing Protests Identify Themselves
  17. Cloudflare, Apple, and others back a new way to make the Internet more private
  18. New Privacy Requirements for App Developers Using the Apple App Store
  19. Settlement with App Developers Requires Limits on Collection and Use of Children’s Personal Information
  20. Zoom’s FTC Settlement a Good Guidepost to Avoiding Data Security Missteps
  21. FireEye cybersecurity tools compromised in state-sponsored attack
  22. Is an IP address considered personal information?
  23. Cyberattacks Discovered on Vaccine Distribution Operations
  24. German Court Orders Encrypted Email Service Tutanota To Backdoor One Account
  25. Lack of Standing: The Gift That Keeps on Giving for Defendants in Data Privacy Litigation
  26. FTC “Zooms” Into Settlement Agreement with Communications Company Over Concerns with its Security Practices
  27. Home Depot Enters Into Multistate $17.4 Million Settlement With State AGs Concerning Data Breach
  28. Satellite company to pay over $200 million for telemarketing violations
  29. International Data Transfers Post Schrems II: A Dance of Six Steps
  30. Are law firms considered “processors” or “controllers” of the personal data that they collect from third parties as part of a representation of a client? 
  31. Are barristers and solicitors “separate controllers” or “joint controllers?”
  32. Solutionism, Surveillance, Borders and Infrastructures in the “Datafied Pandemic” 
  33. Privacy in 2021: The Big Picture

Jon

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News of the Week; December 2, 2020

By Jon Festinger on December 8, 2020

GAMES

  1. Twin Galaxies attacks Billy Mitchell as a fraud in new legal claims
  2. Nicalis issues DMCA against free Cave Story games
  3. Subverse developer under fire for partnering with racist YouTuber Arch
  4. Supercell cancels Hay Day Pop
  5. Supercell shutting down Hay Day Pop after less than a year 
  6. ‘As abstract as killing people in a video game,’ doctor says of Alek Minassian’s mind
  7. The Legality of Loot Boxes: A Primer
  8. Fortnite’s Nexus War event could expose Twitch streamers to DMCA problems
  9. Travis Scott reportedly grossed roughly $20m for Fortnite concert appearance
  10. Fortnite’s Season 4 finale attracted a record 15.3 million concurrent players
  11. Marvel finale was Fortnite’s biggest event ever at 15.3m concurrent users
  12. Wallace & Gromit maker Aardman partners with Bandai Namco on new game franchise
  13. What are the biggest changes impacting the games industry?
  14. Survey finds gaming by Americans over 45 has spiked in 2020
  15. Remote work is here to stay — but it won’t be cheap or easy
  16. How meditation and cooperation shaped Vela Games
  17. The Witcher 3 is the bedrock of CD Projekt Red’s financials one last time
  18. Fall Guys developer Mediatonic opens new UK studio
  19. How ‘buoyant’ Sega Europe is helping Sega Sammy stay afloat
  20. EG7 acquires Daybreak
  21. MechWarrior developer Piranha Games acquired by EG7 for $24.2 million
  22. EG7 pens deal to acquire EverQuest and H1Z1 dev Daybreak for $300 million
  23. Uri Geller retracts 20-year ban on Kadabra Pokémon trading cards
  24. Super Nintendo World now opening in February
  25. Universal Studios Japan will open Super Nintendo World in February
  26. The PlayStation 5’s ‘Activities’ quick-select is Sony’s answer to common single player woes
  27. PS5 comes out top in massive month for console sales | UK Monthly Charts
  28. UK mobile game spending reaches new single-day record on Black Friday
  29. Black Friday physical game sales drop 20% over 2019 l UK Boxed Sales
  30. Worldwide digital games spending down 10% between Black Friday and Cyber Monday
  31. Console remains largest employer of development staff in the UK
  32. GTA5: A Living World Eyeing A Decade Of Rabid Play Instead Of Just A ‘Game’
  33. TinyBuild invests $3m in Secret Neighbor developer Hologryph
  34. Tinybuild sinks $3 million into Secret Neighbor developer Hologryph
  35. Saudi Arabian charity Misk acquires 33.3% stake in SNK
  36. Phoenix Labs expands to Montreal and LA
  37. Dauntless dev Phoenix Labs opens two new studios to support growth
  38. Remnant: From the Ashes tops 1.7 million base game sales in just over a year
  39. Marvel’s Avengers fails to meet Square Enix sales targets
  40. Playco charts a course to the billion-player mobile game
  41. Krafton to consolidate Pnix and Delusion Studio into new studio, RisingWings
  42. Was Activision Blizzard right to ignore mobile? | 10 Years Ago This Month
  43. Cyberpunk 2077 pre-orders “visibly higher” than any Witcher title
  44. CDPR will take down Cyberpunk 2077 streams & let’s plays aired before launch
  45. Dead Cells sells over 3.5m copies
  46. Dead Cells surpasses 3.5 million sold ahead of second DLC announce
  47. Genshin Impact made almost $400m in two months on mobile
  48. Genshin Impact wins iPhone Game of the Year
  49. Apple picks Genshin Impact as its iPhone Game of the Year 
  50. Google names Genshin Impact its best game of 2020
  51. Bigger Games raises $6 million for casual puzzle games
  52. Immortals: Fenyx Rising | Critical Consensus
  53. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 movie expected to start production in March
  54. That time Roger Ebert said games will never be as worthy as movies
  55. ‘Interactive reality TV’ project Rival Peak launches on Facebook
  56. We test Herman Miller’s $1,499 gaming chair: All business—to a fault
  57. The Game Theorists Raise Staggering $3 Million For St. Jude During 9-Hour YouTube Stream
  58. Food Publishers Surprisingly Didn’t Lean On Thanksgiving Video Content This Year
  59. Sega unveils never-before-seen prototype ‘Venus’ handheld
  60. BBTV Signs 5 International Gamers Who Count 23 Million Collective Subscribers
  61. Esports platform Smashgg acquired by Microsoft
  62. AR Mario Kart anchors Universal’s Super Nintendo World in February
  63. VR spending to pass $1bn in 2020
  64. Analyst: 2020 will see 6.4 million consumer VR headsets sold, spending surpass $1bn 
  65. Blog: A pre-postmortem about marketing
  66. Blog: Key ingredients for compelling video game characters 
  67. Q&A: Hand-painting the watercolor world of Dordogne
  68. Video: A look at Insomniac Games’ cache simulator
  69. Video: Lessons from Sony Interactive Entertainment’s localization process
  70. Don’t Miss: Using procedural destruction to unleash chaos in Control
  71. Don’t Miss: Why do devs love Slack, and how do they get the most out of it?
  72. Best of 2020: Rebuilding a classic in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
  73. Best of 2020: Behind the dizzying ride to the top for Among Us

DIGITAL

  1. Increased Web Page Accessibility Requirements for Private and Non-Profit Organizations in Ontario Come into Effect in 2021 and AODA Accessibility Report Due Date Extended
  2. Utter Insanity: Trump Lawyer Suggests Former Trump Cybersecurity Official Should Be ‘Taken Out And Shot’ For Saying The Election Was Secure
  3. Just As #DiaperDon Starts Trending, Trump Claims That Twitter Uses ‘Fake’ Trends, Calls For ‘Termination’ Of Section 230
  4. Trump Promises To Defund The Entire Military, If Congress Won’t Let Him Punish The Internet For Being Mean To Him
  5. Trump to Congress: Repeal Section 230 or I’ll veto military funding
  6. White House Still Pushing To Slip Section 230 Repeal Into ‘Must Pass’ Military Spending Bill
  7. Congress Decides To Ignore Trump’s Ridiculous Veto Threat If Military Authorization Doesn’t Wipe Out Section 230
  8. New Ebook on Zeran v. AOL, the Most Important Section 230 Case (Eric Goldman)
  9. Twitter To Relaunch Account Verification In 2021
  10. Pinterest shareholders sue firm over rampant gender, race discrimination
  11. Federal Court Strikes Down California’s Ban On ‘Offensive’ License Plates
  12. European regulator hits Apple with a fine over iPhone water-resistance claims
  13. Amazon to roll out tools to monitor factory workers and machines
  14. Amazon Web Services adds macOS on bare metal to EC2
  15. Amazon to pay employee bonus amid threat of Black Friday strikes
  16. Oracle vulnerability that executes malicious code is under active attack
  17. Cases against Facebook are reportedly coming… when FTC decides how
  18. Facebook Gaming Introduces Non-Gaming Content Hub For Partners Called ‘Hanging Out’
  19. Facebook’s libra currency to launch next year in limited format
  20. Lilly Singh, Liza Koshy, More Hosted Instagram Live Fundraisers For ‘Giving Tuesday’
  21. The Material Conditions of Platforms: Monopolization Through Decentralization
  22. 512(f) Claim Against Robo-Notice Sender Can Proceed–Enttech v. Okularity (Eric Goldman)
  23. Content Moderation Case Study: Reclaiming A Hashtag (2020)
  24. Is Free Speech Online About To Get A Lot Less Free?
  25. Salesforces buys Slack for $27.7bn
  26. Salesforce to acquire Slack in $27.7 billion deal
  27. Salesforce strikes deal to acquire Slack for $27.7 billion
  28. Snapchat Taps Michael Le, Dytto To Host Interactive Dance Series, With Potential For Viewers To Monetize (Trailer)
  29. How to restore moral and technical order in a time of misinformation
  30. As a Service | Selling to consumers using a subscription model
  31. Platform Regulation Should Focus on Transparency, Not Content
  32. New Tech Regulation for the UK? Sounds familiEUr…
  33. New York Passes Wide-Ranging Automatic Renewal (Subscription Model) Law
  34. The risks and rewards of influencer marketing
  35. Influencer Philanthropy and Social Media – What are the Rules, What are Best Practices?
  36. Bella Poarch, The #YouHaveTo Hashtag, “Savage Love” Top TikTok’s Biggest Trends Of 2020
  37. TikTok Users Can Now Auto-Skip Videos That Might Trigger Photosensitive Epilepsy
  38. TikTok Is Reportedly Testing 3-Minute Videos
  39. I Turn My Camera on. Notes on the Aesthetics of Tiktok
  40. YouTube Suspends ‘OANN’ From Monetization, Strikes Channel For Repeated COVID Misinformation
  41. YouTube Teams With British Vogue For ‘Masterclass’ Series Starring Fashion Experts, Influencers, More
  42. How old, ambient Japanese music became a smash hit on YouTube
  43. Creators Can Now Host Live Pre-Shows, Embed Trailers Ahead Of Their YouTube Video ‘Premieres’
  44. Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 11/30/2020
  45. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 11/30/2020
  46. YouTube’s Latest Original Is A Charitable ‘Secret Santa’ Exchange With AsapSCIENCE, Molly Burke, More
  47. Jake Paul Says He’s In Talks To Fight UFC Champ Conor McGregor
  48. Washington considers digital advertising tax
  49. Big Tech’s carbon problem: Energy-guzzling data centres and supply chains mean our online lives leave a heavy environmental footprint.
  50. Google, the Media Patron: How the Digital Giant Ensnares Journalism
  51. Is Google Really the Borg?
  52. ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Limited Scripted Series, 4th Biggest TV Show Overall
  53. Taylor Swift Re-Teams With Disney+ For ‘Folkore’ Concert Documentary
  54. As organizations accelerate their digital transformation initiatives, they are increasingly embracing the power, affordability and versatility of open source software.
  55. Perpetually Missing from Tech Policy: ISPs And The IoT
  56. Choose your movies and also their endings!

A.I.

  1. DeepMind AI handles protein folding, which humbled previous software
  2. Amazon inquiry after Alexa accused of antisemitism
  3. Amazon’s Alexa accused of sharing anti-Semitic conspiracies, Holocaust denial
  4. The Time Has Come for International Regulation on Artificial Intelligence’
  5. A robot’s muse: when AI creates art
  6. AI inventors? Why should we care?
  7. Thinking outside the black box: explainable AI is coming into focus
  8. Artificial Intelligence and Recruitment – how to address the pitfalls
  9. Artificial intelligence, robotics and automation: The best or the worst thing to ever happen to humanity?
  10. The use of artificial intelligence: interesting technological developments in the legal and accountancy sectors
  11. AI can run your work meetings now
  12. The Full Automation Fallacy
  13. Speaking to algorithms? Rhetorical political analysis as technological analysis
  14. Deciding what’s fair
  15. A “Light Touch” Regulatory Framework for AI – Transparency at the Heart of AI Regulation
  16. Machines as Manifestations of Global Systems: Steps toward a Sociometabolic Ontology of Technology
  17. Artificial Intelligence, Aesthetics, and Future of Culture
  18. AI did it My Way

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day Six: The Beginning of the End of Canadian Broadcast Ownership and Control Requirements (Michael Geist)
  2. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day Seven: Beware Bill C-10’s Unintended Consequences (Michael Geist)
  3. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day 8: The Unnecessary Discoverability Requirements (Michael Geist)
  4. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day 9: Why Use Cross-Subsidies When the Government is Rolling Out Tech Tax Policies? (Michael Geist)
  5. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day 10: Downgrading the Role of Canadians in their Own Programming (Michael Geist)
  6. Ajit Pai announces departure from FCC after four-year deregulatory blitz
  7. Ajit Pai, Easily The Most Controversial FCC Boss In History, Will Step Down January 20
  8. Senate rushes to confirm Trump FCC nominee in order to hinder Biden admin
  9. FCC agenda meeting to evaluate items of interest for manufacturers and operators of radiofrequency equipment 
  10. FCC Makes More Spectrum Available in 5.9 GHz Band for Unlicensed Use 
  11. President-Elect Biden Announces FCC Transition Team 
  12. FCC Proposes $20,000 Fine for TV Station Program-Length Commercial in Children’s Programming
  13. FCC Adopts New Program Carriage Complaint Procedures
  14. Comcast Increases Prices And Bogus Fees In The Middle Of A Pandemic 
  15. Verizon, NYC Settle Lawsuit Over Verizon’s Empty Fiber Promises
  16. Verizon wiring up 500K homes with FiOS to settle years-long fight with NYC 
  17. In the Conversion to NextGen TV, Who is Responsible for the Content of the Simulcast Streams?
  18. More Subsidies Alone Won’t Fix What Ails U.S. Broadband
  19. Broadband and the UK’s National Infrastructure Strategy

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

  1.  Nicki Minaj Safeguards the Right for Artists to Experiment with Unlicensed Work
  2. Skateboard Graphic Artist Sues Jack Black, Tony Hawk, and The Berrics for Copyright Infringement of Skateboard Graphic Design
  3. PewDiePie’s “My Heart Will Go On”: A Case Study in the DMCA and YouTube’s Copyright Dispute Process (Part I)
  4. Peace does not get a chance
  5. Supermodel Sues for Alleged Unauthorized Use of Her Likeness 
  6. The EU Commission better get its skates on when it comes to copyright
  7. World’s Worst Copyright Troll, Richard Liebowitz, Suspended From Practicing Law
  8. ‘Tis The Season: Congress Looks To Sneak In Unconstitutional Copyright Reform Bill Into ‘Must Pass’ Spending Bill
  9. Circumventing technological protection measures and website blocking orders: An EU perspective
  10. Ferrari Wins Legal Case Against Designer Philipp Plein’s Use Of Its Supercars, But He Says It’s Not Over
  11. Philipp Plein Loses Court Battle Against Ferrari Over Illegal Use of Its Brand
  12. How the Freddy copycat fashion case opens up new options for designers
  13. Nevermind: Who Really Owns Nirvana’s Iconic Smiley Face Design? 
  14. From football stadiums to railway stations…covering the bigger picture with registered designs
  15. When Trademarks Get Messi: Likelihood of Confusion and Leo Messi’s Big European Trademark Win 
  16. Deus ex Machina Motorcycles Pty. Ltd. v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
  17. AMERICAN EAGLE found to infringe EAGLE RARE trade mark in the UK
  18. EUIPO: What’s in the name…………… Hamilton!
  19. A Butler cannot be Royal!
  20. Minimalist trademarks: trend to follow or end of the road for uniqueness?
  21. The Burberry case: influencers, rappers and VIPs, watch out for improper use and associations to reputed brands
  22. A guide to trade mark revocation for legacy brands
  23. Snap Removal in Trade Secret Cases
  24. Risks and rewards of trade secrets in Europe
  25. Patenting antibody-based biologics in Canada
  26. Federal Circuit Confirms That “Magnetic Fuzz” Is Too Fuzzy for a Patent Claim 
  27. Working from home — does it affect patent ownership for employee inventions?
  28. It’s a Date – Twitter Reply Proves Prior Art Publication Date 
  29. Effectively using experts in IP litigation part two: practice 
  30. (S)he´s making a list, (S)he´s checking it twice: An IP due diligence checklist for the holidays – or any time 

PRIVACY

  1.  Proposed Canadian Privacy Bill Introduces Fines and New Requirements for Private Organizations
  2. Understanding the Draft Consumer Privacy Protection Act: A Summary of the Key Changes Proposed
  3. French Gov’t Walks Back Proposal To Make Publishing Images Of Police Officers Illegal After Massive Protests Erupt Across The Nation
  4. Once more unto the breach: The Supreme Court weighs in on a circuit split on what constitutes a hack 
  5. New Orleans PD Finally Admits It Uses Facial Recognition Tech After Denying It For Years 
  6. Autonomous vehicles and big data: Managing the personal information deluge 
  7. Canada Re-enters the International Ring with Bold New Privacy Law Including Significant Fines
  8. Post-Schrems II: European Data Protection Board’s Recommendations Bring Further Clarity and Practical Steps Regarding International Data Flows
  9. Does Tor provide more benefit or harm? New paper says it depends
  10. The Supreme Court will finally rule on controversial US hacking law

Jon

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Class 13 – 12.02.20; “Some Final Notes” + Synchronous Presentations “Video Games as a Content Creation Tool” & “Input Mods in Online Gaming”

By Jon Festinger on December 3, 2020

Yesterday’s last class…A memorable one in all respects. Video and slides below…

Jon

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Presentation: Legal Solutions to Cheating in Video Games

By colton winiarski on December 2, 2020

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all doing well coming into the final bit of the term here. My presentation [here] is on cheating in video games with a focus on the legal solutions that have been applied to deal with the issues of cheating in the modern gaming industry.

In this presentation  you will notice green and red audio overlay play buttons. The green symbols indicate the primary content of this presentation. Think of these like the main story line of a video game. The red audio symbols indicate additional/optional background information to set the context, but if you’re short for time the slides will do just fine. In all, this presentation should run about 11 minutes, with an addition 4 of background. The speaker notes contain a transcript as well.

With that, I hope you enjoy.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tfqbgc6myE79bBTn8aY8xUjSM6kcTuSk40ihZ3UBp2g/edit?usp=sharing

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Class 12 – Week of 11.30.20 Audio Slides ” Consumers & Users: Cases, Clauses, & Contexts”

By Jon Festinger on December 1, 2020

Slides below…

Jon

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Video Games as a Content Creation Tool

By timothy chang on December 1, 2020

Hello fellow gamers,

On Dec 02, Chris and I will be presenting on the use of video games in creating videos and streams in various ways. The scope of my part will be on gameplay videos such as let’s play videos or video guides for games and gameplay streaming, the legal implications for such activities, the application of fair dealing/use, and the economic relationship between developers/publishers and video content creators. Chris will be presenting on the creation of original videos through video game software, the commercial and legal implications, and a potential unique defence against copyright claims. Broadly speaking, we will be talking about to what extent such videos might constitute infringements and, if such videos do, to what extent certain defences may be applied to them.

We’ve attached the presentation for you to download ahead of time and, just in case, here’s the link to the Google Slides and the link to a PPT of the slides directly. Let us know if you have any trouble downloading the material.

We invite comments and questions to continue the discussion on this topic.

 

See below for the source materials we used for the presentation.

Common-law elements of fair dealing:
CCH Canadian Ltd v Law Society of Upper Canada, 2004 SCC 13 (CanLII), [2004] 1 SCR 339, paras 51, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, and 59.
https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/2004/2004scc13/2004scc13.html

US statutory elements of fair use:
17 USCA § 107.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107

Discussion of commerciality in fair use:
Harper & Row Publishers, Inc v Nation Enterprises, 471 US 539, 542–43, 105 S Ct 2218, 2221, 85 L Ed 2d 588 (1985), para 46.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/471/539

Safe harbor provisions in the US from OCILLA:
17 USCA § 512.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/512

Polygon’s Articles on Pewdiepie’s Debacle:
https://www.polygon.com/2017/9/10/16285188/pewdie-pie-racist-slur-firewatch-retaliation-dmca
https://www.polygon.com/2017/9/14/16309430/pewdiepie-campo-santo-strike

Article on Machinima and Copyright Law:
Matthew B Freedman, Machinima and Copyright Law, 13 J Intell Prop L 235 (2005).
https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1319&context=jipl

Diary of a Camper:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diary_of_a_Camper

Red vs Blue:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_vs._Blue

Great Battle of Skyrim:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK6RBgMgjL0

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Video Game Regulation: An Exploration of Possibilities

By Cindy Chen on December 1, 2020

Happy December everyone! I’m sure we are all a bit flustered by the end of term so rapidly approaching. Hopefully you can procrastinate from other courses/assignments by taking a few minutes to view this presentation by me and Jina on video game regulation. I’m sure you know the drill by now with how to navigate the audio slides. However, this was our first time figuring out how to make audio slides on Google Slides, so if anyone has any issues accessing the content, please do let me know!

Throughout this term, we’ve discussed the topic of digital data manipulation by developers and the freedom of thought/expression concerns that arise from such manipulation. In this presentation, we explored the different possibilities for regulating this type of manipulation in the video game context, including (1) autonomous player- and developer-based regulation; and (2) the deficiencies of autonomous regulation and the need for legal intervention. Due to time constraints, we have limited the examples to the esports context. However, ideas that we have explored can be applicable to the video game context at large and we would welcome any comments or discussion on contexts outside of esports!

 

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Cyberpunk Solutions to DMCA

By james barth on November 29, 2020

Hi everyone!

My term paper for video game law is focused on the use of music – both licensed and original – in games, and the copyright regime and DMCA takedown process involved in the sharing and streaming of games online. In researching this, I came across an interesting approach to DMCA strikes taken by developer CD Projekt Red in their upcoming title Cyberpunk 2077, which features 150 songs from a wide variety of artists signed to different labels and distributors. Cyberpunk 2077 will include a ‘streamer-friendly mode,’ which will disable tracks potential subject to copyright strikes from the in-game rotation. The mode will automatically be toggled on when streaming the game from console, and allow PC users to toggle the feature on and off. The announcement of this feature comes after a large wave of DMCA takedown requests filed with Twitch, leading to the removal of a large amount of archived content being deleted in October, without warning to creators and with little to no recourse for improper claims or removals. Cyberpunk’s feature has been heralded as an useful and exciting innovation, but commentators have also observed the absurdity of an individual game company having to take these steps in face of the inaction on behalf of the platforms hosting this content.

Discussion of the Streamer Friendly Mode occurs at 19:30 in the video above.

From what I’ve been able to discern, there is not currently a list of which specific licensed songs will be removed from in-game rotation. Nor is it clear if this has resulted from differing terms of licenses from individual songs, or either expressed or presumed differences in the likelihood of different labels taking action against streamed music. It will also be interesting to see if the list of songs for streamer mode stays fixed with the titles release, or changes over time depending on the duration of CD Projekt Red’s licenses with individual tracks. This is also the first instance of a ‘streamer-friendly mode’ I’ve come across, but it will be interesting to see if future titles follow suit (and if anyone has heard of a feature like this before, please let me know, I’d love to learn more!)

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News of the Week; November 25, 2020

By Jon Festinger on November 29, 2020

GAMES

  1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gareth Bale question use of likeness in FIFA
  2. Mine, Mine, Mine! Nintendo Neuters The Cool Ways People, Groups Are Using ‘Animal Crossing’
  3. Nintendo axes fan-run Smash tournament over online play mod
  4. Nintendo orders cancellation of Smash Bros tournament over mod use: The Big House’s first online competition scrapped due to modified Melee that enables smoother online play
  5. Nintendo lawsuit takes aim at yet another Nintendo Switch hack seller
  6. Nintendo suing yet another Switch hack reseller: Amazon seller taken to court in platform holder’s ongoing fight against “serious, worsening international problem” of piracy
  7. Super Mario Maker Wii U to be delisted, lose some online features in early 2021
  8. Nintendo issues new Animal Crossing guidelines to keep politics out of the game
  9. Nintendo publishes Animal Crossing guidelines for businesses: The platform holder asked organisations to “refrain from bringing politics” into New Horizons
  10. Next-gen consoles have few answers to Argentina’s longstanding reliance on piracy: Argentina’s gamers approach next-gen with uncertainty, due to rising prices and the difficulty of turning to the black market
  11. Bossa Studios confirms layoffs amid complaints against management
  12. Game Workers Unite UK rebrands to IWGB Game Workers
  13. Can game studios radically transform how they hire?
  14. Does Apple’s 15% platform cut change the game?
  15. Tim Sweeney on Apple’s 15% cut: “We’re not fighting for a lower commission” – Epic Games CEO says 30% commission “is not wrongful, it’s just a bad deal”
  16. Epic adds a subscription service to Fortnite
  17. Epic Games launches ‘Fortnite Crew’ monthly subscription plan
  18. Epic Games’ MegaGrants program surpasses $60m in financial support
  19. 100 Thieves Becomes First Brand To Take Over Fortnite’s Creative Hub
  20. Twitch’s No Good, Very Bad Time Continues: Part 2
  21. Twitch Co-Founder Kevin Lin Departs Company After 12 Years: “I Will Build Again”
  22. The New York Times Is Broadcasting Collaborative Crosswords On Twitch
  23. This Streamer Took The Sims’ Lack Of Diversity Into Her Own Hands — And Then Became An Advisor To EA
  24. EA publishes first annual Impact Report: Report includes company demographic breakdown; 50% of EA Studios leadership is female
  25. GamesIndustry.biz writer Rebekah Valentine wins Journalist of the Year at GameHERs Awards: First year of the GameHERs recognises “women in all aspects of gaming”
  26. Harassment costs this industry too much | Opinion: From dollars to basic human decency, the status quo of online multiplayer gaming is taking a heavy toll
  27. Square Enix confirms Avengers missed expectations
  28. Square Enix to implement permanent work-from-home program in December
  29. Square Enix shifts all eligible staff to permanent remote working
  30. Pokémon Go restores social distancing benefits to the game
  31. The $70 AAA price point — it’s about time | Opinion: No consumer is going to be enthused about a price rise, but 15 years of $60 has done no favours to either gamers or creators
  32. Bandai Namco invests $3m in avatars creator Genies
  33. The ultimate guide to selling your indie game: Network N’s James Binns laid out the strategy and tactics indies should follow to sell more games
  34. 5 years below minimum wage: the financial history of Awesomenauts dev Ronimo 
  35. Roblox files for IPO: Kid-focused, user-generated content platform has not yet turned a profit despite skyrocketing DAUs, bookings
  36. Lightfox Games raises $3.3m: March Gaming leads seed round to fund more accessible midcore games
  37. Seattle mobile studio Lightfox nets $3.3 million to bring debut title to market
  38. Report: Activision Blizzard laying off staff at Asia-Pacific offices
  39. More layoffs expected at Activision-Blizzard, this time at APAC offices: Company confirms around 30 employees face redundancy following announcement it needed to hire over 2,000
  40. Netease Q3 strengthened by multiple mobile game releases in China
  41. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was the real No.1 last week | UK Digital Charts: Assassin’s Creed enjoyed one of its biggest weeks to-date
  42. Hitman developer IO Interactive teases Project 007: James Bond licence emerges from stealth and will be used to tell a brand new origin story
  43. Red Dead Online gets a stand-alone release
  44. Rockstar is turning Red Dead Online into a standalone game
  45. Crowded field of racers drives Codemasters revenues up
  46. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity ships 3 million
  47. Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin tops 500,000 digital sales and shipments
  48. Genshin Impact leads October digital game spending
  49. Piranha Games acquired by Enad Global 7
  50. Learning platform Kahoot acquires language game dev Drops for $50 million
  51. Keywords Studios acquires marketing agency G-Net Media
  52. Supercell invests $2.8m in 2UP Games
  53. As World of Warcraft enters the Shadowlands: “Why should it ever end?”: John Hight and Morgan Day share how the World of Warcraft team is still building on its MMORPG 16 years after launch
  54. Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s turn-based combat came from an April Fools joke that went too well
  55. Aiming to curb DMCAs, CDPR builds copyrighted music toggle into Cyberpunk 2077
  56. ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ Has A Built-In Mode For Content Creators That Disables Copyrighted Music
  57. Ridiculous: ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ Will Ship With A Mode Just To Help Streamers Avoid DMCA Notices
  58. The bulk of CD Projekt’s $27.9 million in Q3 revenue came from The Witcher 3
  59. Nvidia developed a radically different way to compress video calls
  60. Nvidia sidesteps the App Store to bring GeForce Now game streaming to iOS
  61. Analysis: Nvidia GeForce Now cloud gaming service comes to iOS
  62. Stadia plans to bypass App Store with web app iOS launch
  63. Google Stadia begins public iOS test in a few weeks: With Apple blocking games streaming via apps, Google moves Stadia to Safari as a web app
  64. Controller use on Steam has doubled in past two years
  65. Controller use on Steam has ‘more than doubled’ since 2018
  66. Steam beefs up DualSense support with LED, rumble, and more
  67. The anatomy of a Steam sale
  68. “The time is right to re-evaluate open worlds. We can do better”
  69. Unknown 9’s multimedia awakening
  70. The forgotten Flash Website movement (when websites were ‘the new emerging artform’)
  71. GeForce Now arrives on iOS via Safari: Nvidia gets around App Store’s game streaming policies with a beta version of browser-based offering, will soon add support for GOG storefront titles
  72. PS5 is biggest console launch in history
  73. PlayStation 5 delivers ‘biggest console launch ever’ for Sony
  74. PlayStation 5 sold almost six times as many units as Xbox Series X|S in Japan: Sony’s consoles sold 118,085 units in four days, while Microsoft’s machines sold 20,534 in six days
  75. Spider-Man: Miles Morales is PS5’s biggest launch game as Call of Duty grabs No.1 | UK Boxed Charts
  76. Scalpers and bots reportedly driving PS5 shortages
  77. Xbox Series X/S vs. PlayStation 5: Our launch-month verdict
  78. Microsoft: Bethesda Games Will Be ‘First, Best’ On Xbox, PC
  79. Xbox experimenting with how to pay studios for Game Pass “because we don’t think we have it figured out
  80. What agreements land games on Game Pass? Xbox head says they’re ‘all over the place’
  81. How to turn your Xbox Series X/S into an emulation powerhouse
  82. How one developer is sneaking emulators through a hole in the Xbox Store
  83. The Winner of the Console Wars is…Light Beer?
  84. JoJo Siwa, Loren Gray To Host 2-Day ‘Among Us’ Event
  85. TikTok developer launches publishing arm and casual gaming platform
  86. COVID-19 expected to boost investment in esports: But esports activity won’t go back to pre-pandemic levels for another year, some execs believe
  87. Esports company Blast receives £1.7m in funding from Edge Investments
  88. Insert Coin, the arcade documentary worth feeding all your quarters into 
  89. OpenBCI Announces Brain-Computer Interface Designed Specifically for VR/AR Headsets
  90. Video: Making compelling character interactions for VR NPCs
  91. Lost “Sega VR” game unearthed, made playable on modern VR headsets
  92. Veteran VR Studio of ‘Waltz of the Wizard’ Pausing PSVR Development Until Sony Addresses PS5 Roadmap
  93. Warner Music: “If artists want to be in the next James Bond, they should want to be in the next AAA game”
  94. Don’t Miss: How GoldenEye 007 set a new standard for video game AI
  95. Don’t Miss: Defining direction, writing, art and music on Yakuza 4
  96. Don’t Miss: The story behind Remedy’s viral dog mocap star
  97. Don’t Miss: Mapping out the subtle social cues throughout Hitman’s level design
  98. Don’t Miss: A PC game for consoles – Remaking Divinity: Original Sin
  99. Video: Bugsnax’s devs discuss launching on the PS5 
  100. Video: A deep dive into Ubisoft’s VR escape rooms
  101. Video: Breaking down the making of Teardown
  102. Video: The world generation tech behind Far Cry 5
  103. Blog: Is Apple’s platform fee reduction a PR move or sound investment?
  104. Blog: General tips for ‘Games as a Service’ indie games
  105. Blog: Power of storytelling in blockbuster casual games?
  106. Blog: The art of compelling quest design in Ghost of Tsushima
  107. Blog: The Impact of video game criticism
  108. Blog: Historians discuss Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
  109. Blog: Four hyper-casual prototype best practices
  110. Deep Dive: Evolving the UX/UI of A Total War Story: Troy using user testing & feedback
  111. Hugo Awards adds video game category for 2021
  112. Patenting video games in Europe – The EPO’s Board of Appeal decide in favour of Nintendo (T1504/17)
  113. U.S. Patent No. 10,532,290: Sharing recorded gameplay to a social graph

DIGITAL

  1. Twitter, Facebook Plan For Post-Trump Era
  2. Why it’s easy to hate Facebook but hard to leave
  3. Facebook AI catches 95% of hate speech; company still wants mods back in office
  4. Facebook Could See Antitrust Charges From Nearly 40 States Over Acquisitions Of Instagram, WhatsApp
  5. Advertisers Challenge Facebook’s Representations on Audience Targeting and Fraudulent Traffic
  6. Facebook Says Ads for Giving Tuesday Are OK, So Long as They Aren’t About Social Issues
  7. Disappointing: Netflix Decides To Settle With Chooseco LLC Over ‘Bandersnatch’ Lawsuit
  8. Instagram Adds Branded Content Tags To ‘Reels’, ‘Live’, Unveils Several Updates To ‘Branded Content Ads’ Format
  9. Age Gating on Instagram is Now a Bit Easier
  10. David Attenborough Departs Instagram Mere Months After Record-Breaking Foray
  11. White House Offers To Allow Renaming Confederate Bases… In Exchange For Getting Rid Of Section 230
  12. Content Moderation Case Study: Facebook Attracts International Attention When It Removes A Historic Vietnam War Photo Posted By The Editor-in-Chief Of Norway’s Biggest Newspaper (2016)
  13. Bad Analogy: Comparing Social Media To Guns
  14. AMD laptops have a hidden 10-second performance delay. Here’s why
  15. Apple security chief maintains innocence after bribery charges
  16. Apple moving forward with plan to limit “creepy” user tracking
  17. “We are giddy”—interviewing Apple about its Mac silicon revolution
  18. Mac mini and Apple Silicon M1 review: Not so crazy after all
  19. Snapchat Giving $1 Million Per Day To “Top” Creators With New Short Video Platform ‘Spotlight’
  20. BuzzFeed Acquires HuffPost In Stock Deal As Part Of Larger Pact With Its Parent, Verizon Media
  21. Creator-To-Consumer Vendor Gumroad Launches Monthly Memberships
  22. Wonder What’s Ahead For Film? Watch What WarnerMedia Does
  23. Nvidia developed a radically different way to compress video calls
  24. Will Parler Users Treat Its ‘Glitch’ That Hid Georgia Election Content The Same Way They Treated A Twitter Glitch?
  25. YouTube Defeats Lawsuit Over Cryptocurrency Scam–Ripple v. YouTube (Eric Goldman)
  26. After Quitting YouTube, Ingrid Nilsen To Launch Fragrance Studio ‘The New Savant’
  27. As Billie Eilish Hits 1 Billion Views, YouTube Unveils ‘Infinite Music Video’ Concept For “Bad Guy”
  28. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide Last Week
  29. Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels Last Week
  30. Snapchat Giving $1 Million Per Day To “Top” Creators With New Short Video Platform ‘Spotlight’
  31. Is Food The New Merch For Creators? And Are Ghost Kitchens The Next Frontier?
  32. MrBeast Launches New Channel, ‘Beast Philanthropy,’ To Raise Money For His Food Bank
  33. Inconceivable: TikToker Who Made Paint Mixing Very, Very Cool… Is Fired From Sherwin-Williams For Doing So
  34. Charli D’Amelio Has Amassed 100 Million TikTok Followers In One-And-A-Half Years
  35. A general introduction to the regulation of virtual currencies in USA

A.I.

  1. USPTO Releases Public Comments on AI
  2. Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property: Transatlantic Approaches
  3. Intellectual property strategies for data and artificial intelligence – ThinkHouse
  4. Florida Sheriff’s Pre-Crime Software Says D-Students And Victims Of Domestic Violence Are Potential Criminals
  5. AI & cybersecurity: reflections on a multidimensional relationship
  6. When AI sees a man, it thinks “official.” A woman? “Smile”
  7. AI Trends Part 1: IoT privacy and security risks
  8. AI in the boardroom: opportunities and challenges
  9. Robots invade the construction site 

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. Canadian Government introduces legislation that would fundamentally transform the broadcasting ‎system
  2. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day One: Why There is No Canadian Content Crisis (Michael Geist)
  3. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day Two: What the Government Doesn’t Say About Creating a “Level Playing Field” (Michael Geist)
  4. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day Three: Minister Guilbeault Says Bill C-10 Contains Economic Thresholds That Limit Internet Regulation. It Doesn’t. (Michael Geist)
  5. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day Four: Why Many News Sites Are Captured by Bill C-10 (Michael Geist)
  6. The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day Five: The Narrow Exclusion of User Generated Content Services (Michael Geist)
  7. 10 Years Of U.S. Broadband Policy Has Been A Colossal Failure 
  8. ‘Activist’ Investor Elliott Management Sells Stake In AT&T After Encouraging Mass Firings
  9. AT&T raises DirecTV prices again amid customer losses and possible sale
  10. More Evidence FCC Claims That Killing Net Neutrality Would Boost Broadband Investment Were Bullshit
  11. FCC reallocates transportation safety spectrum for Wi-Fi use, endorses C-V2X for auto safety
  12. Ajit Pai’s FCC Does Something Good, Frees Wireless Spectrum The Auto Industry Had Done Little With
  13. Trump’s FCC Nominee Asked Fox News To Help Destroy Section 230 To Help Elect More Republicans
  14. Comcast raising TV and Internet prices, including a big hike to hidden fees
  15. UK government buys chunk of bankrupt Starlink competitor, OneWeb
  16. OneWeb exits bankruptcy and is ready to launch more broadband satellites

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

  1.  Using music in your business? Copyright fees proposed to increase
  2. Disney (Disney!) Accused Of Trying To Lawyer Its Way Out Of Paying Royalties To Alan Dean Foster
  3. Who Owns Vacation Photos of You? Probably Not You–Hubay v. Mendez (Eric Goldman)
  4. Hyperlinking: more control for copyright owners
  5. “Cultural misinterpretation” or designer’s freedom?
  6. Due diligence of copyright is key when purchasing a record label business
  7. Poland’s Bid To Get Upload Filters Taken Out Of The EU Copyright Directive Suddenly Looks Much More Hopeful
  8. Brexit and copyright: 6 key things to know
  9. Good News: Academics Can Make Their Articles Published In Top Journal Nature Freely Available As Open Access. Bad News: They Must Pay $11,000 For Each One 
  10. Bricks and mortar or is online in order? Federal Court of Appeal checks in to trademark use and hotel services
  11. UK High Court finds EAGLE RARE infringed by AMERICAN EAGLE
  12. Puma v Nike Footwear brands dispute FOOTWARE
  13. The Lord Chamberlain v Grant Harrold – British Queen blocks Royal Butler trade mark 
  14. Taiwanese Semiconductor Pleads Guilty, To Pay $60 Million Fine for Criminal Trade Secret Theft 
  15. Understanding compulsory licensing: a global overview 
  16. Recent Patent Developments in the Autonomous Vehicle Market 
  17. Common Patent Misconceptions – Myth #5 – Provisional Applications
  18. Printed Matter Is Patentable If It’s Functional, Not Just Communicative 

PRIVACY

  1. Canada Proposes Federal Privacy Law Overhaul – Key Takeaways 
  2. The dawn of Canadian Privacy Law 2.0: The Consumer Privacy Protection Act introduced 
  3. Attention, mall shoppers: your data is being collected!
  4. ‘You Have Zero Privacy’ Say RCMP Social Media Surveillance Documents Before Going On To Demonstrate Why
  5. US Military Is Buying Location Data From Data Brokers, Including Data Pulled From US App Users
  6. Portland, Maine Passes Facial Recognition Ban That Says The City Can Fire Employees For Violating It
  7. Seattle PD Detective Took Clearview Facial Recognition Tech For A Spin, Possibly Violating Local Laws
  8. Very Little Stands Between the U.S. and a Technological Panopticon
  9. Court Sends Wyze Labs Privacy Suit to Arbitration (Eric Goldman)
  10. Google is testing end-to-end encryption in Android Messages
  11. Make the Web Great Again (Andres Guadamuz) 

CREATIVITY

  1. Cryptocurrency Giant Binance Sues Forbes, Driving New Attention To Article About Binance’s Corporate Structuring

Jon

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Video Game Streaming: The Legal Implications of an Emerging Career

By anli roets on November 25, 2020

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope everyone is having a great week, I know the end of term is upon us and everyone is a little stressed so I hope my presentation can be a quick break from everything.

My presentation is based on the concept of streaming video games as a career, and how such careers can be impacted by the legal claims and copyright protections afforded to developers.

Any sources used in the presentation can be found in the Notes section beneath each slide.

If anyone has any questions or issues viewing the presentation please feel free to reach out on Canvas or on Teams.

Stay safe and healthy,

Anli Roets

videogamelaw.sites.olt.ubc.ca/…/video-game-streaming-f

 

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