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News of the Week; November 11, 2015

By Jon Festinger on November 15, 2015

GAMES

  1. Blizzard Sues Bot Maker For Copyright-Infringement
  2. ‘Kim Kardashian: Hollywood’ Sets Off $10 Million Lawsuit
  3. Steam ad runs afoul of ASA: Standards agency upholds complaints over GTA V bundle offered in Steam Summer Sale
  4. GTA 5 modders claim Take-Two sent private investigators to their home: Take-Two “aren’t willing to accept any solution other than ceasing my activities.”
  5. ASU Police Chief deems ‘Super Columbine Massacre RPG!’ creator a public safety concern
  6. SPJ reveals ‘Bill Kunkel Awards’ to honor ethical games journalism
  7. Zoe Quinn publishing Gamergate memoir
  8. Zoe Quinn’s newly-announced memoir optioned by Pascal Pictures
  9. Videogames And ’80s Hollywood Masculinity: A Love Story
  10. The Gaming Industry is Losing Billions by Ignoring This Group
  11. “No one is actually good at Candy Crush” – Divnich
  12. Candy Crush sours King’s financials
  13. Ubisoft admits that bug-ridden Assassin’s Creed Unity affected Syndicate sales
  14. Indian mobile market will hit $1.2 billion revenue in 2018
  15. How Eye Tracking Will TOTALLY Change the Way You Game.
  16. The Tetris Effect: What Video Games Can Teach Law
  17. Meet the Guy Who Thinks Video Games Are the Future of TV
  18. Activision Blizzard launches TV and film studio
  19. YouTube Red marks a turning point for games media
  20. New DMCA exemption keeps enthusiasts in the game 
  21. ESA-backed survey claims half of gamers are ‘conservative’
  22. The Gamer Who Didn’t Leave His House For Over a Year

DIGITAL

  1. Full Text of Controversial TPP Trade Deal Finally Released
  2. Release of the Full TPP Text After Five Years of Secrecy Confirms Threats to Users’ Rights (EFF)
  3. Full Text Of TPP Released: And It’s Really, Really Bad
  4. TPP deal: Activists urge Trudeau to reject intellectual property changes
  5. Jim Balsillie Warns TPP Could Cost Canada Billions
  6. TPP is about many things, but free trade? Not so much
  7. Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement May Authorize Cross-Border Data Flows
  8. The Three Industries That Love The TPP: Hollywood, Big Pharma & Wall St.
  9. Flawed Copyright Case Places Spotlight on Canada’s Digital Lock Problem (Michael Geist)
  10. Judge Restricts Sharing of Fox News Clips Through Email and Social Media: In Fox News’ lawsuit against the media monitoring service TVEyes, a permanent injunction is issued that is primed to go into effect next month.
  11. A Boring Invisible Braces Lawsuit that Could Have Resurrected SOPA Dies Again
  12. Court Says ITC Can’t Ban Digital Imports
  13. Sorry, MPAA, Court Rejects Your Plan For A Secret SOPA At The ITC
  14. Google Books held “fair use” in the U.S. — but would it also be “fair dealing” in Canada?
  15. The Most Unsocial Network: A new class-action lawsuit accuses Facebook of being a matchmaking service for would-be Palestinian terrorists.
  16. Appeals court allows NSA bulk phone spying to continue unabated: Nobody has successfully convinced US court system to stop the NSA surveillance.
  17. DC judge rips into the NSA over mass surveillance
  18. Judge Again Says NSA Phone Records Program Is Unconstitutional; Orders NSA To Stop Collecting Phone Records Of Plaintiffs
  19. The Effects of Surveillance on the Victims
  20. Confession of a Russian internet provider
  21. NSA says how often, not when, it discloses software flaws
  22. FCC to tackle issue of broadband privacy
  23. Tor director: FBI paid Carnegie Mellon $1M to break Tor, hand over IPs – Feds may have obtained Tor IP addresses with no warrant during Silk Road 2 case.
  24. The Snooper’s Charter would devastate computer security research in the UK: What happens when you are forbidden from disclosing that backdoor you found?
  25. UK law will allow secret backdoor orders for software, imprison you for disclosing them
  26. Hacked Data Obtained By The Intercept Highlights Wholesale Spying On Inmate, Attorney Privileged Communications
  27. Microsoft to offer cloud services from Germany in bid to quell privacy fears
  28. Communication From The Commission To The European Parliament And The Council on the Transfer of Personal Data from the EU to the United States of America under Directive 95/46/EC following the Judgment by the Court of Justice in Case C-362/14 (Schrems)
  29. Yik Yak social media service popular among college students can reveal user data to police
  30. Dear Idiots and Racists: Yik Yak Is a Bad Place to Make a Death Threat – Yik Yak, the anonymous social media app, isn’t all that anonymous. And after its second massacre threat in a month, the company wants to make it clear: It knows where you are.
  31. Why a Belgian court ordered Facebook to stop tracking users or pay hefty fines: A commercial court agreed with privacy regulators that Facebook’s use of a tiny file that can track people who don’t have a Facebook account violates local privacy laws.
  32. Man-in-the-middle attack on Vizio TVs coughs up owners’ viewing habits
  33. OPC comment to Transport Canada on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Submission of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to the Canadian Aviation Regulation Advisory Council (CARAC)
  34. Websites can keep ignoring “Do Not Track” requests after FCC ruling: Petition to impose Do Not Track requirements rejected by commission.
  35. Ad Blockers and the Next Chapter of the Internet (Doc Searls)
  36. Let’s look to magicians to better understand technological deception
  37. Google Open Sources Its Artificial Intelligence Engine TensorFlow
  38. Tech Is Eating Media. Now What?
  39. Media and Internet Concentration in Canada Report, 1984 – 2014
  40. House Judiciary Committee Hears Concerns From Silicon Valley About Copyright Law
  41. Death by a thousand likes: How Facebook and Twitter are killing the open web
  42. Can Medium Be Both a Tech Company and a Media Company?
  43. Is it time for the world to ban killer robots?
  44. Inside the economics of hacking
  45. The Rise of the Internet-Addiction Industry: Treatment centers are opening across the U.S., but mental-health experts still disagree on whether excessive time on the web qualifies as a disorder.
  46. UN hopes to have revised ‘cyber violence’ report available by year’s end
  47. Ad Blockers Will Change How Ads Are Sold

CREATIVITY

  1. Is an Award-Winning Photo of a Haitian Immigrant Bathing in Brazil Unethical?
  2. Pakistani Taliban Faction Claims Responsibility for Killing of Journalist
  3. NFL Player Files Suit Against FanDuel Over Likeness Rights
  4. Will the real monkey who snapped those famous selfies please stand up?: Even if apes could own copyrights, PETA is representing wrong monkey, publisher says.
  5. Monkey See, Monkey Sue… Defendants Ask Judge To Toss Out Ridiculous Monkey Copyright Lawsuit
  6. Second Circuit Court Holds That Director Does Not Own Separate Copyright for His Contribution
  7. Russian Performance Artist Detained for Setting Fire to Federal Security Service HQ
  8. Books are dangerous: Contagion, poison and trigger. The idea that books are dangerous has a long history, and holds a kernel of truth
  9. Police Union Boss: Quentin Tarantino Needs To Patch Up Cop-Citizen Relationships, Not Us
  10. The Fight Against Sexist Stock Photography
  11. Copyright conundrums for collaborators
  12. Villains and Vigilantes creators crowdfunding to cover legal fees in trademark dispute
  13. Registration for SPEED QUEEN expunged on appeal for not showing evidence of use

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Class 8 – 11/4/15: “From Wheelbarrows to Holodecks” & Steve Rechtshaffner

By Jon Festinger on November 15, 2015

Video and slides.

Screen Shot 2015-11-15 at 10.51.07 AM

Screen Shot 2015-11-15 at 10.32.40 AM

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News of the Week; November 4, 2015

By Jon Festinger on November 8, 2015

 

GAMES

  1. Judge Tells Plaintiff That Paying Real Money For Virtual Gold Doesn’t Somehow Lead To Gambling Law Violations
  2. Nintendo censors Xenoblade Chronicles X costumes for western release
  3. Warner Bros. offers refunds for Arkham Knight PC… Again
  4. Facebook to crack down on game invitations
  5. Princeton Police blame swatting incidents on ‘gamers’
  6. Will the justices be game and tackle EA’s cert petition?
  7. Sony Reveals Playstation Plus League Esports Platform
  8. Smite, Sexism And The Soul Of Esports
  9. Research: 42% of women own gaming consoles compared to 37% of men
  10. Analysis: Sony continues to widen its console sales lead over Microsoft
  11. Realm Pictures Goes All In On Real First Person Shooter; Brilliant New Form Of Interactive Entertainment
  12. ESA: over 1600 game developers and publishers in the U.S.
  13. Activision Blizzard to buy King for $5.9 billion
  14. Activision and King: Wrong price, poor fit
  15. Activision Blizzard Q3 sales, profits slide
  16. Halo 5 generates $400 million in software and hardware sales
  17. Activision Blizzard to stop reporting Warcraft subscribers
  18. Konami closes down studio responsible forMetal Gear Online: But promises development on Metal Gear Solid will continue.
  19. Zynga CFO resigns
  20. How eSports are saving the PC industry
  21. eSports: Where are the big sponsors?
  22. Ad-blockers “devastating for smaller channels” – PewDiePie
  23. CEO Of Mobile Company Blames Everyone For Wanting Coffee Rather Than His Game
  24. The History Of Gaming: An Evolving Community
  25. Is the videogame market ready for polarizing games?
  26. “There were no rules…we made them up as we went along” – Sex & Drugs and Video Games: Tim Chaney’s book on the industry of the ’90s

DIGITAL

  1. United States and European Union reach agreement in principle for continued transatlantic data transfers following Safe Harbor invalidation
  2. Court says it’s legal for NSA to spy on you because Congress says it’s OK: “An abrupt end to the program would be contrary to the public interest….”
  3. Senate approves legislation to encourage disclosure of online threats despite opposition
  4. Google held to be a publisher of defamatory autocomplete and related search terms 
  5. In the UK, Web browsing history must now be stored for a year: UK gov’t backs down on crypto bans, but calls for major extension of surveillance powers.
  6. FBI planes gathered days of video, electronic surveillance over Baltimore: ACLU obtained FBI records of high-definition video and “other electronic surveillance.”
  7. After guilty plea, judge confused as to why prosecutors still want iPhone unlocked: “I respectfully direct the government to explain why the application is not moot.”
  8. Feds explain (sort of) why they really want data on seized iPhone 5S
  9. UK Gov’t Pretends That It’s ‘Backed Down’ On Snooper’s Charter
  10. Does a Teen’s Sex Crime Deserve Extra Punishment if He Used the Internet to Commit It?
  11. Facebook Beats Privacy Lawsuit Alleging Persistent Tracking
  12. John McAfee: No one in government cares about your privacy.
  13. How The EU’s Proposed New ‘Privacy’ Rules Will Be A Tool For Massive Censorship
  14. Canadian Judge Says Asking For A Copy Of A Legally-Obtained But Paywalled Article Is Circumvention
  15. Google Books and Fair Use: From Implausible to Inevitable? (Jane Ginsburg)
  16. MPAA Touts Big Legal Success Against Popcorn Time
  17. MPAA Whacs A Few More Moles, Declares Premature Victory While Making Movie Fans Worse Off
  18. Copyright As Censorship: Sketchy Food Scanning Company Abuses DMCA To Censor Critical Reporting
  19. Amazon opens its first real-world bookshop in Seattle: Book selection is based on online ratings, and online reviews are printed out on cards
  20. Can pro sports players legally demand payment from online fantasy sites?: Wagering on player performance deemed right of publicity violation, lawsuit says.
  21. Bell playing politics with your Internet bill by appealing CRTC ruling
  22. Why a Battle over the Internet and Canadian Cultural Policy is Brewing (Michael Geist)
  23. Title II kills investment? Comcast and other ISPs are now spending more: ISP earnings reports contradict Republican claims of reduced investment.
  24. SXSW Interactive changes tune, announces day-long Online Harassment Summit: Canceled panels return along with 19 more speakers; SXSW is “truly sorry.”
  25. SXSW plans Online Harassment Summit: Festival restores cancelled panels as part of day-long event, but key speaker says the show might not go on after all
  26. I Was on One of Those Canceled SXSW Panels.
  27. Here’s How Iranian Women Are Protesting Forced Hijab: “Facebook is our weapon,” says their advocate, exiled journalist Masih Alinejad.
  28. Former Instagram Model Edits Her Posts To Reveal Truth Behind The Photos
  29. Anonymous plans to ‘unhood’ 1,000 Ku Klux Klan members online
  30. Copyright Trolling in Canada: Is Blacklock’s a Copyright Troll & “Frequent Flyer” Litigator? (Howard Knopf)
  31. EFF asks appeals court to “shut down the Eastern District of Texas”: An (unintended) “absurd situation of forum shopping and forum selling.”
  32. How Congress Can Protect Online Consumer Reviews
  33. The Orwellian Story About CafePress Takedowns By Orwell’s Estate… Was Really CafePress Screwing Up
  34. Maybe Spotify Isn’t Killing The Music Industry After All
  35. Google Inbox will reply to e-mails for you with machine learning
  36. Artificial Intelligence, Neural Networks, and Deep Learning

CREATIVITY

  1. Fox News Anchor’s Suit Over Toy Hamster Likeness Results In Hilarious Point-By-Point Hasbro Rebuttal
  2. US judge denies copyright over 3-word phrase ‘Everyday I’m Hustlin’’
  3. Kit Kat and the registrability of shapes as trade marks
  4. Iran’s Film Industry Hopes Nuclear Deal Will Help Open Up Biz Internationally
  5. The Tangled Cultural Roots of Dungeons & Dragons
  6. Can a monkey own copyright?
  7. Happy Birthday to you: the final verse?
  8. The dubious relationship between   Lego and the art world

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Study says it is good for kids to play video games

By brendan dzioba on November 3, 2015

http://walyou.com/video-games-are-good-for-kids/

Not sure if anyone is writing a paper (or hoping to) on the effects of video games on children, but this article discusses some of the benefits of video games on young people.

 

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Class 8 Guest Speaker: Steve Rechtschaffner

By Jon Festinger on November 1, 2015

Unknown

Steve Rechtschaffner has just recently returned to Vancouver from San Francisco so we are particularly lucky to have him talk to us about the future of tech.  Particularly appropriate as well, since Steve has spent his career creating category-changing disruptive thinking and results across a wide spectrum of businesses.

As you will see Steve is an infinitely curious serial creator. Be it wearable tech, video games, sports or entertainment, finding new ways to engage, delight and entertain people is truly what he does best. Steve’s previous roles have included VP Product Experience at Jawbone; Creative Director, Microsoft Studios Sports Entertainment Group; Senior Executive Producer, Microsoft Xbox LIVE Studios; Chief Creative Officer, Humanature Studios, Nexon Publishing N.A.; VP & Creative Director, EA World Wide Studios Group; and Chief Creative Officer, Electronic Arts Canada Studios. Whew…

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Class 7 – 10/28/15: “What’s it all about…EULA?” & Jim Alam/Rob Edgar

By Jon Festinger on November 1, 2015

Video and slides follow…
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Screen Shot 2015-11-01 at 3.51.00 PM

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News of the Week; October 28, 2015

By Jon Festinger on November 1, 2015

GAMES

  1. Judge: Losing in Game of War’s virtual casino isn’t a real-world problem: Pinball also isn’t an illegal gambling “device,” court rules.
  2. Mind Candy branded non-compliant by ASA for “direct exhortations to children”
  3. US gov’t grants limited right to revive games behind “abandoned” servers: Players can circumvent defunct server checks but can’t create their own multiplayer.
  4. Harmonix fesses up to reviewing Rock Band 4 on Amazon
  5. Report: Ubisoft not pleased with Vivendi investment
  6. Activision’s move into eSports belated, but shrewd – Analysts
  7. Anita Sarkeesian reviews Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
  8. Microsoft stops reporting console sales
  9. “The beauty of PSVR is that we have the PS4 to power it”
  10. Don’t expect original IP to sustain your studio
  11. Activision Hires Former ESPN Boss To Run New eSports Division
  12. How Israel’s $1B game business thrives in a cutthroat global industry
  13. Bandai Namco expands with Indian subsidiary
  14. The spooky, twisted saga of the Deep Web horror game ‘Sad Satan’

DIGITAL

  1. My Unsolicited Advice to Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau & his Team on TPP, Copyright, CBC, Cabinet & Committees (Howard Knopf)
  2. Copyright concessions may be downside of TPP deal
  3. Activists urge Trudeau to defend Canada’s copyright regime from TPP changes: Under current laws, copyright holders must convince a court if they want the offending content removed but, under the TPP, content will be blocked or removed as soon as the first complaint is made.
  4. Copyright Decision Would Squelch Any Right to Read Paywalled Content in Canada (Teresa Scassa)
  5. Canadian Judge Says Asking For A Copy Of A Legally-Obtained But Paywalled Article Is Circumvention
  6. Google Books, fair use, and visual art—Second Circuit writes decision that would have helped two years ago 
  7. Google seeks to compel studios to respond to third-party subpoenas in case against Mississippi AG alleging speech suppression and retaliation
  8. Annotating competitor’s ad is fair use
  9. US regulators grant DMCA exemption legalising vehicle software tinkering
  10. Pandora will pay RIAA $90 million for playing pre-1972 songs: The maze of state copyright laws is an expensive headache for online music.
  11. Internet Radio Copyright Is Bad and Dumb: A Comprehensive Explainer
  12. Spotify reduces piracy, but also cuts into digital track sales
  13. Netflix sued for streaming Bicycle Thieves ‘without copyright’
  14. Judge overturns ban on ballot selfies: Indiana law criminalized posting pictures to social media of your marked ballot.
  15. Judge: Pinterest can’t force Pintrips to change names – Pinterest can’t stop a travel app—or anyone else—from “pinning” stuff online.
  16. Senate Approves a Cybersecurity Bill Long in the Works and Largely Dated
  17. Feds: Since Apple can unlock iPhone 5S running iOS 7, it should – DOJ doesn’t know of “any prior instance in which Apple objected to such an order.”
  18. The Darknet: Is the Government Destroying ‘the Wild West of the Internet?’
  19. Judge tosses Wikimedia’s anti-NSA lawsuit because Wikipedia isn’t big enough: Not enough facts to “plausibly establish that the NSA is using upstream surveillance.”
  20. Safe Harbor was for EU privacy: But how safe is US data in Europe? – While all the talk has been about the now-defunct Safe Harbor deal and protecting European data in the US, a recent case involving Google flips that debate on its head.
  21. The Need for Transparency in Surveillance (Bruce Schneir)
  22. California law requiring warrant for digital searches is ‘a landmark win for digital privacy’
  23. Cars That Talk to Each Other Are Much Easier to Spy On
  24. Why the death of the iPod was the end of privacy
  25. Right To Be Forgotten Now Lives In Australia: Court Says Google Is The ‘Publisher’ Of Material It Links To
  26. With Tim Wu’s Help, New York AG Launches Belated Investigation Into Whether ISPs Intentionally Slowed Netflix
  27. Net neutrality: EU votes in favour of Internet fast lanes and slow lanes
  28. The European Union’s New Net Neutrality ‘Protections’ Are A Joke
  29. After receiving threats, SXSW cancels panel about online harassment: SXSW also cancels “Savepoint” panel about “integrity of gaming’s journalists.”
  30. This Is Not a Game: How SXSW Turned GamerGate Abuse Into a Spectator Sport
  31. BuzzFeed To Withdraw From SXSW Over Canceled Gaming Panels
  32. 6 Experts On How Silicon Valley Can Solve Online Harassment
  33. What Snapchat’s High-Profile Exec Departures Really Tell Us About Ceo Evan Spiegel: The Fast-Growing Messaging And Media App Has Seen Star Talent Exit Quickly. What’s Behind Those Buzzy Departures And What They Really Mean.
  34. The plan to save Yahoo
  35. How the Internet Has Changed Bullying
  36. Like it or not, your employees can like it
  37. Why one software CEO agreed to meet a patent troll—and then fought it to the end: He seemed sad… but for whatever reason, he decided to take this path.”
  38. First ever online-only NFL game draws over 15 million viewers
  39. Stanford Researchers Treat Autism With Google Glass
  40. How Much Does Venture Capital Drive the U.S. Economy?: Two scholars measure the economic impact of VC-funded companies.
  41. The Ethics of Digital Disruption
  42. Software Is The New Oil
  43. The Rise of the Internet of Things and the Race to a Zero Marginal Cost Society (Jeremy Rifkin)
  44. Haunted by hackers: A suburban family’s digital ghost story
  45. Autonomous Cars and Their Ethical Conundrum
  46. Why Alien Life Will Be Robotic: If life off Earth exists it has probably transitioned to machine intelligence.

CREATIVITY

  1. Orwell Estate Sends Copyright Takedown Over The Number “1984”
  2. Lego Tells Political Artist To Hit The Bricks, Refusing To Sell Him Legos
  3. Artist Ai Weiwei banned from using Lego to build Australian artwork
  4. Judge Rules That Egyptian Moral Rights Don’t Provide Standing In Tangled Lawsuit Over Jay-Z’s Big Pimpin’
  5. “Desperate Housewives” star’s whistleblower case revived by Court of Appeal
  6. Why Is Elton John’s Career Winding Down? The Russian Orthodox Church Has the Answer: It’s not age but his sexuality, the Archpriest reportedly said, and the marginalizing connection is depressingly familiar
  7. Gender in the Music Industry

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Freedom of Expression – PowerPoint Presentation

By brendan dzioba on October 28, 2015

GCI – Midterm presentation

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Knights of Allardia: Video Game Violence

By Luke Effa on October 27, 2015

Legal Research 1

 

The Law and Science of Video Game Violence: What was Lost in Translation (William K Ford)

http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/caelj31&div=18&start_page=297&collection=journals&set_as_cursor=2&men_tab=srchresults

 

Regulating Violence in Video Games: Virtually Everything (Alan Wilcox)

http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/jnaa31&div=10&start_page=253&collection=journals&set_as_cursor=5&men_tab=srchresults

 

Game Over! Legal Responses to Video Game Violence (Kevin E. Barton)

http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/ndlep16&div=13&start_page=133&collection=journals&set_as_cursor=0&men_tab=srchresults

 

Thinking of the Children: The Failure of Violent Video Game Laws (Gregory Kenyota)

http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1410&context=iplj

 

Comment: It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets Hurt: The Effectiveness of Proposed Video-Game Legislation on Reducing Violence in Children (Patrick R. Byrd)

http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/hulr44&div=19&g_sent=1&collection=journals

 

Graphic Violent in Computer and Video Games: Is Legislation the Answer? (Matthew Hamilton)

http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/dlr100&div=13&start_page=181&collection=journals&set_as_cursor=0&men_tab=srchresults

 

“Mortal Kombat”: Illinois Violent Video games Law Versus First Amendment (Brendan J. Dolan)

http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/clrj26&div=6&start_page=75&collection=journals&set_as_cursor=0&men_tab=srchresults

 

Legal Research 2

 

Thinking of the Children: The Failure of Violent Video Game Laws (Gregory Kenyota)

http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1410&context=iplj

Legislators have been enacting laws to restrict the sales of violent video games to minors but they have been often struck down by courts for violating the First Amendment. The writer explored the First Amendment issues that legislators face when enacting statutes regulating the sales of violent video games to minors.

The writer then discusses that self-regulation is the only acceptable solution to mitigating the parental concerns to violent video games. The efficacy of the ESRB was also commended, and the writer suggested that the ESRB rating system is the best solution to prevent exposure of violent video games to children without governmental regulation. For example, Manhunt 2 by Rockstar  was rated Adults Only, and the various game platforms refused to stock the game. Rockstar had no choice but to put on hold its release date. After modifying it, the game received an M rating. and was successfully released. This provides a solid example of how the video game industry is able to regulate itself.

 

“Mortal Kombat”: Illinois Violent Video games Law Versus First Amendment (Brendan J. Dolan)

http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/clrj26&div=6&start_page=75&collection=journals&set_as_cursor=0&men_tab=srchresults

Discusses Illinois Violent Video Games Law and how it will be deemed unconstitutional due to vagueness and lack of proof concerning a causal connection between violent video game use and increased violent behavior in minors. Suggests legislators should turn their efforts instead to addressing actually proven causes of youth violence, such as bullying, social class, lack of parental supervision, and poverty. Regulating violence in video games should be left to industry self-regulation and parental supervision.

 

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Class 7 Guest Speakers: Jim Alam & Rob Edgar

By Jon Festinger on October 26, 2015

Jim Alam and Rob Edgar will together reflect on the kinds of real-world legal issues that come up when a video game is produced. The magic is that they will be jointly presenting from the perspective of Jim as lawyer and Rob as client. Biographical information on each of them follows.

jimalam

Jim Alam is a partner at Koffman, Kalef LLP. Jim a business lawyer with a practice focusing on all aspects of corporate commercial transactions but with a particular interest in video game law. Jim acts for a number of clients in the video game industry, both locally and in the U.S./international context. Jim has broad experience advising clients on intellectual property licensing, video game development and publishing, and video game financing issues and assists clients with preparing and negotiating all aspects of video game industry contracts. When we were both at Davis LLP and beyond, Jim was very involved and assisted in the conception of the book “Video Game Law”, as well as with preparation of syllabi and course materials for early iterations of this course. Jim has routinely attended major video game trade functions, including the E3 Expo, PAX and IGDA functions.

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Rob Edgar brings over 15 years of proven experience in video game business development, licensing and marketing. In 1996 Rob co-founded FirstWeb, a class leading interactive agency specializing in video game marketing. Under his leadership, the company grew to be one of the top agencies in the industry. In 2005, Rob joined LA-based Union Entertainment as a Video Game Agent, quickly becoming one of the top performers at the agency. With strong business sense and creative passion, Rob established a successful track record closing deals with some of the industries biggest players, including Activision, Amazon, Electronic Arts, Disney Interactive, Sega, among others which total more than $100M. Rob also has experience in raising capital in both the public and private markets, as well as advising clients on M&A matters. Rob has served as a Mentor for the Great Canadian Video Game Competition, a judge for the Canadian Video Game awards and advised the Irish Government on Economic Development for their Digital Media sector.

In 2010, Rob co-founded a video game management company, Birthplace Management Group Inc (BMG – www.bpmginc.com). This company now represents some of the industry’s top studios. At BMG, Rob continues to source, package and close deals for clients as well as serve as an advisor and mentor to several other Digital Media companies.

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