Commentary on legal issues in the computer and video game industry
Posted in Intellectual Property, Licensing, Trademark on Apr 22nd, 2010
A trademark can consist of words, names, or symbols used to uniquely identify a source of goods. Trademark rights arise when the designation is first used in commerce linked to goods or services to indicate the source. Trademark law gives the owner the right to stop others from using a similar mark in connection with [...]
Posted in Copyright, Intellectual Property, Licensing on Apr 20th, 2010
Copyright includes rights to reproduce, distribute, perform, create derivative works, import, and export an original work. Examples of copyrightable material include writings, music, graphics, software, and videos. The author is ordinarily the original owner of a copyright. However, when the author creates the work under a contract with another, it may be a “work for [...]
Posted in Intellectual Property, Licensing on Apr 18th, 2010
Just about everything of value in a game company is intellectual property. This includes the game collectively, and its components of programming, story, art, and music. Accordingly, it is essential that a game company protect its intellectual property rights and properly license it in order to make a profit. Further, a game developer often ends [...]
Posted in Intellectual Property, Trademark on Apr 18th, 2010
Trademarks are how you protect the identity and source your products in the marketplace. Trademark law allows companies to build brand recognition by prohibiting others from using confusingly similar marks. Trademarks are usually either words or logos, or a combination of those, that are used to identify a company’s products. While colors, sounds, and smells [...]
Posted in Intellectual Property, Trade Secret on Apr 12th, 2010
Trade secret law protects from others improperly taking a company’s secret information that can be used for a business advantage. In other words, trade secrets are a company’s business secrets. The “secret” nature of trade secret protection is unique among the four types of intellectual property protection. Patent, copyright, and trademark law all protect information [...]
Posted in Intellectual Property, Patent on Apr 9th, 2010
Patent law protects the first person to conceive of a novel and useful idea, who then timely obtains a patent. Patents protect processes, machines, manufactures, and compositions of matter. Patents protect the owner from others making, using, selling, or importing the invention. The patent owner is under no obligation to actually make or use the [...]
Posted in Copyright, Intellectual Property on Apr 8th, 2010
Following up on my earlier post on general intellectual property law, let’s now turn our focus on copyright law. Copyright protects your creative work from being copied by others without your permission. Of the types of protection available, copyright has the broadest application to the types of IP in a typical game company. As listed [...]
Posted in Intellectual Property on Apr 7th, 2010
Just about everything of value in a game company is intellectual property. Intellectual property, commonly referred to as IP, is quite simply property that is a product of the mind (or intellect). It’s about the ownership of ideas and control over the tangible or intangible representations of those ideas. The law protects the ownership of [...]
