HHR New Media, Entertainment and Technology Group

If you are designing or developing a video game that depicts this planet or any other fictional world, then you need a pair of trained legal eyes to review the people, places, products and things that will be featured in the game. Go it alone, and you are traveling down a windy road that intersects with copyright, trademark, privacy law and the First Amendment, where the case law is complex, the rulings are inconsistent, and the outcome may ultimately depend on the jurisdiction. Make one mistake and you will find yourself staring down a lawsuit before your game title moves a thousand copies. Whether the lawsuit is filed by the owner of a popular destination who thinks you stole the “look and feel” of his establishment (see E.S.S. Entertainment 2000, Inc. v. Rock Star Videos, Inc., 2008 WL 4791705 (9th Cir. 2008)) or the lead singer of a retro-funk dance group who claims a character in your game wears the same clothing and resembles her (see Kirby v. Sega of America, Inc., 144 Cal.App.4th 47 (2006)), video game profits have caught the world’s attention, and, as in all things, success leads to lawsuits. Continue Reading »

[UPDATE:  Conference materials available for download below.] On May 19, the Firm will be hosting a conference sponsored by the Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel and the Digital Watermarking Association.  The conference, entitled “Digital Watermarking, Fingerprinting, Filtering and Other Technology Solutions to Identify, Protect and Monetize Content” will feature several panels discussing the business and legal implications of content protection initiatives.

The keynote speaker will be Stanley Pierre-Louis, VP and Associate General Counsel for IP and Content Protection at Viacom.  Dan will be moderating a panel with executives from MTV Networks, Giant Steps Technology Services, Interpret LLC and County Analytics.

The complete agenda is available here.  Registration information is here.

Conference Materials

Final Agenda

Speakers’ Bios

Presentations

• Content Protection As A Business Imperative – Stanley Pierre-Louis
• Digital Watermarking Applications and Business Drivers – Bruce Davis
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
• Content Security and Tracking – Tom Miller
• Watermarking for Monitoring – John Utley

Articles

• Congress Should Amend the Copyright Act to Protect Transactional Watermarking – Matt Williams
• Content Identification Technologies – Bill Rosenblatt
• Ongoing Innovation in Digital Watermarking – Rajan Samtani

White Papers

• Digital Serial Numbers and Piracy Deterrence – Digital Watermarking Alliance
• Digital Watermark Technologies-Applications in P2P Networks – Distributed Computing Industry Association
• Orphan Works – Digital Watermarking Alliance
• Privacy Principles for Digital Watermarking – Center for Democracy & Technology

Other Materials

• Digital Watermarking Alliance Brochure
• Digital Watermarking Alliance Information

Clark will be speaking at the Distributed Computing Industry Association’s annual P2P Media Summit LA. The Summit is being held in conjunction with Digital Hollywood Spring, one of the leading digital entertainment conferences and expositions. Clark will be participating in a panel entitled “Next Generation P2P-Music, TV and Film.”