Whether you’re a local indie developer or a major international publisher, we deal with the broad range of legal issues that arise in the game industry for both publishers and developers: protecting intellectual property, drafting and negotiating development or publishing contracts, corporate structure and finance, advising on government tax incentive programs, and addressing tax and employment matters.
Our experience in the video game sector has meant working with large international publishers, on intellectual property, employment, privacy, and publishing matters. We also have extensive experience with independent developers, who we assist in negotiating international development and publishing agreements across all console, mobile and PC-based platforms.
In addition to representing publishers and developers, we have also worked with industry groups like the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). We helped ESA successfully oppose attempts to collect copyright royalties from the video game industry each time a game was downloaded.
On the regulatory side, we offer expertise in privacy, personal information, consumer protection, anti-spam legislation, CASL computer program installation/anti-spyware, and online advertising. We also track of how foreign jurisdictions are responding to monetization in the growing number of video games that involve gambling.
On the intellectual property side, Fasken has deep experience with copyright (including open source software issues), obtaining patent and trademark protection, conducting freedom to operate searches, and negotiating intellectual property licences and merchandising agreements.
The lawyers in our group are actively involved in the Video Game Bar Association, and are recognized leaders in their areas of expertise. Together, we support industry events, lead panel discussions and offer mentorship to entrepreneurs who are starting out.
To learn more, subscribe to our “Intellectual Property Bulletin”, “Communications Bulletin”, attend a presentation where we’ll speaking about industry issues, or contact any of our lawyers to learn more.
