This is a webcast of the live San Francisco session.Why you should attend
The interactive games industry is expanding with blinding speed. The nature of the products, delivery platforms, economic models, regulatory considerations, key players, content and financing issues are all inter-related parts of a big picture. This from an industry that was virtually unknown 30 years ago! Intellectual property, including videogames, has become one of America’s leading exports in the 21st Century. The emergence of the Internet, Facebook and other social platforms and destinations, Apple iOS, Android, tablet computers, and other digital delivery vehicles, the explosive growth of casual and social gaming, and the emergence of games of chance as a potential new and fertile area for growth, have broadened the reach and audiences for games far beyond teen with their videogame consoles and personal computers. Any lawyer who represents creators of content, developers of technology or other intellectual property should have a basic understanding of current business and legal issues and practices in this dynamic field.
What you will learn
- The parties to the deal – multiple interests are the norm, not the exception, in games deals
- Understanding and negotiating key IP issues
- Deal terms found in every developer-publisher game development negotiation
- Licensing developer “tools and tech” – how far should rights granted to a game publisher extend?
- Termination clauses in game development contracts – when the deal ends early
- Subcontracting and outsourcing: Securing sufficient IP rights from your off-shore suppliers
- Monetizing games – a developer’s and a publisher’s view of the issue
- Defining the category of “Social Games” – intro to Facebook, Browser, Mobile, Social Games
- Monetizing “free to play”
- Contests and promotions – what is legal and what is not?
- Games of skill vs. games of chance: When are your games violating anti-gambling laws?
- Privacy issues and social games: The current FTC regulatory environment
- CA State enforcement actions under CalOPPA
- Does your online privacy policy meet the latest requirements; update on marketing to children (COPPA)
- Protection of Personally Identifiable Information – what is required? Making sure you’re in compliance with the law
- Financing start-up developers and publishers – methods and strategies to raise or source capital for game development and publishing – and exiting when the time is right
Who should attend
Attorneys who represent clients in intellectual property-related, technology, or entertainment fields; videogame developers and publishers’ counsel; managers and executives with entertainment industry, interactive entertainment and digital responsibilities. This course will give the intellectual property, corporate, litigation or in-house attorney a broad overview of the business and legal issues in the interactive entertainment industry.
PLI Group Discounts
Groups of 4-14 from the same organization, all registering at the same time, for a PLI program scheduled for presentation at the same site, are entitled to receive a group discount. For further discount information, please contact membership@pli.edu or call (800) 260-4PLI.
PLI Can Arrange Group Viewing to Your Firm
Contact the Groupcasts Department via email at groupcasts@pli.edu for more details.
Cancellations
All cancellations received 3 business days prior to the program will be refunded 100%. If you do not cancel within the allotted time period, payment is due in full. You may substitute another individual to attend the program at any time.
All times are P.D.T.
Morning Session: 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (P.D.T.)
9:00 Opening Remarks and Introduction
Jim Charne, Dan Offner
9:15 Understanding and Negotiating Core IP and Game Development Deal Points
- The (multiple) parties to the deal – who brings what; who gets what
- IP rights issues: the underlying property; source code; developer’s tools and tech, third party engine, middleware, hardware manufacturer
- Developer’s rights: sequels, ports; add-ons; additional content
- Developer’s obligations: reps and warranties; insurance requirements; non-compete; exclusive assignment of “key personnel”
- Publisher’s reps and warranties: what’s in the boilerplate; what additions do developers want
- Subcontracting and outsourcing; publisher approval requirements tying up all the rights with contractors
- Accounting issues; audit rights
- Termination clauses: for cause; not for cause; consequences
- Milestone development: approval process; timing of payments, change order procedures
- Post-development issues: additional content requirements, fixing bugs, maintaining the team
Jim Charne (moderator), Lane Kiriyama, Riley R. Russell, Jennifer Stump
11:15 Break
11:30 Social Mobile Gaming in 2013
- Defining the category – the new platforms
- Social games
- What is a developer and what is a publisher
- Monetization
- Premium vs. freemium
- Free to play model
- Contests and promotions
- Games of skill and games of chance
- Gamblification/soft gambling games
- Major legal issues
- TOS/privacy
- State AG’s
- Gambling
- COPPA
Dan Offner (moderator), Steve Goldstein, Mitchell A. Kamin
12:30 Lunch
Afternoon Session: 1:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (P.D.T.)
1:45 The Regulatory and Legal Overlay: The FTC, Privacy, Maintaining Personally Identifiable Information, Marketing to Children
- Why is privacy law and addressing privacy issues proactively critical for today’s videogame developers and publishers? The importance of the Playdom decision for videogame developers and publishers
- What is the regulatory overview in the U.S. with respect to privacy law?
- How do Privacy Policy, EULA, and Terms of Service work with the U.S. regulatory framework? Is your client’s site or game compliant? What is the role of the FTC and what are the consequences of non-compliance? How does the service provider protect itself?
- Data security: what is the current state of the law and what steps does a developer/publisher have to take to safely and legally maintain personally identifiable information? What are the consequences of non-compliance?
James Alan Cook, Dona J. Fraser
2:45 Angel and Venture Financing for New Developers/Publishers and Exits
- First Round: valuations and terms with friends, family and angels
- Second Round: when is it time; who should you approach? What do Series A and B investors look for?
- Alternative Project Financing: Bank Bonding, Crowd Sourcing and Kickstarter
- Cashing Out – when the developer is acquired by a publisher, how are developers valued, what drives publisher acquisitions, what possible deal types and structures?
Dan Offner (moderator), Jeffrey Lapin, Mark Stevens
3:45 Break
4:00 Angel and Venture Financing for New Developers/Publishers and Exits (ctd.)
Dan Offner (moderator), Jeffrey Lapin, Mark Stevens
5:00 Adjourn
Co-Chair(s)
Speaker(s)
Dona J. Fraser ~ Vice President, Privacy Certified, Entertainment Software Rating Board
Riley R. Russell ~ Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel and Senior Vice President Corporate Development, Sony Computer Entertainment America
Jennifer Stump ~ Vice-President and Associate General Counsel, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc.
Program Attorney(s)
PLI makes every effort to accredit its Live Webcasts. Please check the CLE Calculator above for CLE information specific to your state.
PLI's Live Webcasts are approved for MCLE credit (
unless otherwise noted in the product description) in the following states/territories: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho*, Illinois, Indiana
1, Iowa*, Kansas*, Kentucky*, Louisiana, Maine*, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire*, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York
2, Ohio
3, Oklahoma, Oregon*, Pennsylvania
4, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia
5, Virgin Islands, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming*.
*PLI will apply for credit upon request.
Arizona: The State Bar of Arizona does not approve or accredit CLE activities for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirement.
Arkansas and Oklahoma: Audio-only live webcasts are not approved for credit.
1Indiana: Considered a distance education course. There is a 6 credit limit per year.
2New York: Newly admitted attorneys may not take non-transitional course formats such as on-demand audio or video programs or live webcasts for CLE credit. Newly admitted attorneys not practicing law in the United States, however, may earn 12 transitional credits in non-traditional formats.
3Ohio: To confirm that the live webcast has been approved, please refer to the list of Ohio’s Approved Self Study Activities at http://www.sconet.state.oh.us. Online programs are considered self-study. Ohio attorneys have a 6 credit self-study limit per biennial compliance period. The Ohio CLE Board states that attorneys must have a 100% success rate in clicking on timestamps to receive ANY CLE credit for an online program.
4 Pennsylvania: A live webcast may be viewed individually or in a group setting. Credit may be granted to an attorney who views a live webcast individually. There is a 4.0 credit limit per year for this type of viewing. A live webcast viewed in a group setting receives live participatory credit if the program is open to the public and advertised at least 30 days prior to the program. Live webcasts viewed in a group setting that do not advertise at least 30 days prior the program will be considered "in-house", and therefore denied credit.
5Virginia: All distance learning courses are to be done in an educational setting, free from distractions.
Running time and CLE credit hours are not necessarily the same. Please be aware that many states do not permit credit for luncheon and keynote speakers.
Note that some states limit the number of credit hours attorneys may claim for online CLE activities, and state rules vary with regard to whether online CLE activities qualify for participatory or self-study credits. For more information, refer to your state CLE website or call Customer Service at (800) 260-4PLI (4754) or email: info@pli.edu.
If you have already received credit for attending some or the entire program, please be aware that state administrators do not permit you to accrue additional credit for repeat viewing even if an additional credit certificate is subsequently issued.