Marvel/Disney Served with Copyright Termination Notice by Kirby Estate

In breaking news, the estate of Jack Kirby, co-creator of a range of successful comic franchies from Captain America, X-Men, Hulk, The Fantastic Four, and more, has served notice to Marvel and Disney, and their film studios (Sony, Universal, Paramount, and 20th Century Fox) terminating their copyright in these IPs. The estate has also retained veteran IP litigator Marc Toberoff to go after any future claims.

There doesn’t appear to be any immediate danger for EXISTING games based on those IP’s, however, future games might be in jeopardy. According to comic news outlet bleedingcool, his copyright claim would exist from 2014. This would mean Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is safe, but look out Marvel Ultimate Alliance 4.  Toberoff has experience in this realm, he’s been successful on an identical claim on behalf of the Siegel estate, regaining copyright in Superman material. This is something we’ll obviously be following very closely, as the financial implications from forced licensing (let alone the IP issues) could have huge effects on some very popular game franchises.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Eros LLC sues Linden Labs over Second Life Infringement

In an interesting move, Eros LLC, a maker of Second Life virtual sex products, has sued Linden Labs, the developer and publisher of Second Life, for a bevy of causes of action including trademark infringement, copyright infringement, DMCA violations, and tortious interference. Eros, who some readers may remember as the plaintiff in a previous sex bed case, is claiming that Linden is profiting immensely from the sale of illegally copied goods protected under Eros’ marks. The difference this time lies with the defendant; while Eros was previously going after the individual copiers, this time they’re going after Linden themselves. Stephen Wu, who will be presenting a discussion at Engage! Expo/Digital Law Conference entitled “Intellectual Property Megasuit: Could it Happen to You” suggests that Eros may be seeking to replicate Viacom’s successes against Youtube and Google. “It’s hard to judge, but perhaps you’ll see some better activity on behalf of Linden’s to reform their system, and maybe get a settlement in exchange.”

The broader issue, Wu warns, is what effect this may have on other virtual worlds and MMOG owners. Already faced with one landscape changing mega-litigation to watch (the NCSoft/Worlds.com patent suit), virtual worlds owners will now have to “get their houses in order” as far as IP and DRM are concerned, lest they become the next targets. “There is risk for other virtual world owners. If they don’t have their own protections for copyright and trademark owners, they may see themselves getting sued from this firm [KamberEdelson] or a similar plaintiff,” says Wu. KamberEdelson, according to Wu, is on the hunt for what they perceive to be unfair business practices — they were involved in the recent Amazon suit over the pulling of digital copies of Orwell’s 1984 from Kindle owners. In closing, Wu warns, “This is not a one-off event. This is going to be a prime form of litigation in the near future.”

For further analysis, Patent Arcade is tracking the suit as well. The complaint can be viewed in full here.

Popularity: 4% [?]

GamesLaw Video Footage: Legal Issues in Contemporary Games

At long last, we’ve found video footage from my panel at PAX 08, entitled “Legal Issues in Contemporary Games”. Thanks to Youtube user pipedreamer for getting it uploaded!

The video is split into 4 parts, the first of which can be found here. Note that the 2nd part is mislabeled “part 1″ as well, but differs in that it has Tom Buscaglia in the first frame (the actual part 1 has myself and Ross Dannenberg in the first frame). Parts 3 and 4 are labeled as normal.

Link: Part 1

Popularity: unranked [?]

Nintendo Releases Annual Piracy Report, Pleads to Think of the Children

In its annual report to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Nintendo again outlined the state of piracy in the world in regard to its hardware and software products. Countries that have made the piracy list this year include China (”the hub of production of counterfeit goods”), Mexico (”anti-piracy actions are… wholly inadequate”), Spain (”the availability of game-copying devices is alarming”) and Paraguay (”corruption continues to hamper anti-piracy efforts”). In addition to these countries, Nintendo also complimented the Republic of Korea for recent raids made against pirates in conjunction with the US.

Interestingly enough, Nintendo decided to utilize the old adage of protecting the children as a reason to prevent piracy. Jodi Daugherty, senior director of anti-piracy writes,

It is important for parents to note that if users of circumvention devices are children, they may be exposed to unsuitable content downloaded from the Internet and played on their Nintendo systems.

So there you have it folks. It’s not about the money, it’s about the unlicensed porno Wii games that might make it to your children!

Popularity: 2% [?]

World to FTC: No DRM in our Games

In what should come as no surprise to most in the technology community, the Federal Trade Commission’s recent call for comments in regard to its March Digital Rights Management Town Hall Meeting has turned up a vast amount protest against DRM. Interestingly enough, the majority of the comments focused not on the traditional DRM embedded in movies and music, but instead on specific DRM that is found in video games. 

Based on a sampling of over 700 public comments currently posted at the FTC site, it’s obvious that gamers took the opportunity to write to the FTC about issues they’ve encountered with the DRM technologies typically found in PC games.  Comments so far range from a simple mantra to deep philosophical meanderings to the near incomprehensible (although, to be fair, there are a quite a few well thought out arguments). 

The event will take place March 25th at the University of Washington Law School and will be webcasted. An agenda posted by the FTC is available for all to look at.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Apple Wins Some, Adds Some

As expected, Apple has amended its Complaint against computer seller Psystar. Psystar is a primarily online retailer who earlier this year introduced the “Hackintosh” – a non-Apple PC running Apple’s operating system. Apple’s original filing only alleged violation of the OS X End User Licensing Agreement, but this week they have added additional allegations of copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The amendment includes copyright allegations against ten yet-unnamed defendants who will be identified and served during the course of discovery.

Apple also had a legal victory this week, in the courts of The People’s Republic of China. Chinese judges found for the American company against Shenzen-based New Apple Concept Digital Technology Co., Ltd. This case, also sounding in copyright, alleged that the Chinese company’s apple-based logo bore too much similarity to Apple’s own. The company has been ordered to pay 400,000 yuan (? US$58,000) to Apple, Inc. No word if Steve Jobs is eyeing up a new armada of Segways with his windfall.

Popularity: unranked [?]