Legal News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

President Joe Biden today signed into law a package of national security measures, including legislation that will force China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok or see the app banned in the US.

Nintendo has issued a DMCA takedown notice against 8,535 GitHub repositories that contain code from the Yuzu emulator for Switch.

Google has filed its objections against Epic Games' recent call for the courts to enforce a variety of changes to policies regarding the Google Play store and its associated payment system.

Discord has banned an unknown number of accounts that were using bots to scrape messages from up to 620 million users and sold them to other companies.

The Federal Communications Commission has voted to restore Net Neutrality.

Facepunch Studios has received takedown notices from Nintendo and is currently in the process of removing all Garry's Mod content related to IP owned by the platform holder.

The Federal Trade Commission today published a final rule banning non-compete clauses in contracts.

Take-Two has won its lawsuit against tattoo artist Jimmy Hayden, who claimed that the reproduction of his work on basketball player LeBron James in the NBA 2K series constituted copyright infringement.

Take-Two has successfully defended itself against a lawsuit in which a tattoo artist claimed the publisher had used their copyright without permission when recreating the likeness of Lebron James' tattoo in NBA 2K.

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The US Federal Trade Commission has denied an attempt to add facial age estimation technology to the list of acceptable forms of obtaining parental consent for collecting kids' information under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

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The US Department of Justice has filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Apple, having accused the tech firm of illegally monopolising the smartphone market and violating antitrust laws.

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A year after being removed from Steam, Ironmace's Dark and Darker will be available on the Epic Games Store.

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Tropic Haze, the developer of Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu, has responded to a lawsuit filed by Nintendo of America.

Tropic Haze – the company behind the emulation software Yuzu – has responded to Nintendo's summons that accuses the company of «illegally circumventing Nintendo's software encryption».

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The CEO and former star player of Call of Duty League team Optic Texas filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard yesterday, accusing the publisher of wielding an unlawful monopoly over professional Call of Duty leagues and engaging in anti-competitive and extortionate behavior to the detriment of players and teams.

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Take-Two has argued that virtual currencies are "fictions" in its appeal to get a lawsuit dismissed.

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Ironmace says a court has dismissed its former publisher Nexon's request for an injunction following the publisher's claim that Dark and Darker has been written with stolen code from a game the team had been developing for Nexon.

The April Fool's joke brought to life, Bloodborne Kart, has had to postpone its release following «contact» from IP owners Sony.

Square Enix has revealed that several people have been criminally charged for distributing counterfeit merchandise in China.

Beyond its new policy allowing game streaming apps worldwide, Apple today announced new changes it is making to comply with the European Union's Digital Markets Act, most notably that it will allow alternative app payments and app stores.

Apple today has announced new rules that will allow game streaming apps onto iOS devices.

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Alright, alright, they're in a disupte over the letter R as used for a logo for a video game company. As spotted by Respawn First, Remedy (they of the Alan Wake) revealed their new logo last year, a big letter R, and Take-Two (they of the owning Rockstar Games) contest it. Rockstar's logo is also a big letter R, although I think they're pretty different Rs.

One year ago, we made some predictions on legal trends for 2023. Now it is time to look back and see where we have been right (+) and where we have been wrong (-), as well as making some new predictions for 2024.

In the face of rampant cheating, it's time for game developers to hack the hackers.

A former Activision Blizzard executive has filed a discrimination claim with the company, alleging it of discriminating against «old white guys».

A former Activision executive has sued the publisher in California state court accusing the company of age discrimination and violating the state's whistleblower protection law, as reported by Law360.

Nexon has been fined ₩11.6 million ($8.9 million) by the Korea Fair Trade Commission for allegedly omitting to inform customers about probability changes to in-game items in MapleStory.

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Sony has been fined €13.5 million by French antitrust regulator Autorité de la Concurrence, which has accused the company of "abusing its dominant position in the market" by restricting third-party PlayStation 4 controllers.

China today announced a series of planned restrictions on video game monetization and engagement tactics, according to Reuters.

Google has agreed to pay $700 million in an antitrust settlement with US state attorney generals.

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Activision Blizzard has agreed to pay over £44 million to settle a 2021 sex discrimination lawsuit.

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Epic Games has won its trial against Google over antitrust claims, with the jury deeming Google Play and its billing system to be an illegal monopoly.

As ZeniMax Workers United and the Communication Workers of America continue to negotiate their first contract with Microsoft subsidiary ZeniMax, the groups today released an update on talks, saying they have reached a tentative agreement with the company that would impact how it can incorporate artificial intelligence into its business.

Lawrence «Florida Joker» Sullivan is demanding $2 million from Rockstar Games for allegedly using his likeness in GTA 6 without consent.

This Week in Business is our weekly recap column, a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a dash of opinion (sometimes more than a dash) and intended to shed light on various trends. Check every Friday for a new entry.

The Federal Trade Commission has made its appeal to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard – despite the $68.7 billion deal closing in October.

Loot boxes are still here with us in 2023, and some countries are finally catching up with regulation.

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PlayStation has begun emailing players to inform them that due to «content licensing arrangements», from 31st December, some Dicovery content will be removed from players' libraries – even if they've paid for it.

Activision Blizzard planned to open its own mobile game store before being acquired by Microsoft, court documents from the Epic Games and Google antitrust jury trial show.

CD Projekt has settled a class action lawsuit filed by its own investors, who claim they were misled over Cyberpunk 2077's quality at launch.

Krafton and NetEase have resolved their dispute over PUBG and Knives Out.

Xsolla is being sued by its former VP of global accounting, according to a report from Southern California news wire service CNS.

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Take-Two Interactive and 2K Games are facing a class action lawsuit accusing the company of theft and unlawful business practices, due to virtual currency becoming non-transferrable in its games once servers for previous titles are deactivated.

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A cohort of parents filed a new civil lawsuit against Roblox, claiming that monetary losses were suffered due to its lack of child safety precautions.

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Four of the biggest companies in the industry have been targeted by a lawsuit accusing them of enabling video game addiction.

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Across the Creative Industries, its long been acknowledged we have an issue with cases of sexual abuse and harassment and the ability to absolve ourselves of responsibility and ignore the issue have been extensive. But from Autumn 2024, that's set to change.

There has been a lot of activity recently from EU and UK legislators with each seeking to outdo the other with new laws being introduced at every turn. There is also increasing regulatory activity and enforcement relevant for the games industry, with consumer regulators building capabilities through investment into technology and staff.

Microsoft have finally, finally, finally bought Activision Blizzard after many months of haggling with regulators in several countries. The total figure for the company behind Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Hearthstone, to say nothing of whopping mobile game publisher King and Candy Crush Saga? $68.7 billion, making this the biggest buyout in videogames industry history.

A dispute between Ark: Survival Evolved developer Studio Wildcard and the makers of Chinese strategy game Myth of Empires has come to a happy ending, as all parties involved say they're now going to work together to «re-release» Myth of Empires on Steam and other platforms in early 2024.

Myth of Empires developer Angela Game and Ark: Survival Evolved developer Snail Games have come to a settlement agreement after two years of litigation.

Myth of Empires is finally returning to Steam in a few months, thanks to a surprising development announced today.