Hi Class,
Our next guest speaker is Ms. Jennifer Kelly, partner of Fenwick & West’s litigation group in San Francisco. Her practice focuses on commercial and intellectual property litigation, with a particular emphasis on copyright, trademark, trade secret, false advertising, and unfair competition disputes for technology companies.
She has been involved in really interesting cases in areas such as cloud computing, copyright infringement and commercial class actions. Her clients include many well known companies:
- Antares Audio Technologies
- BlackRock
- Capcom Entertainment
- CBS Interactive
- Gearbox Software
- Intuit
- ngmoco
- SEGA of America
- Tonnellerie Saury
She has indicated to us that she will focus her presentation on discussions about disputes between developers and how she goes about analyzing potential copyright claims in the game space. She will also touch on where the line falls between copyright infringement and lawful copying, something that she regularly advise her clients on.
Fun fact to note: the producer of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead filed suit against Capcom, claiming the zombies-in-a-mall action game Dead Rising ripped off the classic 1979 horror film. Jon also mentioned this case in class. Jennifer was counsel representing Capcom in trial. Her victory (a dismissal of all claims, with prejudice, on an initial motion to dismiss) cleared the path for Dead Rising 2, which was released in 2010.
Lastly, we also stumbled upon an article that she co-authored on EA v Zynga, which is a really interesting read. Follow the link if you are interested: http://www.fenwick.com/publications/Pages/Electronic-Arts-v-Zynga-Real-Dispute-Over-Virtual-Worlds.aspx
Have a great weekend!
Chen and Alex
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