Author Archives: Jon Festinger, Q.C.

About Jon Festinger, Q.C.

Husband/father/practitioner/educator. Faculty, Centre for Digital Media. Adjunct Professor UBC Law School. Firm: Festinger Law & Strategy LLP. Author of Video Game Law (LexisNexis 2005) & co-author of Video Game Law 2nd Edition (LexisNexis 2012). Twitter: @gamebizlaw

News of the Week; April 3, 2013

1. Immigrant Uses Xbox Live History To Gain Legal Residency: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/03/26/immigrant-uses-xbox-live-history-gain-legal-residency#.UVnYC7_R1Lw

2. Iowa State Rearchers Find Link Between Juvenile Offenders and Playing Violent Video Games: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/03/27/iowa-state-researchers-find-link-between-juvenile-offenders-and-playing-violent-video-gam#.UVnYs7_R1Lw

3. What would you do if you weren’t afraid?: http://meagan-marie.tumblr.com/post/46396481491/what-would-you-do-if-you-werent-afraid

4. Turning the tables on trolls: ‘Tropes vs. Women’ creator talks harassment at GDC: http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/28/4157748/anita-sarkeesian-talks-about-harassment-at-gdc

5. Banner & Witcoff secures win for Wargaming.net: http://www.patentarcade.com/2013/03/banner-witcoff-secures-win-for.html?m=1

6. A Setback for Resellers of Digital Products: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/business/media/redigi-loses-suit-over-reselling-of-digital-music.html?nl=technology&emc=edit_tu_20130402

+ link to U.S. District Court decision in Capitol Records, LLC v. ReDigi Inc.http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2013/04/redigiruling.pdf

7. Aereo Wins a Court Battle, Dismaying Broadcasters: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/business/media/aereo-wins-in-appeals-court-setting-stage-for-trial-on-streaming-broadcast-tv.html

+ link to USCA decision in WNET v. Aereo, Inc. http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/2a55b1d7-8f1b-46df-9a0d-82d36c31ed06/1/doc/12-2786_12-2807_complete_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/2a55b1d7-8f1b-46df-9a0d-82d36c31ed06/1/hilite/

8. New York Court Upholds Sales Tax for Online Retailers: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/technology/amazon-and-overstock-lose-challenge-to-online-sales-tax.html nl=technology&emc=edit_tu_20130329&_r=0

9. Now THIS is how to write your startup’s Terms of Servicehttp://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/03/29/now-this-is-how-to-write-a-terms-of-service-document/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheNextWeb+(The+Next+Web+All+Stories)

10. Letting Down Our Guard With Web Privacy: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/technology/web-privacy-and-how-consumers-let-down-their-guard.html?nl=technology&emc=edit_tu_20130401&_r=1&

11. Entire library journal editorial board resigns, citing ‘crisis of conscience’ after death of Aaron Swartz: http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/3/26/4149752/library-journal-resigns-for-open-access-citing-aaron-swartz

12. Copyright Ruling Rings With Echo of Betamax: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/27/business/in-a-copyright-ruling-the-lingering-legacy-of-the-betamax.html?nl=technology&emc=edit_tu_20130327&_r=1&

And in the not really relevant category:

13. Lindt loses German case over Easter bunny trademark: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/28/us-lindt-bunnies-ruling-idUSBRE92R0CU20130328

jon

Guest @ April 3 Class

Steve Rechtschaffner who has a long and storied video game career will be our guest for the final class. He is going to take on the subject of the future of games and the future of the industry.

Here is Steve’s bio:

“Steve has 25+ years of pioneering in the worlds of branded entertainment, product marketing and digital entertainment.  He has changed how we think about wrist watches, live events, home fitness, video games, snowboarding and how we experience entertainment in the living room. He’s recently reconnected with some former EA friends, and together they have launched a disruptive mobile games & advertising platform called Play4Perks.

His life-long focus has been on “combining innovation and entertainment to create exciting and sustainable growth for brands and businesses.  Over the years, Steve has done this for Swatch, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Reebok, Converse, the U.F.C., ESPN, FOX TV and the U.S. Ski Team, amongst others.

Non-professional time for Steve is spent practicing yoga, riding his bike, trying to become a kite surfer, while also being a husband and father of 3 offspring.”

jon

University of Pennsylvania Law School I.P. Symposium “Creation Nation: IP & The Rise of Prosumerism” Friday, March 29, 2013

Am honoured to be speaking on a panel with Greg Lastowka and Mark Methenitis on modding and video games. The entire program (which is excellent  and covers legal challenges in fan fiction and 3D printing as well) is here: 2013 Symposium » Penn Intellectual Property Group.

There will be a live stream of the event which should be up about ten minutes before it formally convenes at 2 PM EST. Accodingly you should be able to link to the stream beginning around 10:50 AM PST here:  https://www.law.upenn.edu/newsevents/live/webcast.php?vid=rooms/videogk100

jon

News of the Week; March 27, 2013

1. Bug in EA’s Battlefield Play4Free allows attackers to hijack players’ PCs: http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/03/bug-in-eas-battlefield-play4free-allows-attackers-to-hijack-players-pcs/

2. Kaiju Combat Kickstarter Suspended Over Trademark Infringement Claim: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/03/21/kaiju-combat-kickstarter-suspended-over-trademark-infringement-claim#.UU9pWb_R1Lx

3. Video Game Retailers Receive High Marks from 2012 FTC Secret Shopper Survey: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/03/25/video-game-retailers-receive-high-marks-2012-ftc-secret-shopper-survey#.UVHvg7_R1Lw

4. New Research Suggests Extended ‘Screen Time’ Does Not Breed Bad Behavior in Young Children: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/03/26/new-research-suggests-extended-screen-time-does-not-breed-bad-behavior-young-children#.UVI0xr_R1Lw

5. Pratchett: Nobody talks about how well Nathan Drake represents men: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-03-21-pratchett-nobody-talks-about-how-well-nathan-drake-represents-men?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=european-daily

6. Developer takes aim at gun control debate: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-03-20-the-best-amendment-game-tackles-gun-control?

7. Piracy and plush counterfeits key to Plants v. Zombies’ surprise success in China: http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/26/4146676/plants-vs-zombies-china-great-wall-edition-gdcs

8. Oculus Rift: Seeing is Believing: http://www.gamespot.com/events/gdc-2013/video.html?sid=6405910

9. Wiretap laws apply to text messages, court rules: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/03/27/technology-telus-text-messages-scc-decision.html

10. Microsoft Releases Report on Law Enforcement Requests: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/technology/microsoft-releases-report-on-law-enforcement-requests.html?nl=technology&emc=edit_tu_20130321&_r=1&

11. What You Didn’t Post, Facebook May Still Know: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/technology/facebook-expands-targeted-advertising-through-outside-data-sources.html?nl=technology&emc=edit_tu_20130326&_r=0

12. Is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act the ‘worst law in technology’?: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/20/computer-fraud-abuse-act-law-technology

13. Why Nevada’s first online gambling license is more symbol than substancehttp://gigaom.com/2013/03/26/why-nevadas-first-online-gambling-license-is-more-symbol-than-substance/

14. US Senate votes in favor of proposed nationwide internet sales taxes: http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/23/4138388/us-senate-marketplace-fairness-act-of-2013-symbolic-vote-results-internet-sales-tax

15. Judges as Bad Reviewers: Fair Use and Epistemological Humility by Rebecca Tushnet: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2230071

jon

Your Children are not Your Children: Why NYT public editor is Wrong on Children’s Right to Privacy

“Your Children are not Your Children: Why NYT public editor is Wrong on Children’s Right to Privacy” by Zeynep Tufekci is a must read after our class this past week. Ordinarily would just include in the weekly News of the Week round-up. However this piece deserves special mention at the very least for its relevant to us timing – and as you will read – for a good deal more then that: http://technosociology.org/?p=1234

jon