Social Media & Games Law Blog

Pillsbury attorney, Sean F. Kane will be a featured panelist at the upcoming Video Game Bar Association's inaugural Game Business & Legal Affairs conference. The conference will provide an in-depth analysis of the prevalent and pertinent legal and business issues within the video game industry. Founded in 2011 as an international membership organization, its mission is to provide a forum to promote the interaction of licensed attorneys whose primary practice is within the video games/interactive media industry, for lawyers are in-house counsel at game companies, and lawyers in private practice who represent game-industry clients. Mr. Kane will be serving as a panelist during the "Adventures in Finance" session which will take place on Tuesday, May 21st at 9:00am PT.

Register now: Gamification Summit Register

Presented By:

Pillsbury is teaming up with Covert & Co. to host an exclusive VIP reception during the Game Developers Conference (GDC) on March 27, 2013 at the W Hotel in San Francisco.  This will be the highest quality private event at GDC, attended by 200 leaders in the game/media sector.  The event will include an exciting "fireside chat" with CEOs of the hottest game companies:  Naoki Aoyagi (CEO of GREE), Ilkka Paananen (CEO of Supercell) and Torsten Reil (CEO of Natural Motion). 

[event is invite-only]

Covert & Co. is a next-generation investment bank providing premium M&A and financing services to media and tech companies globally.  My team and I have a track record that includes landmark M&A transactions such as Aeria Games/Gamepot, Club Penguin/Disney, SRS Labs/DTS, Hearst-UGO/News Corp-IGN, Grouper/Sony, MusicMatch/Yahoo!, MySpace/News Corp., NevenVision/Google, and DailyCandy/Comcast; as well as equity financings for Wildtangent, Realtime Worlds, Meebo, Move Networks and LegalZoom.

Google Ventures is a radically different kind of venture-capital fund. The Google Ventures hands-on teams work with portfolio companies full-time on design, recruiting, marketing, and engineering. Google Ventures also offers Startup Lab, a dedicated facility and educational program where companies can meet, learn, work, and share. Google Ventures invests hundreds of millions of dollars each year in entrepreneurs with a healthy disregard for the impossible.

Sean F. Kane will be a featured panelist at the upcoming Video Game Bar Association's inaugural Game Business & Legal Affairs conference. The conference will provide an in-depth analysis of the prevalent and pertinent legal and business issues within the video game industry.

Sean will be serving as a panelist during the "Adventures in Finance" session which will take place on Tuesday, May 21st at 9:00am.  Working capital drives development, and this panel looks at the finance landscape, including new trends and legal details for crowdfunding, raising venture capital, structure of exits, and where tax credits for development and research can be maximized across an organization.

The panel will include the following:

MODERATOR

Steve Goldstein, Chair, Interactive Entertainment and Video Games Practice at Stubbs Alderton & Markiles

PANELISTS

Justin Bailey, VP of Business Development at Double Fine Productions

Sean F. Kane, Attorney at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

Mark Stevens, Partner at Fenwick & West

Thank you to everyone who joined us in both New York and Washington, DC for our Social Media Week events - Game On!

Special thank you to all of our panelists: Randy Leibowitz, Mike Scafidi, Tim Ettus, Lou Kerner, Peter Corbett, Jim Gatto, Sean Kane, Lauren Lynch Flick and Tina Kearns (many featured in the picture and video below).  

As promised, we recorded our DC program Social Media Promotions, Contests and Sweepstakes and Social Media Audits. Check it out!

(Part 1) Emerging Legal Issues in Social Media: Social Media Contests, Sweepstakes, and Promotions please click here
http://youtu.be/_Uts2BT542M

(Part 2) Social Media Audits please click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?&autoplay=1&v=_Uts2BT542M#t=2489s

A weekly wrap up of interesting news about virtual worlds, virtual goods and other social media.

USPTO Dives Into Software Patent Debate With New Group
Amid a growing chorus of criticism that software patents are too vague and can hinder innovation, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday announced plans to create a new group to work with the software community to improve patent quality.

The Hidden Risks Behind Facebook's Login Tools: Part 1
Recently, a federal judge reportedly indicated tentative approval of Facebook's offer to settle a class action claim arising from its use of individuals' names and likenesses in connection with Sponsored Stories, a service it rolled out in January of 2012.

Ex-Zynga Software Engineer Sues Over Unpaid OT
Zynga Inc. was hit with a proposed class action Monday in California federal court by a former software engineer at the social media gaming firm accusing it of failing to give engineers proper overtime pay by misclassifying them as exempt from such wages.

Google Declares War on the Password
Want an easier way to log into your Gmail account? How about a quick tap on your computer with the ring on your finger?

Investment In Social Gaming Drops By $1 Billion In 2012
As recently as 2011, the expectation was that the social gaming industry was the future of big money in video games. Companies like Zynga were valued in the billions. In 2013, not so much. Investment in social game companies dropped by $1 billion in 2012.

A weekly wrap up of interesting news about virtual worlds, virtual goods and other social media.

Zynga loses more execs, gains lottery partnership with Scientific Games
Social game developer and online poker hopeful Zynga made waves last month with its hiring of former 888.com exec Maytal Ginzburg, but more top execs continue to flee Zynga's floundering ship.

Social casino game market worth $1.6bn, doubled since 2010
Yesterday, analyst firm SuperData released a report stating that the worldwide social casino game market will be worth $1.6bn in 2012, and projects it to grow to $2.4bn by 2015. This shows that not only is there a sizable market for casino games in the social space, but that it should continue to grow rapidly as more players look online to play casino-style games.

Proposed US online poker legislation revealed
In the United States, a summary of The Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2012 legislation has been released outlining what future federal online gaming regulation could look like.

NYPD Releases Guidelines for Social Media Use in Investigations: Report
The NYPD has released a memo that lays out rules for using social media during investigations, but critics say the new guidelines raise questions about privacy issues, according to a report.

Friendster Founder Jonathan Abrams Launches Nuzzel: A Fast, Simple, Social News Reader
Jonathan Abrams, whose resume as a founder or co-founder includes the Founders Den startup workspace, event service Socializr, social bookmarking service HotLinks, and Friendster  is launching his latest startup today: Nuzzel, a site for browsing the news that your friends have shared on social networks.

Game on: new technology just the ticket
The internet is changing everything, including the wait in line to buy tickets.

A weekly wrap up of interesting news about virtual worlds, virtual goods and other social media.

Mobile Game Fight Goes Global

A turf war is breaking out in the videogame industry and, for once, it has nothing to do with Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. This fight is taking place on smartphones with names like Gree Inc. and DeNA Co. --a pair of Japanese firms little known in the rest of the world despite being the two most profitable companies in mobile games--taking on Zynga Inc. and potentially Apple Inc. and Google Inc.

Electronic Arts to focus on freemium gaming

Electronic Arts will shift its business away from premium mobile game sales to focus on the freemium model, calling free-to-play titles "the norm" moving forward. "We started to see that freemium was coming in, and it took us a long time to move over," Electronic Arts Senior Vice President and Group General Manager Nick Earl said in an interview with All Things D. "In all candor, we are behind."

A Little 'Like' Can Mean Big Trouble

Workers of America, be careful what you "like" and post on Facebook. A U.S. district court in Virginia recently found that a sheriff's office employee "liking" a Facebook page was "insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection." Several former employees claim they were let go after the sheriff found out about their support for a political rival through a Facebook "like," among other actions.

YouTube IP Decision Gives 9th Circ. Pause On Veoh Ruling

The Ninth Circuit, which is considering rehearing its finding that Veoh Networks Inc. is shielded from Universal Music Group Inc.'s copyright claims, asked the parties Thursday whether it should adopt the standards set by the Second Circuit in its recent YouTube ruling.

As 'Gamification' Trend Grows, Badgeville Banks $25M.

More businesses are embracing the idea of using game techniques-such as awarding status, access and rewards-to influence behavior both inside and outside their enterprises. Betting that this "gamification" trend will continue, investors have poured $25 million into Badgeville at a pre-money valuation well north of $100 million.

Online Activities to be Recorded by UK ISPs, Draft Reveals

If you were scared that your online activity was being tracked and possibly analyzed, let us inform you that you were very much accurate in your suppositions. No, this is not one of those conspiracy theories you hear on the news so often. The United Kingdom online monitoring law just got published showcasing some disturbing facts. The paper is 123 pages long and is actually a draft of the Communications Data Bill.

A weekly wrap up of interesting news about virtual worlds, virtual goods and other social media.

Epic Games to make government training games

Of all the companies you'd expect to announce a big government partnership, a major video game studio is probably not at the top of your list. Nevertheless, Epic Games announced Tuesday that it has entered into a "long-term, multi-platform" deal with a division of Applied Research Associates to license the Unreal game engine for government use.

Royal Canadian Mint unveils MintChip virtual currency

Having revealed plans to ditch the Canadian penny last week, the Mint is continuing its assault on physical cash with MintChip, which it describes as the "evolution" of currency. The system brings all the benefits of cash into the digital age, claims a dedicated Web site, providing users with instant, private and secure access to their money.

Social Gaming Key for Advertisers in 2012

Did you know Internet marketers will spend upward of $271 million on social gaming ads in 2012? In-game advertising is the next big trend in the industry, with analysts expecting ad spend on social games to reach $900 million annually in less than three years. The stakes are higher than ever for brands as they budget ad spend on laptops, mobile devices, and consoles.

Gamification Platform BigDoor Raises $5 Million From Foundry Group

White label gamification platform BigDoor has raised $5 million in new funding led by existing investor Foundry Group, bringing BigDoor's total funding to $13 million. BigDoor's gamification platform essentially allows online publishers to add game mechanics to web interactions and engagements. BigDoor helps companies build game-like mechanics and loyalty programs into their sites or apps by enabling points, badges, levels, leaderboards, virtual currency and virtual goods.

Facebook, NRDC, Opower, & 16 Utilities Team Up to Create Social Gaming App

"With an initial reach of 20 million households, the effort is one of the most significant to date, enabling people to take action and become more energy efficient," NRDC said in a statement today. "Leveraging the Facebook platform, the app allows people to quickly and easily start benchmarking their home's energy usage against similar homes, compare energy use with friends, enter energy-saving competitions, and share tips on how to become more energy efficient."

Google Glasses Face Serious Hurdles, Augmented-Reality Experts Say

Virtual Fairs Offer Real Jobs

As companies find themselves swarmed with applicants, struggling to match workers with the right skills to job openings, many are turning to virtual career fairs. Employers say these online forums--accessed by companies and job seekers from anywhere in the world--can save them time and money, as well as broaden the candidate pool.

Deal United's Facebook "Credits Rewards" Lets Clients Incentivize Signups and Purchases With Virtual Currency

German offer provider Deal United today announced it is entering the virtual currency incentives industry with the launch of "Credits Rewards". The new service allows brands to reward to users with Facebook Credits when they make purchases, registrations, signup for newsletters, enter contests, fill out surveys and more. Because virtual currency is so cheap to distribute and Facebook users may value Credits higher than their actual cost in dollars, they can be a cost effective way for businesses to reward users for following their call actions.

Children's book publisher heads into virtual world

Given that virtual worlds are driven by strong narratives, it comes as little surprise that more book publishers are eyeing opportunities in the space. The latest example comes from Finnish publisher DramaForum, which is transitioning its Petra's Planet book series into a virtual world through UK development studio Dubit.

Three ways virtual environments are changing how companies conduct business

One of the more popular attractions at major theme parks is the "motion ride." Through the use of visual, audio and other sensory cues (along with some pretty slick technology), visitors are given the opportunity to go places and do things they never could in the real world. Whether it's flying through the jaws of a dinosaur in Doc Brown's Delorean, visiting a galaxy far, far away, or taking a tour through the inner workings of the human body, these virtual environments engage visitors with a sensory experience that moves them in a way ordinary roller coasters can't.

Samsung Launches the Industry's First Gamified Corporate Website

Samsung Electronics America today announced the launch of Samsung Nation, its first social loyalty program. Available on the Samsung U.S. website, the program rewards consumers by enhancing their online experience with Samsung.

The Not-At-All-Distant Future of Green Gamification

Games are like ketchup: widely loved and diversely applied, with an appeal rooted in childhood. In fact, a new report reveals that over 90 percent of U.S. kids aged 2-17 are gaming today. Yet the gaming generation has been on the rise for three decades, leading to not only an army of young gamers, but also an influential adult segment. It is small wonder, then, that "gamification" is the most disruptive force to impact marketing since the arrival of social media.

Macy's Introduces Augmented Reality Experience in Stores across Country as Part of Its 2011 "Believe" Campaign

Bambuser Powers World's First 24-Hour Virtual Tour of New York City

Starting and finishing in Times Square on Tuesday, 1^st November at 9am EDT, Hans Eriksson - executive chairman of the live mobile streaming application Bambuser will spend 24 hours exploring New York, broadcasting all he encounters live onto the web from his iPhone - with his itinerary selected by his online audience.

Square Enix, DeNA Team Up For Japanese Final Fantasy Social Game

Square Enix and Japanese mobile social gaming company DeNA are teaming up to create the first social game based on the popular Final Fantasy series. Few details have been announced regarding the Mobage title, which is based around the theme of "fighting for teammates," but DeNA said it will be developing the game in-house using familair characters from Square Enix's Final Fantasy series.

Bunchball Wants to be the 'Motivation Engine for the Internet'

Who would have thought that a company located just above an Irish pub in San Jose would grow to be so successful? According to Bunchball's Founder and Chief Product Officer, Rajat Paharia, Bunchball originally had roots in "social gaming", a concept that he admits was a bit too early to market and proved very difficult as a pitching point.

Nirav Tolia launches Nextdoor, private social network for neighbors

"Even though social networks are completely ubiquitous, I didn't see a social network for one of the most important communities in our lives: the neighborhood," Tolia said in an interview this week. Tolia says neighbors have lost touch with each other. He points to a 2010 study from the Pew Research Center that found that 60% of Americans didn't know the people who lived near them.

Video games for sweepstakes argued before NC court

The state is seeking to preserve a law that attempts to rid North Carolina of sweepstakes that use video-style games to reveal winnings but that companies say infringes on free speech rights and should be thrown out.

The Top 10 Most Influential People in Facebook and Social Games

In an attempt at fairness, we took to AppData's developer leaderboard, but also peppered the list with industry transplants of note. We're certain we've glossed over some video game veterans, but did you really want a list of 30 people? So, feel free to give us your two cents in the comments. (We've put on our flame-retardant suits already.) Here are the top 10 most influential people in Facebook and social games...

Social network ad revenue to hit $10B

Non-U.S. markets would account for slightly more than half, or 51.9 percent, of the US$10 billion global ad revenue in 2013, the research firm said in report Wednesday. While revenue growth would be in the double digits in the United States, higher growth elsewhere meant that spending in non-U.S. markets would account for a slighter greater share each subsequent year, it explained.

Steve Jobs: Accidental video games visionary

Sure, Jobs had some history in the space. He took a job at Atari as a technician in the mid-'70s, but this was because he was looking for money to fund a spiritual retreat to India. Later, with the release of the Apple II in 1977 he helped usher in a golden age of video games by providing a platform for the explosion of creativity that came in the early '80s: Bubble Bobble, Beach Head, Boulder Dash, Choplifter, F-15 Strike Eagle, Hacker, Hardball!, Karateka, King's Quest, Leather Goddesses of Phobos, Leisure Suit Larry, Lode Runner, Might & Magic, The Oregon Trail, Raid Over Moscow, Skyfox, Ultima, Wizardry, Zork. So many games that so many of us remember fondly, and all of them made possible because of the Apple II and Jobs.

Supreme Court Dodges Video Game Fee Request

In a surprisingly precarious move, the U.S. Supreme Court took no action Monday on a request from the video game industry for 1.4 million dollars in attorneys' fees and expenses incurred fighting the unconstitutional violent video game ban law, originally passed in California. 

How will Facebook's newest changes affect gamification?

If you're at all interested in the world of social and casual games, and the gamification of social media, the stream of major and minor changes from Facebook over the past week or so has got to be top of mind. Besides the major F8 developer conference, which introduced Timeline and an updated version of Open Graph, we've also seen the introduction of Facebook subscriptions and an updated news feed in the past few weeks.

What the iPhone 4S Means for Mobile Gaming

Some of the best news is that the iPhone 4S is getting a power upgrade. The 4S is getting a dual-core 1GHz A5 processor with dual-core graphics. That means the 4S have comparable graphics to the iPad 2. Games are almost guaranteed to run smoother and faster on the new 4S, since it will be about 7 times faster than the old iPhone 4. However, gamers might not be able to enjoy the increased details due to the tiny screen size which stayed at 3.5".

Augmented Reality Meets Location-based Social Networking

A new app in this field is TagWhat. Part augmented reality-app and part social networking service, it lets people check and view locations along with additional random info like the place's history, the famous people who lived in it, anecdotes about the neighboring establishments, or any other information that can either be trivial, interesting, or extremely useful.

Video Game Targets 'Tea Party Zombies,' Fox News Personalities

A New York-based video game developer has set his virtual crosshairs on Republican and conservative political figures in a game called "Tea Party Zombies Must Die," which allows players to indiscriminately slaughter politicians like Michele Bachmann, Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin.

Red Robot Launches Life is Crime Game With Location-Based Play

There's got to be more to location-based mobile games than checking in. That was the thinking behind the game startup Red Robot Labs and its first game, Life of Crime. Life of Crime uses what Red Robot believes is going to be its critical asset: the R2 Gaming Network platform for making location games.

Can Gamification Help Solve the Online Anonymity Problem?

There's been a lot written recently about the issue of online anonymity, and in particular how Google believes that a "real names" policy is necessary so that the Google+ network maintains a certain tone and level of trust.

Amazon Gets Serious About Social Games, Calls Out for Developers

The Facebook gaming arena is about to welcome a new gladiator: Amazon. The household name of online retailers (and e-readers) is officially pulling out all the stops for its inevitable entrance into the space, openly and internally calling out for a team of designers and developers.

Most Bosses Monitor or Block Social-Network Use At Work

Viruses, loss of confidential data and fear of employees tooling around doing sweet FA on Twitter are the top reasons that employers give for putting the brakes on social media in the workplace. And it's stopping them benefiting from new collaborative technologies, says ClearSwift Research.

Social Gaming Startup Guerillapps Launches First Green-Theme Upcycling Game on Facebook

Guerillapps, a Manhattan-based social gaming startup, today announces the launch of Trash Tycoon, its first green-theme social game for Facebook. The game is now available for play and takes a unique approach to social gaming by incorporating awareness for environmental issues and sustainability. The first game to ever highlight the concept of upcycling, Trash Tycoon is an immersive, fun game that presents opportunities for real-world impact.

Your Virtual Cow Could Be Worth $0

Fans of SuperPoke! Pets were crushed recently when Google announced it was pulling the plug on the game. Google killed off all but one project from social app maker Slide, which it bought last year for around $200 million.

Enter at Your Own Rift: How gold farming really hurts the economy

Recently, Trion Worlds CCO and RIFT Executive Producer Scott Hartsman talked to Gamasutra about how gold farming is a much bigger threat than we assume, particularly because of the large amount of credit card fraud. Those who played RIFT at launch probably recall the large wave of hacked accounts early on. According to Hartsman, the hacking attempts were so quick and so intense that the game could have been "denial-of-serviced off the internet" when it launched.

Gamification, that buzz word panned as hype by some, has increasingly won over companies, investors and even research firms like Gartner, which now predicts half of all companies will use gamification by 2015. So what's next? How about gamification certification.

Facebook Ramps Up Lobbying Over Privacy

Facebook Inc. has beefed up its public policy efforts with an eye to shaping federal privacy legislation, sharply increasing its lobbying expenditures and expanding its roster of Washington insiders, disclosure records show.

NYPD Looks to Mine Social Networks for Infor on Criminal Activity

Privacy is something most people worry about and try to protect, but on social networking giants like Facebook, it's almost impossible to protect all of your information despite privacy settings. Now, the New York Police Department (NYPD) is data mining Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to track hooligans who have committed or are planning to commit crimes.

Registration Opens for Game::Business::Law 2012

Registration is now open for the 4^th Annual Game::Business::Law Summit on January 25 - January 26, 2012. The event will be held at Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law and is hosted by The Guildhall at SMU, SMU's Dedman School of Law and The Center for American and International Law.

A Guide to Controlling Privacy, Info on Google+

Google+is the new social networking kid on the block, and one of the main reasons so many people are interested in the service over Facebook is Google+'s proclaimed focus on protecting users' privacy. Whether you're a new Google+ user or you're already a pro, understanding how to control your information on the site can make you feel much more at ease on the social network. Here's the lowdown on Google+'s privacy controls, including a few of the more buried settings you'll want to know about.