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Sunday, August 5, 2012

Video Game Developers and the Liabilities They Face


                   The ability video game developers have to create amazing and fantastical worlds and bring them to both, young and old minds alike is nothing less than phenomenal. Of course it’s one thing when you are creating something totally from scratch and coming up with every single detail of the game yourself, and another when you are creating a game based on, whether loosely or fully, on reality. Both of these types of creations have had and still have legal issues they must face from time to time. At the heart of most of the issues developers face usually tends to deal with intellectual property in some way, shape, or form. Upcoming video game developers can take note from some issues a giant in the industry has gone through and continues to go through certain legal challenges.
Cover for EA Sports' NCAA Football 2012
                  That giant is none other than mega publisher Electronic Arts (EA). Electronic Arts has been on both ends of the legal table when it comes to intellectual property. First up, with EA’s largest development department, EA Sports, they have found a lot of success with their gaming franchises from college football to world club soccer. Now here is a game that is clearly based on reality, and with that reality comes likeness and characteristics of real sports players. The problem comes when EA does not have the permission to depict certain players within their games. The best example can be shown through an article released by the Los Angeles County Bar Association in May of 2011. The article addresses EA’s NCAA Football franchise and the use of accurate “likeness” and characteristics that look eerily similar to their real-life counterparts; all of which, due to NCAA rules, cannot profit from endorsing said video games. In a nutshell, EA argues that without using a player’s actual face or name they are protected under the First Amendment to produce their game. In the end, at least in one of the many suits, a New Jersey judge ruled in favor of EA stating that since the US Supreme Court found games to be protected under the First Amendment, in this specific case they did too.
EA/Dice Battlefield 3 Image
                  Another issue EA faced this last year, dealt with their blockbuster-hit game Battlefield 3. According to two separate posts by experts working at Davis LLP, EA has had to “preemptively” sue a helicopter manufacturer after talks about acquiring rights to their helicopters for use in the video game fell through. The second post furthers the insight towards this case by stating that EA’s preemptive suit is based on nominative fair use grounds. This issue is very interesting for developers because it can ultimately open a floodgate to future lawsuits should EA fail. To make my point clearer, the way I see it is that everyone’s perception of an attack helicopter is mostly limited to what we have viewed in pictures or any previous knowledge we may have of them or whatnot. I guess the best example I can give is with the depiction of generic flat-screen TVs within the stories of video games. I am sure there is at least one TV making company out there that can argue that one of their designs has been depicted in a video game. Maybe even a damaged flat-screen on the floor of one of those battle maps in Battlefield 3? If there is one legal case any future game developer should keep on eye on, it is this one.
Zynga's The Ville vs. EA's The Sims Social
                  The last issue we find EA on the other side of the legal table, with their suit brought against social gaming company Zynga. EA argues that Zynga’s The Ville is eerily similar to EA’s own social game called The Sims Social. Within the Times Live article, they quote an expert saying that copying, with respect to what companies offer their customers in choices and products within a game, has been growing in the social gaming arena for years now.  For both of these companies this suit is just another day of doing business within this industry. Intellectual property is their breadwinner, they both need to take care of their IPs and try everything that they can from others profiting from their hard-earned creations. From a future video game developer’s perspective, protecting our IPs is something that we will all need to learn to take care of. Our IPs will be and should be our number one priority outside of creating them. Of course, it should also be said, that respecting others’ IPs should be dealt with due diligence prior to publishing any final product and practiced more often than not.
  
                  As always, we here at Pencils and Vectors, love to hear your thoughts and takes on the issues and stories we present. What is your take on one or all of EA’s issues? Are there any cases or instances that mirror those of EAs that you know about? We look forward to read your comments!
                  

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