October, 2013

1. Glen Greenwald: Edward Snowden’s Actions Inspired by Video Games and Comic Books

2. Star Citizen reaches $25 million in funding 

3. How Forza 5 and the Xbox One use the cloud to drive machine-learning AI

4. Wind Waker, GTA V, and the beauty of the videogame selfie

5. “Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies” Review: Still appealing

6. AT&T Files Patent to Prevent Predators From Interacting With Minors in Gaming Environments

7. Is Bell’s Plan to Monitor and Profile Canadians Legal? By Michael Geist

8. Watchdog Group Sues Canadian Government for Overbroad Domestic Spying Activities

9. Reports that NSA taps into Google and Yahoo data hubs infuriate tech giants

10. Allegation of U.S. Spying on Merkel Puts Obama at Crossroads

+ President Obama Says He Had No Idea His Own NSA Was Spying On Angela Merkel

11. Hands Off Encryption! Say New Amici Briefs in Lavabit Case

12. Graffiti Artists Use Moral Rights to Prevent Building Demolition

13. Faulkner v Sony – a dying past, or a glass half full by Bob Tarantino 

14. Fair Use Project Teams With The Andy Warhol Foundation and Robert Rauschenberg Foundation In Filing Amici Curiae Brief In Cariou v. Prince (S.D.N.Y.)

15. Data Shows Google’s Robot Cars Are Smoother, Safer Drivers Than You or I

16.  And in the “How could we have guessed?”  category:

PS4′s $1,840 price in Brazil bad for gamers, says Sony

jon

1. Blizzard wins $7M judgment in World of Warcraft bot lawsuit 

2. “The Legal Status of Video Games: Comparative Analysis in National Approaches” by Andy Ramos, Anxo Rodriguez, Tim Meng, Stan Abrams and Laura Lopez (WIPO) 

3. Gaming adds $2.3 billion to Canada’s GDP 

+ Canada’s Video Game Industry in 2013 (Nordicity Report) 

4. British Newspaper Confuses Deus Ex With Real Life 

5. Illinois State’s Attorney Pushes for ‘Economic Boycott’ of GTA V

6. Dr. Kimberly Voll on Challenging Gender Stereotypes in Gaming 

7. Free will is overrated: the surreal, self-aware joy of ‘The Stanley Parable’ 

8. YouTube Personality TotalBiscuit Claims ‘ Day One: Garry’s Incident’ Dev Made Copyright Claim Against Critical Video

9. Gamers Solve HIV Puzzle in Ten Days

10. Google’s Quantum AI Lab adds quantum physics to Minecraft 

11. Oculus working on 4K Rift headset 

12. Digital Capital hires Patrick Sweeney as Chief Legal Officer 

13. Face value: digging through Google’s clumsy new terms of service 

14. Canada – EU Trade Agreement Reached “In Principle”: The Intellectual Property Provisions by Michael Geist 

15. Apple v. Samsung: court orders investigation into potential protective order violation by Samsung 

16. Opening Pandora’s Box: Copyright and Antitrust 

17. Megaupload Raid ‘Destroyed’ (Way) More Than 10,000,000 Legal Files

18. Lavabit Case Shows Why We Need Tech Literate Judges 

jon

1. THQ Sues EA Over UFC License

2. Artist Daz Dillinger Sends Cease-and-Desist Letter to GTA V Makers over Two Music Tracks

3. Activision sale cleared by Delaware Supreme Court

4. Gaming the Name: Federal Court Dismisses Trademark Claim in Video Game Case on First Amendment Grounds

5. Case C-458/13, Grund and others – video games and technological protection mechanisms (EU)

6. Foxconn admits to pushing interns into overtime to build PS4 parts

7. Is it legal to sell second hand digital games?

8. Zynga patents virtual sheep breeding

9. The Future Of Storytelling Is About To get Wild

10. Sexualized avatars affect the real world, Stanford researchers find

11. Patents, Meet Napster: 3D Printing and the Digitization of Things by Deven Desai & Gerard Magliocca

12. Living and Dying in a Virtual World – Estate Planning for Digital Assets by Greg Lastowka & Trisha Hall

13. Google to Sell Users’ Endorsements

14. Hearst Stations Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. (U.S. Dist. Ct. Mass.)

15. The Difference Between Plagiarism And Copyright Infringement

16. Apple Makes Questionable Copyright Claim To Pull Down iTunes Contract

17. Stallman: How Much Surveillance Can Democracy Withstand?

18. Yep, the NSA is grabbing your address book, contact lists too

jon

1. Activision Blizzard Sues Worlds, Inc. for Patent Infringement

2. Nottingham Trent University Professor Dissects Video Game Research

3. Gamers committing war crimes should suffer ‘virtual consequences,’ says Red Cross

4. Russian government offers funding for “patriotic” games

5. Xbox One facial data from Kinect doesn’t leave the console

+ Microsoft offers differing takes on use of Kinect data for marketing

6. SimCity Kneecaps The Modding Community

7. Fan Communities and the Self-Regulation of Digital Creative Space

8. Research: Food Advergames Promote Unhealthy Lifestyle Choices to Children

9. Xbox Fitness: how Microsoft plans to use big names and big data to whip you into shape

10. Digital console revenue to surpass PC this year

11. Exciting Time for Privacy in Canada

12. B.C. elevator cases reveal the ups and downs of privacy rights

13. Lawsuit Accuses Google of Wiretapping in Gmail Scans

14. Selling Secrets of Phone Users to Advertisers

15. California enacts children’s online privacy legislation

16. 15 Technologies The Legacy Content Companies Have Sued In The Past 15 Years

17. Piracy Isn’t Killing The Entertainment Industry, Scholars Show

+ LSE Media Policy Brief 9 – “Copyright & Creation: A Case for Promoting Inclusive Online Sharing”

18. Dish Network, L.L.C. v. ABC: In Re Autohop Litigation (U.S. District Court N.Y.) – Court Decision

19. Sanctions loom large: Samsung execs were told all terms of secret Nokia-Apple patent license

20. Patent Troll Lodsys Dismisses Suit Against Kaspersky Labs Rather Than Go To Trial

21. Curtain Is Rising on a Tech Premiere With (as Usual) a Mostly Male Cast

jon

1. E.A. Sports Settles Lawsuit With College Athletes

2. Court Bans Wisc. Teen From Playing Video Games

3. Father Blames Minecraft for Son Bringing Gun to School

4. Settle With Friends? Zynga and Bang With Friends End Trademark Dispute

5. Capitol Hill Focuses On Gun Control, Despite Media’s Fascination With Violent Video Games

6. Researchers express concerns about APA Task Force on Violent Media

7. International Committee of the Red Cross Wants International Law Rolled into War Games

8. GTA V is not subversive – but these games are

9. ‘NBA Jam’ Rigged Against The Chicago Bulls According To Pistons Fan/Lead Designer

10. Apple: We Did Not Pay EA to Delay Plants vs. Zombies 2 on Android

11. Twitch closes $20 million Series C investment

12. “Are Video Games a Sport?” (NYTimes video) 

13. Copyright assignment termination after 35 years: the video game industry comes of age

14. Grooming the Champions of the Keyboard

15. In Video Game Market, Blockbusters’ Dominance Grows

16. The Law & Economics of Copyright Users’ Rights in Canada

17. Tech Bros Are Losing

18. NSA mines data to map Americans’ social connections, report says

19. NSA Leaks Bring the Whole Idea of “Net Neutrality” Into Question

jon