Category Archives: Legalities

Bidding for the remainder THQ franchises which weren’t sold in January have closed.

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The trademark for Edge which belonged to Edge Games founder Tim Langdell has been canceled by a court order.

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SouthPeak Interactive has been successful in an appeal on its long-running lawsuit with TimeGate Studios, leaving the Section 8 developer facing heavy damages.

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The Office of Fair Trading has published a public survey into the use of in-app purchases in a bid to determine whether or not they cross lines into unlawful activity.

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The United States Federal District Court for the Northern District of California has extended a law suit levied at EA Sports surrounding its NFL, NCAA, and AFL licenses, amid claims that the company breached antitrust laws, along with California consumer protection laws.

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The UK’s Office of Fair Trading is looking into whether some free-to-play games may cross the line into unlawful activity, and has contacted developers and publishers to issue warnings.

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LulzSec hacker Ryan Ackroyd has pleaded guilty to contributing to attacks made on Sony and Nintendo websites in 2011. The 26-year-old will be sentenced along with three other guilty parties on May 14.

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A number of game developers and publishers have incurred the wrath of the notoriously litigious Lodsys. ArsTechnica, which describes the company as a “patent troll”, reports Lodsys has recently filed a fresh wave of lawsuits against mobile developers Gameloft, Backflip Studios, Gamevil, Jirbo, MobileAge, PocketGems, Sunstorm Interactive, TMSoft, TLA Systems and Disney – in the last case taking particular issue with the popular Where’s My Water? – all over a patent for in-app purchases. The EFF and Apple have both tried to stop Lodsys’s constant lawsuits but it continues to targets companies of all shapes and sizes.

Thanks, GamesIndustry.

One Zynga shareholder and former employee has filed suit against the social publisher, claiming lower-level staff and general investors were blocked form selling stock while executives made a packet doing just that.

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Fox and Microsoft have signed a coexistence agreement regarding their rival claims to the Killer Instinct trademark. Under the terms of the agreement, as uploaded by NeoGAF users, Fox promises not to raise objections to Microsoft’s trademarking of or use of the phrase. Presumably this means the TV show that started the drama won’t be renewed any time soon – but oh, harro, what’s this jaw-dropping Kinect title in the works at Rare?

Thanks, woe.

The state of Rhode Island claims Kingdoms of Amalur developer 38 Studios deliberately misled its major creditor in securing a $50 million loan.

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All Australian states and territories have signed off on seven recommendations for classification reform harvested from the 2012 National Classification Scheme Review.

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Xbox 360 does not violate a patent held by Motorola, US trade judge David Shaw said in a note posted to the ITC website (PDF). The patent in question pertains to wireless network connections, and the dispute over it has been going on between the two firms since 2010 – in both Europe and the US. The judge’s findings will now be heard by a six-member commission. It was reported back in January that Motorola had dropped two of its patent infringement suits against Microsoft regarding video-coding and connectivity tech within the console, but apparently not the wireless patent. The case originally involved five patent claims. More through Bloomberg. Thanks, Polygon.

Having already smacked down two scams, Take Two has filed a fresh complaint against a site purporting to offer free Grand Theft Auto 5 beta access. Fusible reports the publisher now has four active cases with the World Intellectual Property Organization over scam websites. You’re unlikely to fall for this kind of nonsense, but don’t let your less-hardcore friends and family get sucked in.

A federal jury has ordered Nintendo to pay $30.2 million in a patent infringement case over the 3DS.

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Australia’s first R18+ rated game, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus, released today, with iGEA CEO Ron Curry celebrating the first step in a “master plan” to prepare Australia’s games industry for the future.

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38 Studios founder Curt Schilling is facing a fraud lawsuit over $75 million in loans from the State of Rhode Island. In an attempt to cool the issue, Schilling has filed for the presiding judge to throw out the case.

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Nintendo has been taken to court by inventor Seijiro Tomita over a patent dispute surrounding 3D tech within 3DS handhelds.

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Apple has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit dating back to 2011 over minors accessing in-app purchases unbeknownst to their parents. According to a report on Engadget, Apple could pay out $5 vouchers to 23 million customers, and where the amount claimed is $30 or more, must offer cash refunds. The full settlement can be viewed on Scribd.

The state of New Jersey has passed a bill intended to make online gambling legal, GamePolitics reports. New Jersey joins Nevada and Delaware in allowing real-money online gambling, something Zynga has bet the bank on. The bill comes into effect when the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement sets an official start date, which is likely to be somewhere between three and nine months from now.