This Federal Trade Commission has launched a campaign to educate tweens (kids ages 8 to 12) about advertising so they can become more discerning consumers of information. Called Admongo, the goal of the campaign is to boost advertising literacy by: Raising awareness of advertising and marketing messages Teaching critical thinking…
Join Pillsbury for an evening with social game entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and legal analysts. This event will cover a number of recent trends and changes in social gaming business models. We will also discuss the current venture climate, what VCs are looking for in a social gaming company and ways…
Nickelodeon has announced a virtual good platform for its Addicting Games site. According to Dave Williams, a Senior VP and GM, he sees virtual goods as a huge opportunity and by developing its own virtual goods platform, Nickelodeon minimizes the burden on developers to create their own platforms. This launch…
As further evidence that Virtual worlds technology is useful to all types of entities, including the Federal Government, the USDA recently announced an award of a virtual world contract to four companies: Advanced Software Systems, INC; Avaya Government Solutions INC; Science Application International; and Three Wire Systems LLC. The solicitation…
Linden Research Inc. and its CE Philip Rosedale have been named as defendants in a class action lawsuit relating to the ownership status of virtual property in Second Life, the popular virtual world in which users can realize significant gains from buying and selling virtual real estate (land and buildings),…
On April 8, 2010, Zynga sued Playerauctions.com for operating a website that provides an unauthorized “Secondary Market” for enabling Zynga game users to post and sell “Virtual Currency” and “Virtual Goods” allegedly in violation of Zynga’s Terms of Service. According to Zynga, its Terms of Service prohibits users from selling…
Florida A&M University (FAMU) recently filed a law suit against the maker of a porn video that depicted multiple individuals engaging in sexual acts in a setting that allegedly represented a dorm room on the FAMU campus. FAMU claims that such association constitutes false or misleading descriptions and misrepresentations under…
On April 28, 2010, a social game developer Crowdstar sued Wonderhill for copyright infringement based on similarities between Wonderhill’s “Aquarium Life” and Crowdstar’s “Happy Aquarium”. While copyright does not protect ideas (such as the idea for a fish-based game) it does protect expression of the idea. If this case should…
Three Wire Systems, LLC recently announced its VetAdvisor Virtual Room (VVR) won the U.S. Army Simulation & Training Technology Center’s Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge for best collaboration in a virtual world by a government contractor. The award was presented on the final day of the Defense GameTech Users’ Conference in…
Pillsbury is proud to announce a writing competition on legal issues relating to virtual worlds. Participants can elect to write a paper on a topic within one of the categories listed in the document attached. The papers must be submitted by June 30, 2010 and will be judged by members…