Posted

by

In June, Pillsbury welcomed Riaz Karamali to the Corporate & Securities – Technology practice in the firm’s Silicon Valley and San Francisco offices. He has vast experience with start-ups and in the the videogame space is a strong fit with Pillsbury’s capabilities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mr. Karamali has acted as outside general counsel to many privately-held companies across a range of industries including the video game, cloud computing, mobile, biotechnology, semiconductor and medical device sectors. He frequently represents clients in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East on cross-border transactions.

Riaz is a great addition to the firm’s Social Media & Games team. Pillsbury’s multidisciplinary Social Media & Games team includes over 70 attorneys around the world working at the forefront of emerging business and legal issues relating to Virtual Goods & Currency, Gamification, Gamblification, Mobile Apps and Location Based Services, Augmented Reality, Online & Video Games, Social TV and much more.

The team’s unique capability to provide comprehensive, proactive advice on these cutting-edge issues results, in part, from our attorneys’ commitment to be involved and stay abreast of rapidly evolving business, legal and technical trends. Through this investment, our team obtains valuable knowledge and insights that enable us to provide significant strategic advice and resources to clients, well beyond just “doing legal work.”

Posted

by

Jim Gatto, and James Chang recently published “Mobile Privacy Practices: Recent California developments indicate what’s to come” in the June issue of Computer Law Review International.

The use of mobile applications has seen huge growth in the past few years. As the use of apps become increasingly commonplace, social concerns such as the privacy of app users will increasingly need addressing. California is taking the lead in regulating this important issue. For more information, including an overview of mobile privacy, a summary of California’s stance on how to address the issue, an overview of the state’s principles regarding privacy, its best tips for complying with its principles, and an examination of the privacy related laws outside of California, please read the full article: Mobile Privacy Practices: Recent California developments indicate what’s to come.

Posted

by

As recently reported, FINCEN issued significant guidance on legal issues with virtual currency. Shortly thereafter, an enforcement action was initiated against Mt. Gox, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges for operating without the proper licenses.

The use of virtual currency is prevalent and an important part of many social media and games business models. But it is imperative to understand the legal ramifications of its use. For an overview of the FINCEN guidance our team has prepared an Article regarding these issues.

Posted

by

Laura Gustafson will present during a one-hour PLI webinar briefing entitled “Catch Phrase or Trademark Infringement? A Trap for the Unwary,” on June 19 at 1:00pm EST.

The recent 2nd Circuit opinion in Kelly-Brown v. Oprah Winfrey, _F3d_, 2013 WL 2360999 (2d Cir 2013) highlights a potential trademark “trap for the unwary” and the need for vigilant clearance. Companies regularly make use of catch phrases and other short phrases, terms, and images in connection with advertising their primary brands. Often such phrases are merely intended to catch the attention of consumers, and are not intended to function as company trademarks or slogans. The Oprah case is a good reminder, however, that even seemingly tertiary and incidental phrases should be evaluated and properly cleared.

Topics to be discussed include:

  • A detailed analysis of the district court and 2nd Circuit court decisions in Kelly-Brown v. Oprah
  • The legal fine line between a mere “catchphrase” and a trademark use
  • Practical implications for clearance

SPEAKERS
Laura Gustafson, Pillsbury counsel

PLI.png

Posted

by

Please join us at the Video Games and Digital Media Conference on June 10, 2013. Pillsbury attorney Cydney Tune is co-chairing this upcoming conference hosted by the American Bar Association Forum on the Entertainment & Sports Industries. She is also speaking on the topic of “Data Privacy, PII, and Online TOU/Privacy Policies.” Jim Gatto will be speaking on the topic of “Gamblification! Interaction Between Social Games and Online Gambling.”

Posted

by

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has targeted Liberty Reserve S.A. as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Section 311).   According to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) press release, Liberty Reserve – a web-based money transfer system or “virtual currency” – is specifically designed and frequently used to facilitate money laundering in cyber space.

Additionally, FINCEN published a regulatory finding explaining the basis of the actions anda notice of proposed rulemaking that, if adopted as a final rule, would prohibit covered U.S. financial institutions from opening or maintaining correspondent or payable-through accounts for foreign banks that are being used to process transactions involving Liberty Reserve.

The regulatory enforcements around virtual currency appear to be increasing. If you have not recently reviewed your regulatory compliance with your counsel, now is a good time to do so.

Posted

by

MP900449113.JPGA weekly wrap up of interesting news about virtual worlds, virtual goods and other social media.

 

Walmart Hopes ‘Gamification’ Can Engage Employees and Turn Things Around
In a move that echoes what other major employers are doing, the nation’s largest retailer is working with a Boston-based marketing and consulting organization to improve more of its internal processes by lending them a digital-gaming aspect. In turn, greater “employee engagement” is supposed to lead to improving the experiences of Walmart customers.

Nintendo Wants Review of Patent Claim Ruling in Wii IP Row
Nintendo Co. Ltd. argued Wednesday that the U.S. International Trade Commission’s chief administrative law judge had not properly considered its arguments to invalidate a patent claim by an interactive game company accusing Nintendo’s Wii products of infringing three patents.

Atari Seeks OK For Plan to Sell Off Assets Piece By Piece
The U.S. branch of French holding firm Atari SA on Wednesday asked a New York bankruptcy judge to greenlight its plan to sell off its assets piece by piece, after it failed to garner acceptable offers from potential stalking horse buyers to bid on the game maker’s entire business.

When Rights of Publicity Trump 1st Amendment
In a recent 62 page decision by the Third Circuit obviously intended to give guidance in an unclear area of the law, the rights of publicity of a college athlete in a video game trumped the First Amendment arguments of the video game manufacturer.

Online Gambling Bets on Return to U.S.
Until a year ago, the U.S. Justice Department considered online gambling illegal, but PokerStars, arguing against that interpretation of the law, kept taking bets until the government filed a civil action against it. Now, the legal landscape has taken a surprising shift, and states like Nevada and New Jersey have passed laws allowing some forms of online gambling. PokerStars, which reached a $731 million settlement with the government but admitted no wrongdoing, wants back in.

Posted

by

FinCEN recently issued interpretive guidance to clarify that it views certain activities involving convertible virtual currencies as money transmission services under the Bank Secrecy Act and FinCEN regulations. If your business involves creating, obtaining, distributing, exchanging, accepting, or transmitting virtual currencies, you may be subject to FinCEN’s registration, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements.

To read the full Client Alert, please see Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Issues Guidance on Virtual Currency.

Posted

by

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has levied a $7.5 million fine against LPL Financial LLC (LPL) for a series of email system failures which prevented LPL from accessing hundreds of millions of emails and reviewing tens of millions of other emails. On top of that. FINRA ordered LPL to establish a $1.5 million fund to compensate affected brokerage customers due to allegedly material misstatements it made to FINRA during the investigation that revealed the  email failures.

FINRA alleged that “as LPL rapidly grew its business, the firm failed to devote sufficient resources to update its email systems, which became increasingly complex and unwieldy for LPL to manage and monitor effectively. The firm was well aware of its email systems failures and the overwhelming complexity of its systems.”

As a result, LPL failed to produce all requested email to certain federal and state regulators, and FINRA, and also likely failed to produce all emails to certain private litigants and customers in arbitration proceedings, as required.

According to Brad Bennett, EVP and Chief of Enforcement: “As LPL grew, it did not expand its compliance and technology infrastructure; and as a result, LPL failed in its responsibility to provide complete responses to regulatory and other requests for emails. This case sends a strong message to firms to make sure your business does not outgrow your compliance systems.”

The number of regulatory enforcements continue to increase. It is important for all companies, and particularly those in regulated industries to do periodic compliance audits. If you have questions on social media or IT legal audits please contact us.

Posted

by

It took just two weeks for the first online poker site located and operated completely inside the United States to deal its one millionth hand of poker. While UltimatePoker.com is only available to Nevada residents located in Nevada at this point, it has set the stage for what is likely to be a rapidly expanding market.

For more information, check out Ultimate Poker’s legal online betting foray could be a game changer in the U.S.