Addressing legal issues with the latest technological developments and social media trends.
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A weekly wrap up of interesting news about virtual worlds, virtual goods and other social media.

 

 

 

 

A Senator Raises Privacy Questions About Cross-Device Tracking
Senator Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, said that tracking technologies such as cookies are giving way to more sophisticated methods for monitoring users.

Privacy Compliance:
Everything Old is New Again
Privacy regulations are sounding a lot like what compliance officers have had to do since the 2000s for anti-corruption efforts.

Debate Escalates Over Mugshot-Removal Outfits
Google Inc.’s recent programming change, moving people’s arrest mugshots much lower in search engine results, makes life harder for companies that charge individuals big bucks to remove their photos.

SoftBank Buys 51% of Finnish Mobile Game Maker for $1.5 Billion
The Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank agreed to buy a 51 percent stake in the Finnish online game company Supercell for around $1.5 billion.

SEC Proposal Brings Crowdfunded Securities Closer to Reality
The expanded use of crowdfunding as a capital raising tool by start-ups and small businesses is closer to reality with proposed rules the Securities and Exchange Commission approved and put out for public comment.

True Beginnings splits from potential buyer
PlentyofFish Media Inc. has broken off a deal to acquire the assets of True Beginnings LLC’s online dating business, citing concerns over the members’ privacy.

 

 

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Connecticut is another state to join in a recent trend to amend the state’s money transmitter law to remove an explicit exemption from licensure previously afforded to agents of entities exempt from license under the state’s money transmitter laws. In Connecticut, under the amended law, “money transmission” means “engaging in the business of issuing or selling payment instruments or stored value, receiving money or monetary value for current or future transmission or the business of transmitting money or monetary value within the United States or to locations outside the United States by any and all means including, but not limited to, payment instrument, wire, facsimile or electronic transfer.” Conn. Gen. Stat. § 36a-596(6), as amended. A person shall be deemed to be engaged in the business of money transmission in Connecticut if such person: (1) has a place of business in Connecticut, (2) receives money or monetary value in Connecticut or from a person located in Connecticut, (3) transmits money or monetary value from a location in Connecticut or to a person located in Connecticut, (4) issues stored value or payment instruments that are sold in Connecticut, or (5) sells stored value or payment instruments in Connecticut. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 36a-597(a), as amended. Kansas’ amended law was effective July 1, 2013, and Connecticut’s amended law was effective October 1. For more information, read our client alerts entitled Starting July 1, Kansas Money Transmitter Act Requires Licensure for Certain Agents and Effective Oct. 1, Connecticut’s Money Transmission Law Requires Certain Agents Be Licensed.

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Please join us at Game Developers Conference (GDC) Next 2013 (Los Angeles, November 5 – 7).  This conference is a brand new developer event focusing on creating the game experiences of the future, including how we will play games, on what we will play them, and how we will monetize, distribute, market, and share them. Whether you’re a designer, programmer, architect, producer, artist, marketer, businessperson or all of the above, GDC Next is vital to making great games and key to unlocking money-making opportunities in the most vibrant new areas of the game industry.

REGISTER NOW!

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Join Pillsbury for a three-event series addressing legal, regulatory and business issues confronting the universe of social media, games and mobile applications.

The first event in the series is Mobile Applications and Games on Wednesday, October 16 from 6:00 – 9:00 pm.

The mobile applications and games market is exploding. However, more companies are running into legal issues regulatory enforcements. As companies develop unique and creative games and mobile apps, it is critically important to understand key legal and regulatory issues.

This program will address:

  • Overview of legal issues with mobile applications and games
  • Recent regulatory enforcements
  • IP Protection for mobile applications and games
  • Legal issues with mobile payments and other business models.

 

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Last Friday, California’s Governor Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 370. AB 370 amends California’s Business & Professions Code § 22575 to require an operator of a commercial Internet website or online service that collects personally identifiable information about consumers residing in California who use or visit its website or service to disclose how it responds to “do not track” signals or other mechanisms that provide consumers a choice regarding the collection of PII about the consumer’s online activities, and to disclose whether others may collect PII when a consumer uses the operator’s website or online service. For additional information, read California Internet Privacy Bill Signed by Governor, Effective Jan. 1.

For more information, read the Client Alert.

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Last week, in Bland v. Roberts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit handed a constitutional victory to Facebook and two plaintiffs who lost their jobs after displaying online support for the incumbent’s opponent in a sheriff’s election. Reversing the district court decision, which said that “liking” a Facebook page was not sufficient “expressive speech” to warrant First Amendment protection, the appellate court ruled that the act was “pure speech,” as well as symbolic expression.

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Pillsbury attorney, Sean Kane, serves on the Governing Committee of the ABA as the Licensing, Merchandising and Branding Division Chair. Sean is participating in the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries as the moderator for a discussion titled, “PLENARY: Rights of Publicity for Entertainers and Athletes.”

The mission of this Forum is to educate attorneys about the legal issues that pertain to practices in the entertainment, arts and sports industries, and to foster excellence in the practice of law in these fields.

This year the division leadership and planning committee have designed a program of topics and mentoring workshops that provide high level discussion and discourse on hot topics in entertainment and sports as well as seminars on basic principles and mentoring for younger lawyers or lawyers new to these industries. The Annual Meeting is another high level opportunity to present to the membership excellent speakers on cutting-edge issues; you will not be disappointed. We have a number of plenaries on topics that run across all platforms. In addition, panels will explore such hot topic issues as Unpaid Internships in the Sports and Entertainment Industries; A Litigation Update for 2013: Applying Old Law to New Media and Technologies; Moving Money Across Borders: International Tax Considerations for Sports, Media, Talent and Production and the Impact on Net Profit and Cash Flow; and the Impact of Digital Media and Distribution on Film, TV, Music and Other Content.

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A recent spate of cases has generally upheld, on First Amendment grounds, a developer’s right to include unlicensed trademarks in video games. However, until the body of case law becomes so prevalent that trademark owners recognize that they cannot possibly succeed in an action involving use in a video game, it may be wise for developers to be circumspect in what they include. In many cases, the costs of licensing a trademark may be much less than demonstrating rights under the First Amendment.

For more information, please read our Client Alert.

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king-social-games-observer.jpgKing.com, maker of some of the most popular Facebook and mobile games, filed a complaint in the Northern District of California Tuesday, claiming competitor 6Waves cloned King’s Pet Rescue Saga and Farm Hero Saga games in developing its own Farm Epic and Treasure Epic titles.  King is also the maker of “Candy Crush Saga,” which is currently the most popular Facebook game.  

King alleges a number of similarities that it claims go beyond “the product of two games working within the same genre.”  For example, similarities between Farm Hero Saga and Farm Epic allegedly include the “highly similar tutorials;” a similar “yellow-gold ‘Goals’ banner before each level; the “highly similar placement of exactly 5 boosters (the first of which is a shovel) [] with functionally similar boosters being earned in a similar order;” that both games “introduce these boosters at the center of a yellow starburst graphic;” and the layout of the game map including that “the nodes used to represent the individual levels in the map are substantially similar, including a green three-dimensional disc with contraposed placement of a level number and stars-earned per level.”

King also alleges a number of similarities between Pet Rescue Saga and Treasure Epic, claiming that even though “6Waves chose not to copy the exact theme of Pet Rescue Saga in Treasure Epic, its copying of Pet Rescue Saga’s copyrighted expression is, in many ways, even more brazen.”  Including similar allegations to those above, King also noted that both games include “an irregular, off-centered design with some blocks pointing straight ahead, some to the right, and some to the left;” that the tutorials “are all but identical in appearance, progression, text, and placement on the screen,” including that a “similarly shaded turquoise-blue pop-up banner appears with a character often on the left-hand side of the banner raising their left hand and giving instruction;” and the fact that “In both games, the first time a trapped pet or lost treasure, respectively, is introduced is at Level 4” and “Both games also employ special ‘bomb’ blocks that explode and destroy surrounding blocks. Again, both are introduced in Level 11.”

King included a number of side-by-side images comparing the various elements of the games in question.

6Waves denied the allegations in a statement by spokeswoman Sharon Lau to Law 360, claiming that “Puzzle solving games and themes like farming and jewels are not unique and have been created by many other companies.  Such popular gameplay and themes cannot be copyrighted.”

Recall that 6Waves was also sued for cloning last year – a point that King does not fail to mention.  In 2012, Spry Fox accused 6Waves of cloning Triple Town (which 6 Waves had access to under an NDA) in creating its own Yeti Town game.  There, after the court denied 6Waves’ motion to dismiss, the parties settled, with Spry Fox gaining all of the Yeti Town assets.

King has sued for preliminary and permanent injunctions, actual damages, and 6Waves’ profits.

Copying within the games industry is prevalent. Some people attribute this to the fact that this is just the way it is and has always been within the industry. This is often premised on the notion that the “idea” for a game is not protectable. But as the game market grows, so to do the losses from copying suffered by the game innovators.

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On August 29, 2013, Gov. Chris Christie signed New Jersey’s social media privacy law, making New Jersey the twelfth state to enact such laws governing employers.  (Various states have enacted similar laws governing institutions of higher education.) 

Christie’s signature ends an approximately year and a half long legislative process:  the bill was first introduced on May 10, 2012.  As discussed in prior posts on this blog (New Jersey Assembly Unanimously Passes Revised Social Media Bill, New Jersey Senate Unanimously Passes Revised Social Media Bill), the bill was conditionally vetoed by Christie in May of 2013, then passed again by the Assembly in May and the Senate in August.

New Jersey should be the last state to enact such a law until the various state legislatures begin their next sessions.  But with 24 states having proposed – but not enacted – social media laws in 2013, more can be expected in the future.