Rules of the game: legal issues in game development

Over the last few years, many game developers have found themselves on the wrong side of the law. From careless use of copyrighted imagery to unintended violations of a game's intended age rating, game development is full of hidden legal pitfalls. This evening gave us a better insight into how to protect ourselves and our companies.

Alex Chapman of Campbell Hooper and Vincent Scheurer a lawyer specialising in video games, gave us two illustrated lectures on the legal issues that can arise in everyday game development. They briefed us on the different kinds of intellectual property laws there are, gave us advice on what parts of our work can be protected by each, and covered some of the legal problems game companies have faced in the past.

They followed their lectures with a question and answer session. Questions asked covered topics raised during the lectures and some speculations about the shape of things to come. One question which had them stumped was "is it possible to legally protect a gesture in game that used gestures as a controlling mechanism?"

This was an enjoyable evening with a good turn out and a lot of useful information for game developers. A photo gallery of the event by Jill Duffy has been published.

About the Speakers:

Alex Chapman

Alex is a partner with Campbell Hooper and leading games industry lawyer and intellectual property expert. He has first hand knowledge of the interactive media and games industries as part of development teams on a number of successful games products before taking up the law and he now acts for a wide variety of clients including games developers, publishers and brand and character licensors and licensees. Legal 500 comments that clients describe him as "a star" and "a leading authority on IP law pertaining to computer games" and he was is listed in Development Magazine's 25 most important people in the UK games development industry.

Vincent Scheurer

Vincent is a lawyer specialising in video games. He runs his own business providing legal and commercial advice to games developers.