CVGLS is Chicago’s premiere video game law related event. It is a day of academic panels devoted to the nuanced way video games require unique legal protections from a myriad of diverse legal disciplines. Game developers, industry representatives, and legal experts will explore, explain, and debate the latest issues in video game law.

The speaker, an attorney with over a decade of experience litigating in federal court, will shine a light on representative lawsuits involving real cases and real video game companies. We will discuss what the defendant video game company did wrong, what they did right, and what they could have done earlier to avoid spending a fortune on hiring lawyers to defend them in court.

We will be focusing especially on intellectual property law, but we will also be touching on partnership disputes and general contract issues.

You will not only learn some new law and fascinating details about video game legal disputes, but, more importantly, you will walk away with practical tips to help your client or company.

Stephen McArthur, The McArthur Law Firm

This presentation will consist of an overview of key considerations in video game publishing agreements and other licenses for use of video games and content in video games.  It will primarily focus on the publishing agreement as the primary licensing agreement under consideration.

Nathaniel Blair, Hi-Rez Studios & Skillshot Media

This panel will cover 2018’s hot topics in video game law including recent litigation, legislation, and transactions in the field. Additionally, the legal specialization of video game law itself will be discussed.

Nathaniel Blair, Hi-Rez Studios & Skillshot Media

Sam Castree III, Crawford Intellectual Property LLC

William K. Ford, The John Marshall Law School

Ross A. Hersemann, Loading Law

Stephen McArthur, The McArthur Law Firm

Joe Newman, Privacy & Consumer Protection Attorney

It's been over 7 years since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (2011), in which the Court held that video games are comparable to the "protected books, plays, and movies that preceded them" and are therefore protected by the First Amendment. So how are video games doing on the path to be treated like other forms of media? This panel will cover current litigation in trademark and right of publicity cases that test whether game developers will have the same creative freedom as other forms of media.

Cases to be discussed include at least two filed in 2017, both still in the early stages of litigation: AM General LLC v. Activision Blizzard, Inc. (S.D.N.Y. November 7, 2017), a case mostly about the allegedly unlicensed use of the HMMWV/Humvee trademarks in the Call of Duty video games, and Hamilton v. Speight (E.D. Pa. January 11, 2017), a case about the allegedly unlicensed use of someone's identity in the creation of a fictional character in the Gears of War video games.