Intellectual property law in the gaming industry

What the talk is about

Sergiy Barbashyn explains how to protect intellectual property in the games industry using trademarks and copyright. An idea alone is not protected; concrete elements such as code, visuals, script and characters are. For trademarks, it is important to choose territories and classes up front (for games usually 9, 41 and 42), since classes cannot be added later, and the scope should follow the budget. Copyright arises at creation, but registration, especially in the US, helps in court, and the original author is always an individual, so developers' rights must be transferred to the company in writing and documented with acts. He also covers practical cases of registering code and gameplay video, rough budgets and timelines, and answers questions on derivative works, similar characters and work under employment contracts. Useful for developers, clients and investors.