Law Seminars International Presents: A Two-Day Conference on the Exploding World of

Gamer Technology Law
Next-generation consoles, virtual property in the real world, global expansion, trade secrets and other cutting-edge topics

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(For this past program, we offer two options for purchase: a Homestudy (DVD and written materials) or written materials alone.)

October 4 & 5, 2007
Renaissance Seattle Hotel in Seattle, WA

Who Should Order This Homestudy

Intellectual Property, entertainment law and transactional attorneys, business development executives, operating officers, in-house counsel and anyone involved with game software development, publishing, licensing and intellectual property issues.

Why Order

Designing a video game is often the easiest part of a successful production. Navigating the legal and business maze required to get a game to market demands specialized knowledge for game developers and publishers, business executives, and the attorneys who represent them. From addressing issues concerning software development, to using personalities or music in games, to managing the mysteries of ESRB game ratings, negotiating a contract that survives the journey can save thousands of dollars as well as precious time. In some cases, developing, publishing, financing and protecting intellectual property effectively at the early stages can make or break a company. Surviving the business transactions in the gaming industry requires an understanding of the industry along with knowledge about and experience in licensing and intellectual property matters.

This conference features leading industry professionals and practitioners discussing content, access and intellectual property issues, financing, cross-border issues, the growth of casual games, M&A transactions and outsourcing agreements.

~ Program Co-Chairs: Roxanne E. Christ, Esq. and Kirk A. Soderquist, Esq.

What You Will Learn

What Attendees Said

Agenda

Thursday, October 04, 2007

8:00 am

Registration and Continental Breakfast

 
8:30 am

Introduction to Day 1: Update on the Key Legal and Regulatory Issues Facing Gamer Technology Companies

Roxanne E. Christ, Esq., Program Co-Chair
Latham & Watkins LLP / Los Angeles, CA

Kirk A. Soderquist, Esq., Program Co-Chair
Perkins Coie LLP / Seattle, WA

 
8:45 am

Patent Reform and Other Intellectual Property Law Developments of Particular Interest to the Video Game Industry

Update on recent court decisions with an impact on video games; the direction patent reform legislation is heading and it’s likely impact; current trends in procuring, protecting, registering and avoiding infringement

S. Gregory Boyd, Esq., M.D.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison LLP / New York, NY

 
9:15 am

New Issues Arising from the Emerging Markets for Virtual Property in Massively Multiplayer Online Games and Worlds

Secondary marketplaces for buying, selling and trading accounts, currency, and game tools; farming operations in China; the potential for money laundering; where trading can occur and markets like eBay that are trying to prevent it

Roxanne E. Christ, Esq., Moderator, Program Co-Chair
Latham & Watkins LLP / Los Angeles, CA

Kirk A Soderquist, Esq., Program Co-Chair
Perkins Coie LLP / Seattle, WA

Steve Goldstein, Esq., Director Business Development
Flagship Studios Inc. / San Francisco, CA

 
10:45 am

Break

 
11:00 am

Key Regulatory Compliance Areas

ESRB video game ratings and privacy guidelines

Evie Goldstein, Esq., Senior VP, Legal Affairs & Enforcement
Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ERSB) / New York, NY

Privacy, CAN-SPAM, and other regulations applicable to social networking and games

Senta L. Wong, Esq.
Fish & Richardson P.C. / Boston, MA

 
12:15 pm

Lunch (on your own)

 
1:30 pm

Special Address: Creating a Policy Environment Supporting Investment and Innovation for the Video Game Industry

Michael D. Gallagher, Esq., President
Entertainment Software Association / Washington, DC

 
2:30 pm

Break

 
2:45 pm

The Litigation Horizon

Social networking site litigation (coming to a video game near you as games converge with social networking sites); disgruntled players and potential liability for changing your game or bad behavior by hackers, farmers, and grievers

John M. Gatti, Esq.
Greenberg Traurig, LLP / Santa Monica, CA

What people need to know about product liability and class action law suits; potential plantiff theories; tips for calculating your exposure; defensive strategies

Product liability

Ralph H. Palumbo, Esq.
Summit Law Group / Seattle, WA

Class action

Stellman Keehnel, Esq.
DLA Piper / Seattle, WA

 
5:00 pm

Reception for Faculty and Attendees Sponsored By Latham & Watkins and Perkins Coie LLP

 

Friday, October 05, 2007

8:00 am

Registration and Continental Breakfast

 
8:30 am

Best Practices in Outsourcing Agreements in the Video Game World

Issues of potential liability (such as when your servers crash); terms for outsource hosting of online games to include protection from the outside service providers; special issues for massively multiplayer online games

Shaalu Mehra, Esq.
Perkins Coie LLP / Menlo Park, CA

Alan N. Sutin, Esq.
Greenberg Traurig, LLP / New York, NY

 
9:30 am

Casual Games: Getting Your Footing in a Current Hot Growth Area

Finding the right business model for making money without inundating people with advertisements

Shawn McMichael, Director of E&D Games Advertising
Microsoft Corporation / Redmond, WA

Paul Thelen, Founder & CEO
Big Fish Games, Inc. / Seattle, WA

 
10:30 am

Break

 
10:45 am

Traditional Games: Evolving Transactional Issues as that Portion of the Industry Matures

Buying and selling game titles and studios; M&A transactions

Roxanne E. Christ, Esq., Program Co-Chair
Latham & Watkins LLP / Los Angeles, CA

Eric Roeder, Esq., Global Deputy General Counsel
Vivendi Game/Blizzard Entertainment / Issaquah, WA

Don McGowan, Esq., Entertainment and Devices Division
Microsoft Corporation / Redmond, WA

 
12:15 pm

Lunch (on your own)

 
1:30 pm

Cross-Border Gaming Issues

Cross-border video game law: As borders become increasingly meaningless, the industry needs a greater awareness of regulatory differences in the areas of data privacy; copyright infringement; piracy; virtual property law

Patrick Dunaud, Esq.
Latham & Watkins LLP / Paris, France

Laurent Szuskin, Esq.
Latham & Watkins LLP / Paris, France

 
2:15 pm

Break

 
2:30 pm

Game Deals and Financing

Financing of next generation games: As games become more complex and expensive to develop, will film finance come to video games with outside investors sharing the risks? What will those transactions look like?

Donald E. Karl, Esq., Moderator
Perkins Coie LLP / Santa Monica, CA

Tim Gatland, Chief Executive
Fund4Games / Edinburgh, UK

Alexander Garden, CEO
Nexon Publishing North America, Inc. / Vancouver, BC Canada

 
4:00 pm

Evaluations and Adjourn

 

Cancellation

There is a $25 cancellation fee for Course Materials orders and $50 for Homestudy orders

Continuing Education Credits

This program qualifies for 12.75 WA CLE credits. Upon request, we will apply for CLE credits in other states and other types of credits.

Cost

Our complete Homestudy Course, consisting of a VHS or DVD recording and the written course materials, is available for $1005. The written course materials alone are available for $100. We will ship your Homestudy order via UPS ground within two weeks after the seminar or the date we receive payment (whichever is later).
Order Homestudy

Faculty Bios

Roxanne Christ, Program Co-chair, partner in the Corporate Department of Latham & Watkins LLP, focuses her practice on intellectual property and media transactions. She represents companies in a variety of industries, including video game development and publishing, social networking sites, music, print publishing and software and was recently named to the Legal 500 US: Volume II - Intellectual Property, Media, Technology & Telecoms.

Kirk A. Soderquist, Program Co-chair, partner at Perkins Coie LLP and member of the firm's Licensing & Technology practice group, represents emerging growth companies and established technology businesses in an array of industries, including software, life sciences, gaming, retail, marketing and advertising.

Michael D. Gallagher, Special Address, is president of Entertainment Software Association (ESA). He is former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications & Information, serving as the chief telecommunications and policy advisor to the Bush Administration.

Donald (Don) E. Karl, Moderator, a partner in the Business practice group at Perkins Coie LLP focuses on corporate finance and securities, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic relationships, venture capital and represents emerging companies in software, Internet, social networking, advertising, wireless services and videogames.

S. Gregory Boyd, M.D., of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation, licensing, and counseling. He is author and editor of the textbook Business & Legal Primer for Game Development published by Thomson and was author and editor for the International Game Developer Association's first industry guide to intellectual property.

Patrick Dunaud is partner and chair of Latham & Watkins' Paris office Litigation Department and co-chair of the firm's Securities and Professional Liability Practice. He is recognized by Chambers Global 2007 and ranked in the category "experts" by European Legal Experts 2007.

Alexander Garden, CEO of the North American Publishing division of Nexon Corporation, leads the Western expansion for Online Video Game Publishing. Prior to joining the company full-time, he worked with Nexon as an advisor while he was also the CEO of Vancouver based Relic Entertainment.

Tim Gatland, CEO of Fund4Games, advises various venture capital firms on investments in software companies, including several games companies. Previously he was operational manager for VIS Entertainment plc, a game developer in the UK and creator of the commercially successful State of Emergency title.

John M. Gatti, shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, LLP and the Co-Chair of Greenberg's national entertainment and media litigation practice, has litigation and trial experience representing individuals and corporations in complex business and commercial disputes.

Evie Goldstein, Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs & Enforcement for the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), oversees the Legal, Enforcement and Privacy Online departments. Previously, she was Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs for Lifetime Television.

Steve Goldstein, Director, Business Development and General Counsel for Flagship Studios, Inc. negotiates co-marketing and ancillary properties agreements. He is also the founder and serves as President, Americas & Europe for, Ping0, LLC, a digital publishing joint venture between Flagship and Hanbitsoft, Inc. providing the network infrastructure, hosting and support for Flagship’s games.

Stellman Keehnel, chair of the Seattle litigation group at DLA Piper, defends consumer class actions and securities class actions. He is listed in "The Best Lawyers in America," named in "Chambers USA" as a "leading individual" in commercial litigation, and is regularly selected as the top-rated commercial litigator in Washington.

Don McGowan, Entertainment and Devices Division of Microsoft Game Studios, handles all first-party game development, as well as ancillary merchandising and new media activities.

Shawn McMichael, Director of Entertainment &Devices Advertising at Microsoft Corporation, is responsible for all aspects of sales generation including advertising, sponsorships and demand generation for downloadable content for several of the Casual Games Group's platforms.

Shaalu Mehra, partner in Perkins Coie LLP's Licensing and Technology group, focuses his practice on corporate finance and cross-border transactions. He is listed in Chambers USA "America's Leading Lawyers" as an "Up and Coming" attorney.

Ralph H. Palumbo, founder of Summit Law Group, has been lead trial counsel in complex commercial, antitrust, products liability and environmental cases. He was named a "The Top 100 Washington Super Lawyers"and one of the "125 Best U.S. Litigation Lawyers" and was listed in "The Best Lawyers in America".

Eric Roeder is the Global Deputy General Counsel for Vivendi Games which owns Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment, Vivendi Games Mobile and Sierra Online. In addition to directing the European and Asian legal groups for Vivendi Games, he leads the company’s acquisition practice.

Alan N. Sutin, partner at Greenberg Traurig, LLP's Chair of the Firm's National Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice, focuses on commercial transactions with intellectual property and technology issues and advises clients on transactions involving the development, acquisition, disposition and commercial exploitation of intellectual property.
Full bio and contact info for Alan N. Sutin at Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Paul Thelen, is Founder and CEO of Big Fish Games, which he has positioned to become a worldwide consumer brand in casual games. Previously, he was Director of Consumer Marketing at RealNetworks.

Senta L. Wong, of counsel to Fish & Richardson P.C., is a member of the Trademark, Copyright, Media, and Entertainment Group and a co-chair of the Interactive Entertainment section. She was named "2005 Massachusetts Rising Star" by Law & Politics and Super Lawyers.

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