Author Archives: John DiGiacomo

The gaming industry is projected to make $91.5 billion in revenue in 2015. This massive industry has become a spotlight for legal battles ever since the first mainstream Nintendo console, Atari, was released in 1985. Game developing is not like many other industries that only need to worry about one aspect of intellectual property law. […]

Apple’s App Store guidelines create significant legal and business challenges for mobile game developers. Here’s what the latest App Store policy changes mean for gaming companies.

Under the ACPA, cybersquatting claims require proving the mark is distinctive or famous. Learn how this threshold affects domain name dispute cases.

The Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC) recently voted to adopt a new set of rules that allows for Regulation Crowdfunding (officially, “debt and equity crowdfunding”). Regulation Crowdfunding is a term used to define a middle ground between crowdfunding platforms (like Kickstarter) and public offerings (like IPO’s). While the former sees little regulation, and the latter […]

The USPTO rejected Will.i.am’s application to trademark ‘I AM’ for cosmetics and skin care, finding it likely to cause confusion with existing marks.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (“CDA”) protects online service providers of interactive websites against liability that can arise from third party content.[1] Section 230(c)(1) provides “[n]o provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”[2] While section […]

The Washington Supreme Court denied Section 230 immunity to Backpage.com for its role in facilitating sex trafficking. Here’s what the ruling means for online platforms.

The City of Inglewood was ordered to pay over $100,000 after filing an unreasonable copyright infringement lawsuit. Here’s what the case teaches about copyright abuse.

The EU Court of Justice struck down the EU/US Safe Harbor agreement, leaving thousands of US companies scrambling for a legal data transfer mechanism.

Courts have held that copyright owners must consider fair use before sending DMCA takedown notices. Here’s what the Lenz ruling means for rights holders who send takedowns.