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Internet & Interactive Entertainment

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Pillsbury’s Internet & Interactive Entertainment team provides cutting-edge, strategic guidance on emerging business and legal issues relating to virtual worlds, goods and currency, virtual and augmented reality, and interactive gaming.

The team represents both the largest players in the industry and some of the most promising emerging companies, helping them establish and implement an effective business strategy in a constantly evolving legal and regulatory landscape. We advise clients throughout their business life cycle on formation and structuring issues, venture capital and private equity funding and growth, business operations, mergers, acquisitions and business combinations. Well versed in virtual goods and currency and all aspects of internet and interactive entertainment, we provide guidance on risk avoidance, assist in IP protection, optimization and licensing, and prepare key agreements and policies. These include TOS, DMCA and COPPA policies, compliance and enforcement, data protection and privacy policies, and more.

As industry thought leaders experienced in a wide array of technologies, we actively engage in discussions on the latest business, legal and technology trends, and we closely monitor emerging legal issues and social media, internet and related technology developments.

Our lawyers provide up-to-the minute, comprehensive and proactive advice to companies with a well-established online presence and those trying to create an online existence or operate in virtual space. We guide clients through the commercial realities, addressing the legal, regulatory, and policy challenges, helping them leverage web-based opportunities and set them up for success in an ever-changing industry.

The following are just some of the arenas in which we can serve clients

Applications
- Social media
- Location-based services
- Mobile
- Social games
- Real money gaming
- Social media-based contests, sweepstakes and promotions
- Virtual worlds
- Mirror worlds
- Blogs
- Consumer review/recommendation sites
Technologies
- Social networking platforms
- 3D motion tracking with depth sensing
- Biometric sensors
- AI
- Smartphones
- Virtual reality
- Augmented reality
- Content generation tools
- Broadband
- Wireless
- Internet
- TV

Business Models
- Micro-transactions
- "Freemium" models
- In-game ads
- Virtual goods
- Virtual currencies
- Mobile payments
- Monetization of social media-based contests, sweepstakes and promotions
- Gamification
- Gamblification
- User-generated content-based models

To learn more about our practice, emerging issues and trends, visit our blog, follow us on Twitter and join the conversation.

Representative Experience

Represented AT&T Inc. in its Otter Media joint venture with The Chernin Group, and in AT&T’s acquisition of Quickplay Media Inc., a supplier of over-the-top video and TV Everywhere services.
Represented Valve Corp., the Seattle-based video game development and digital distribution company and operators of the Steam gaming platform, in defending against patent infringement claims.
Defended RetailMeNot, the world’s largest marketplace for digital offers, against allegations of trademark infringement, unfair competition and dilution.

Pursued copyright claims against Digonex for Qcue, a leading provider of dynamic ticket pricing software and services, and successfully defended claims that Qcue infringed Digonex’s patents. The Federal Circuit upheld invalidity of Digonex’s patents.
Advised leading global children’s entertainment company Spin Master Corp. on its 85ドル million Swimways Corp. acquisition, which established Spin Master as a key player in the outdoor and sports toys category.
Represented a major graphics chip maker in patent disputes relating to memory access techniques in gaming consoles.
Assisted several wearable companies in developing novel interfaces.
Helped software-focused companies protect new game mechanics, novel UI design, and battery-friendly, low-latency mobile applications.

Practice Area Highlights

Blog:
The Internet & Social Media Law Blog. The blog covers interesting business and legal issues and upcoming events in the virtual world, social media and video game industries.
Twitter:
Follow us on Twitter.
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