The presentation will provide a general overview of the core types of intellectual property issues facing a video game developer, including copyright, trademark and patent. Through a discussion of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in CLS Bank v. Alice and the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal decision in Commissioner of Patents v. Amazon.com, a detailed explanation will then be provided of the current state of the law in Canada and the USA with regard to the patentability of computer software in general, and video games specifically. Sample patent claims from actual video game patents will be discussed. The presentation will end with a list of best practices for video game developers who wish to protect their software related inventions in Canada and the USA.
The goal of the presentation will be for the audience to take away an understanding of the building blocks of a proactive intellectual property strategy to secure appropriate IP rights essential to the success of a video game developer’s enterprise.
