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9 J. Int't Com. L. & Tech. 1 (2014)

handle is hein.journals/jcolate9 and id is 1 raw text is: JICLT journal of International Commercial Law and Technology Vol. 9, No.1 (2014) Intellectual Property Protection for Video Games A View from the European Union F. Willem Grosheide, Herwin Roerdink and Karianne Thomas* Abstract: Video games are fast becoming one of the most popular media of choice. The global market for video games is still expected to grow substantially in the upcoming years. The legal framework for protection of video games becomes more and more significant. This paper addresses a number of the intellectual property law aspects of the protection of digital video games in light of the governing EU regulation and case law. It discusses not only copyright protection of computer programs (software), databases and audiovisual or cinematographic) works, but also patents on novel aspects of a video game product as well as trademark protection. The paper concludes with some observations on the enforcement of intellectual property rights in the EU. 1. Introduction A video game is usually defined as an electronic or computerized game played by manipulating images on a video display or television screen.' It is understood, that this kind of gaming can be done both off line and online. As a consequence of the referred to broad definition of a video game, within its reach fall both games, such as chess or scrabble, which were developed for and can be played in the real world as well as the digital world (off line as well as on line), and games, such as Pacman or Call of Duty, which are developed for and can be played only in a digital environment. Since the first category of video games, as seen from an intellectual property law perspective, has no inherently specific characteristics, whereas the second category of video games has many of them, in this contribution the focus will be on that last category.2 Within that focus the attention will be addressed mainly to the intellectual property aspects of the developing and the playing of digital video games, i.e. copyright law, patent law, trademark law or a combination thereof. All this is done in light of the governing EU regulation and case law. It follows that outside the picture falls a wide variety of other issues related to video games. To mention only some: developing video games by autonomous intelligent systems, preservation of video games in view of future uses, infringement of one or more intellectual property rights involved in a video game, insuring video games against intellectual property risks, potential harm related to addiction, aggression or lowered school performance of the youth, promotional games of chance, virtual money and online gambling, liability issues for instance with respect to video games used for business purposes such * F. Willem Grosheide is emeritus professor of intellectual property law at Utrecht University and counsel at the Van Doorne law firm in Amsterdam; Herwin Roerdink and Karianne Thomas are both IP lawyers at the Van Doorne law firm. I European Commission, Study on the Economy of Culture in Europe, October 2006 htt2://ec.euroya en ucr/documents/annexes-finales en pdf Taking account of the fact, that, in practice, the terms electronic game and digital game are used interchangeable, in this contribution the term digital game will be the standard term, regardless of whether the gaming is done off line or on line. The term computerized game will be used in those instances that a video game is played by means of a computer. Video games are part of the lager category of digital media, meaning any type of sound and/or visual media that is in a digital format for the convenience and entertainment of consumers. See for an account of the terms virtual world or virtual space as distinguished from or opposed to the terms actual or real world and actual space or real space Lesley Gallagher, The Cultural Geographies of Videogames, www.lesleygallacher.com/Videogames.pdf, arguing that virtual worlds are themselves real worlds which are brought into being through material practices and technologies (video games as cultural geographies). 2 With regard to the first category of video games intellectual property law comes into play in relation to the digitalization of such a game, i.e. in relation to its driving software or supporting carrier, but not in relation to the game itself. 1

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