Games Industry Law Summit Vilnius2023

Art Museum

Pick up your badge and your attendee bag, if you haven’t registered already. You will need your badge at all times to access the venues.

Art Museum

Espresso Bar, Coffee Corner and Tea Station are here to energise you, alongside a selection of freshly baked pastries and smørrebrød options. The drinks stations remain available throughout the day.

 Sergei Klimov (Charlie Oscar)
 Katya Nemova (Wargaming)
 Dr. Christian Rauda (GRAEF Rechtsanwälte)

An overview of the new features of the event, community highlights and this year’s stats. Award Ceremony: Legal Challenge 2023. Hall of Fame 2023: the first six inductees (exciting!).

 Karin Pagnanelli (MSK)
 Marc Mayer (MSK)
 Dr. Gregor Schmid (Taylor Wessing)
 Dan Nabel (Riot Games)

This is a deep dive into the intersection of generative AI and IP from the US and EU perspectives. The panel will discuss the pending litigation by authors, photographers and comedians; fair use issues associated with the AI training; copyright and intellectual property risks in the use of AI-generated content; and the state of law on the ownership and protection of AI-generated works. We will also discuss best practices and guidelines for the safe and effective use of AI-generated content in development and marketing.

 Dr. Tobias Schelinski (Taylor Wessing)
 Lukáš Mrázik (Kinstellar)
 Przemysław Walasek (Taylor Wessing)
 Brian Chung 정태현 (Kim & Chang)

The panel focuses on the various ways in which privacy and data protection regulations may be (ab)used against game studios. We’ll dive into practical cases (war stories!) involving employees and consumers taking action, along with a review of current initiatives that may adversely impact the legal landscape.

 Luca Guidobaldi (ADVANT Nctm)
 Efraín Olmedo (Santamarina y Steta)
  Cristian Elbert (ECIJA)

A cross-country panel that unpacks the legal landscapes of Mexico and Argentina, with Italy as the baseline comparison, across the issues that matter the most for the games industry.

Hotel PACAI

Grab a bite at Hotel PACAI (buffet-style), then return to the Art Museum for hot drinks – and a conversation with your peers. This year the lunch break runs for 90 minutes to allow for more interactions.

 Jack Chen 陈潇侠 (Dentons Shanghai)
  Dr. Thomas Pattloch (Taylor Wessing)
  Greg Pilarowski 刘思道 (Pillar Legal)

A snapshot of the Chinese games market, and the recent regulation that’s relevant to the games industry. The path to success in this region; theory and practice, challenges and solutions. The increasingly active role of the Chinese games companies overseas. A discussion of cultural aspects, region-specific risks, and a look into the future.

 Leonard von Rummel (Blomstein)
  Greg Pilarowski 刘思道 (Pillar Legal)
 Ben Richards (Microsoft)

A look at the current trade restrictions (including sanctions) that affect the international games industry, and a discussion about enforcement as well as the risks and consequences of over-compliance – plus a debate about the future scenarios, and the effects on the international games industry.

Art Museum

Recharge with tea, coffee and kombucha – or calm down with the light beer from Málaga, accompanied by a quiche with season’s vegetables and Karelia-style kalitka pastries with local berries.

 Henner Hentsch (game)
 Canon Pence (Epic Games)
 Ann Becker (Video Games Europe)
 Gina Vetere (ESA)
 Nikola Čavić (SGA)
 Per Strömbäck (Swedish Games Industry)

A discussion about the role of industry associations, and how to make them work. Why any association impacts the whole industry, whether a particular studio is a member or not. What are the types of associations, and how their ambitions and USPs differ. What is the role of individuals in forming and running trade associations. What is the optimal mindset of studios and associations, so that their work bears practical outcome – and the interests of small and large studios are aligned. Why some associations fail, and what role their governance plays in this. The way forward: integration, de-integration – or both? Best practices on having in-house counsels and law firm lawyers participate in trade associations.

 Luc Delany (Mobile Games Intelligence)
 Henner Hentsch (game)
 Willy Duhen (Activision Blizzard)
 Ronit Bernstein-Avrahams (Playtika)
 Brian Chung 정태현 (Kim & Chang)

A discussion of GR and lobbying process as seen from the inside of tech and games companies. The pro-active and re-active lobbying, as well as lobbying related to litigation. Which issues are being lobbied, and when. GR as a way to deliver your point of view as well as to learn about the near-term issues scheduled for debate. The goals of lobbying, and the alignment of GR efforts to the work of business and legal teams at the studios. Lobbying and associations, games industry lobbying and lobbying of competing industries (gambling, film, tech).

Hotel PACAI

A three-course dinner with table service. Choose your own seat (each table seats 8 persons). Shared starters, pre-selected mains (if you haven’t responded to the email about your choice: the default option is the vegetarian). Last drinks served at 22:00, but the venue (and its bar) remain open until 01:00.

Art Museum

Espresso Bar, Coffee Corner & Tea Station are here to energise you, along with a selection of freshly baked pastries and smørrebrød options. The drinks stations reman available throughout the day.

On this day, the Morning Tea is 30 minutes longer to allow for late arrivals / more opportunities to catch up. We also offer locally brewed ice-cold KOLA, full of spices that will connect the neurons that may have disconnected after the socialisation of the previous night.

Attenzione! If your departure flight is on Friday afternoon, you can leave your luggage at the Wolf Camper in the yard, then leave directly from the venue. Complimentary Fast Track Passes available at the Camper.

 Mike Turner (Latham & Watkins)
 Brian Chadwick (Devolver Digital)
 Karolina Dunin-Wilczyńska (People Can Fly)
 Kurt Pakendorf (ESL FACEIT Group)
 Kartik Prabhakara (Aream & Co.)
 Greg Roussel (Latham & Watkins)

We will explore the different ways in which a studio can raise money: by raising traditional debt or title-related finance, selling a minority equity stake to a venture capital/private equity investor or to a larger studio, joint venturing for mutual benefit, going public on a stock exchange or even selling the whole company to someone who will allow you to keep running it independently. Most companies will have access to multiple options and the market is evolving rapidly – we’ll discuss the pros and cons.

 Anna Kruszewska (Hasik, Rheims & Partners)
 Jennifer Stanley (Fenwick)
 Jonty Cowan (Wiggin)
 Arata Nomoto 野本新 (City-Yuwa/シティユーワ法律事務所)
 Darya Firsava (Wargaming)
 Kathy Carpenter (Wizards of the Coast)

We will look at the successful – and not so successful – examples of cross-media licensing. We will then review the biggest deal breakers during negotiations, and the points that the parties commonly get concerned about. We will also discuss the risks and problems associated with exploiting the same IP by different businesses at the same time (interference, consistency of the universe, differences in company culture, overlapping audience, etc.). We will finish by debating the future of the cross-media licensing, and whether its expansion is a given.

 Christine Morgan (Reed Smith)
 Florence Houisse (Kern & Weyl)
 Eric Grouse (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
 Matthew Datum (Bandai Namco)
  Dr. Thomas Pattloch (Taylor Wessing)
 Sara Ashby (Wiggin)

The UPC, including the general framework and the damage compensation issues; patents in China and the IP strategies of Chinese companies under the new system of UPC; patents in Japan and the approach of local studios to patenting features and mechanics; the potential influence of US litigation finance on the games industry; and the impact of patents on IP strategy of studios from an in-house perspective.

Hotel PACAI

Grab a bite at Hotel PACAI (buffet-style), then return to the Art Museum for hot drinks – and a conversation with your peers. This year the lunch break runs for 90 minutes to allow for more interactions.

 Konni Ewald (Osborne Clarke)
 Leonie Schneider (Osborne Clarke)

We will focus on dark patterns and the Digital Services Act. By attending this talk, you give your explicit consent to share your online browsing history with every other attendee. Raise three hands simultaneously to opt out. If you struggle to do so, fear not – for the Digital Services Act is here to champion fair play, transparency and user empowerment in the games realm, which will (not only) help you in your quest to fight dark patterns.

 Andy Ramos (Pérez-Llorca)
 Lee Noyek (Allen & Overy)
 Ricardo Cardoso (Antas da Cunha ECIJA)

A cross-country panel that unpacks the legal landscapes of Israel and Portugal, with Spain as the baseline comparison, across the issues that matter the most for the games industry.

 Adewumi Salami (Olajide Oyewole / DLA Piper Africa)
 Tyson Gratton (DLA Piper Canada)

We continue to explore the African continent – this time, with a close look at Nigeria, home to over 200 million people (and the GDP in excess of $400 billion). We’ll review the regulation that applies to the games industry, consider the potential for using Lagos as the base for building closer engagement with the whole region, and the success of the local creative industries, including media and music, that may pave the way for the future growth of the local games talent.

Art Museum

Tea, coffee, kombucha and light beer with homemade potato chips and fresh bite-sized pastries with berries and cottage cheese.

 Jennifer Stanley (Fenwick)
 Vanessa Pareja (DCA)
 Sergei Klimov (Charlie Oscar)
 Ryan Black (DLA Piper Canada)
 Roman Zanin (Wargaming)

Where are we, in terms of diversity and inclusion, in our community – and how do we improve the situation by identifying risks and building alliances? This is the first take on the complex matter. Contributions from the floor very much welcome!

 Boğaç Erozan (Riot Games)
 Alexandre Rudoni (Allen & Overy)
 Rafal Kloczko (Epic Games)
 Peter Lewin (Wiggin)

We will discuss the importance of defining the identify of the legal teams that work in-house, and the way of managing expectations when internal or external legal teams engage with business and creatives units, whether with smaller studios or with larger global organisations. We will also review the best practices of building trust within a studio environment, and when engaging outside law firms.

 Sergei Klimov (Charlie Oscar)
 Katya Nemova (Wargaming)

Thanks for coming, and don’t forget your laptops. Please vote in the “Great Presenter” and “Most Valuable Session” polls (links in the email). Registration for On Tour II in Limassol (April 2024) continues. Registration for Summit IX in Vilnius (September 2024) is now OPEN!

Hotel PACAI

A buffet-style closing dinner. Rustic garden soup with mushroom kibinai and a selection of cheeses, a live cooking station with traditional and vegetarian pilaf, and a live station for the šakotis desert cooked over open fire. The perfect space to process the content of the conference and drink a toast to your friends from overseas.