Luxury goods company Gucci recently bought a plot of LAND in the Sandbox Game, an Ethereum-based play-to-earn game. This LAND is a virtual real estate plot (in the form of an NFT or non-fungible token) where Gucci plans to sell in-game clothing and collectibles. As futuristic as this seems, Gucci is not the only major…
Tag: intellectual property
Who Owns Your Invention? The Concepts and Inventions Assignment Clause, Work-For-Hire, and the Shop Right Doctrine.
In the modern employment context, there are plenty of on-boarding documents, including a handbook, that the employee may be asked to sign as part of getting hired. Lurking in these pages of seemingly innocuous workplace policies may be critical obligations and restrictions that significantly restrict the employee’s rights. For example, non-compete and non-solicitation clauses are…
So You’ve Designed a Board Game. Do You Need a Patent, Copyright, or Trademark?
Board games are still big business. Even before the pandemic limited entertainment options, the board game industry already accounted for $1.8 billion of sales in 2013 – or almost 10% of the entire toy market in the United States. In the first half of 2020’s lockdown, Hasbro reported a 4% increase in gaming revenue over…
Beer, the Lions, and Intellectual Property: An Updated Cautionary Thanksgiving Tale.
Update: Since I originally published this article, Eastern Market Brewing has resolved its issues with Barry Sanders and no longer uses his likeness on the beer can. Same Old Lager is available again, and instead of a Lions player wearing the number 20, the brewery’s mascot graces the can against a pixilated, video-game style football…