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The federal transfer tax system, consists of an integrated estate and gift tax system. Meaning that on a federal level an estate upon death is taxed at a rate of 45% for anything above the applicable exclusion. When the applicable exclusion is 5.43 million, an individual can die and the estate will not experience federal estate tax. Read More...
Another very important part of copyright law for video game developers, both using it as a sword and a shield, is the Digital Millennium Copyright. This is an act from the late 90's that deals with digital copyright. For game developers, the most important part is Section 512 which deals with DMCA takedowns and safe harbor.Read More...
There are five levels of distinctiveness that gives trademarks their strength. Trademarks are meant to identify the source of goods and they have to be distinctive. The two strongest of the five are arbitrary and fanciful trademarks. Arbitrary marks are when you use a term that has nothing to do with the product itself. A good example of this is Apple, Apple is a very strong trademark, because there is a distinctive disconnect between the items being sold under that name, and the name itself. Read More...
The expense of getting a patent for video game development keeps most from getting a patent on their work. Startups are usually not prepared to spend the $10,000 to $20,000 it's going to cost to register a patent. It is mostly the larger platform holders, that will be filing for patents. Read More...
When you have a video game company, nearly all of your value in that company is going to be in intellectual property that your developers are creating. It is not necessarily just the value of how many games you can sell, the primary value is in your intellectual property. When an investor is interested in funding your project, it is the intellectual property they are actually investing in.Read More...
Major players in the video game industry are the platforms, where people are actually playing the games. The major players on the platform front are Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to name a few, all have their own home video game console platforms, such as the PlayStation, the xBox, and the Wii. Steam is the big platform on PC's that people are using which allows developers to self publish. Read More...
"Federal policy towards Indian tribes has moved in various decades, from a physical extripation, to measured separatism, to removal, to assimilation, to self-determination – sometimes at the same time. "
~Prof. Matthew L.M. Fletcher
Between the 1820s and the 1850s, the idea was that settlers desire for land, natural resources ad resolution of conflicts could be accomplished, by removing Indian tribes to lands far away from settlers. The United States negotiated a number of removal treaties after the War of 1812, gut the process moved slowly and settlers appetite for land outpaced land cessions by tribes.Read More...
The Marshall Trilogy are the three foundational Indian law cases. Johnson v. M'Intosh in 1823 was the first of the three, and was the first Indian law case decided by the U.S. Supreme court. Johnson v. M'Intosh was land dispute and the nature of ejectment involving non-Indians. It was considered an Indian law case, even though there were no Indians involved in the case. Read More...
Civil Jurisdiction on Tribal Land. Joel West Williams, a Staff Attorney at the Native American Rights Fund and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. He obtained degrees in Psychology and Religious Studies from Naropa University. At Naropa, he was awarded the President’s Leadership Scholarship and his senior project in the religious studies department focused on Cherokee history and religion. Read More...
