The mobile-game industry can be lucrative. Mobile games ' which can be downloaded to cell phones and other mobile devices ' can be cheaper and easier to develop than games created for platforms like PCs or game consoles, where users expect higher production values. What also makes mobile games attractive to developers and entrepreneurs is the potential market of consumers who already carry and use cell phones ' estimated at 207.9 million nationwide and 2 billion worldwide. Mobile games present huge brand opportunities as well: Celebrities such as hotel heiress Paris Hilton, rapper 50 Cent, skateboarder Tony Hawk and poker champion Phil Hellmuth have each licensed their names and images to mobile games. Tom Cruise, notoriously shy of associating his name with videogames, lent his name exclusively to a Mission Impossible III mobile-phone game.
- March 28, 2007Steven Masur
Recent rulings of interest to you and your practice.
March 27, 2007ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |What's happening in this all-important area.
March 27, 2007ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |The authority to concede liability derives from a defendant's inherent right not to contest claims made by a plaintiff. There has been a general reluctance to concede liability on the part of the defense bar, based as much on the inability to recognize what is to be gained by such an approach as on an unrealistic fear of what may be lost. However, conceding liability can provide a valuable opportunity to enhance one's credibility, as well as a vehicle to provide damage and expense control. In the appropriate case, conceding liability can be a particularly effective strategy, which tends to be underused. What are the risks and benefits of conceding liability? In which cases is it appropriate to employ the strategy? We address herein some of the practical aspects.
March 27, 2007Andrew S. KaufmanThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in March began reconsideration of its decision that held it was unconstitutional for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to withhold experimental drugs from terminally ill patients. The order for rehearing en banc was issued in November 2006. The case pits dying, often desperate, patients against the FDA and its policies aimed at protecting the public from dangerous and unproven medications.
March 27, 2007Janice G. InmanPhysicians and policymakers have long decried the risk of malpractice liability as the greatest obstacle to volunteerism in health care. Over time, lawmakers across the country have responded to these concerns, and today there is an array of federal and state laws that protect volunteer health care providers from lawsuits arising from the provision of charitable medical care. Prudent defense counsel should be aware of the laws that exist to protect volunteer health care providers, and should know just when those laws apply. What federal and state statutes immunize providers of charitable health care, and how can those statutes operate to protect defendants in medical malpractice actions?
March 27, 2007Matthew D. LiebenhautThis month marks the beginning of a new feature in which Patent Strategy & Management expands its coverage to provide information about the advancement of lawyers in the patent profession.
March 27, 2007ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |Part One of this series discussed reasonable royalty damages and the questions that a prospective litigant can ask to evaluate its litigation exposure. This month's installment continues the discussion of those questions.
March 27, 2007Kevin Arst and Michael MilaniIn patent infringement cases, defining the scope of the real injury to the patentee poses a challenge when the patent only covers a portion of a product or system. Courts have developed the entire market value and convoyed sales rules in an attempt to address the true economic loss to the patentee caused when the patented invention is part of a more complex product or of a larger system of goods sold together. These doctrines have been criticized for a number of years and are the targets of legislative activity.
March 27, 2007Julie A. Tennyson