Video Games and the Law

The video game industry is big business, not only in terms of the substantial revenue generated through retail sales of games themselves, but also in terms of the size and value of parallel and secondary markets. Consider any popular video game today and you most likely are looking at a franchise that includes not only the game itself and all of its variants but also toys, books, movies, and more, with legions of fans that interact with the industry in myriad ways. Surveying the legal landscape of this emergent industry, Ron Gard and Elizabeth Townsend-Gard shed light on the many important topics where law is playing an important role. In examining these issues, Video Games and the Law is both a legal as well as a cultural look at the development of the video game industry and the role that law has played so far in this industry’s ability to thrive and grow.

Ron Gard is Director of the Law/Culture/Innovation Initiative and teaches in the Communication department at Tulane University. He is a Non-Resident Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society.

Elizabeth Townsend Gard is the Jill. H and Avram A. Glazer Professor in Social Entrepreneurship at Tulane University, Director of the Tulane Center for IP, Media & Culture, and teaches intellectual property at Tulane Law School.