This authoritative handbook takes you through the legal morass of producing a video game, from the moment you get the original idea through publication. This practical, prescriptive book is an essential resource for legal professionals with clients in the area as well as for video game developers.

Each chapter in this revised edition of Legal Guide to Video Game Development contains a general road map to one legal aspect of video game production:

Patents, Copyright and Trademarks

Business and Finance Issues

Risk and Insurance

Intellectual Property Agreements

Licensing and Open Source Material

EULAs and Terms of Use

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

Publishing Your Game

Written by experienced lawyers who work closely with their software and video game developer clients, this is a guide to the process of taking an idea and creating a product, from beginning to end. Chapters include the relevant forms, agreements, and contracts for that phase of production, as well as numerous helpful tips on negotiation and decoding legalese. The book features an online forms library with downloadable templates for the end-user license agreements, terms of use, and nondisclosure agreements you'll need.

The Legal Guide to Video Game Development is perfect for entertainment and intellectual property lawyers; art, design, trade, and law schools; and burgeoning artists with an idea, in need of a guide to get them to inception.