Video Game IP Protection & Enforcement
Advice on ownership, registration and licensing, together with responses to piracy, unauthorized merchandise and other suspected infringement.
Service Overview
A game brings together creative, technical, and branding elements, including its title, character designs, fictional settings and lore, narrative text, artwork, animation, music, voice recordings, software code, technical solutions, and brand identifiers. These elements may involve different types of intellectual property rights.
Trademark and copyright registration are only part of IP management. A clear chain of title and a reliable record of licensing rights also depend on consistent supporting documents, including contracts, records of creation, version documentation, and licenses.
Our work in mainland China covers three areas: confirming who owns the game's assets, structuring the licensing of those assets, and enforcing rights where they are copied or used without authorization.
Scope of Services
IP Inventory & Chain of Title Review: We catalog game IP assets, including titles, characters, artwork, music, voice recordings, and software code. We review ownership of work created by employees, external contractors, and co-development partners, together with the relevant contractual arrangements.
Third-Party Materials & License Compliance: We review the sources and applicable license terms of fonts, music, images, plugins, game engines, open-source code, and AI-generated assets, focusing on the scope of permitted use and any restrictions.
IP Protection Strategy & Licensing: We assist with trademark, copyright, and domain name protection, including copyright protection for game software. We also advise on licensing arrangements for game adaptations, co-branding, and the development of derivative products and content.
IP Enforcement & Dispute Resolution: We help address suspected infringement and related disputes involving reskinned games, unauthorized copying of game assets or code, piracy, unauthorized game servers, cheating software, and brand imitation. Our services include evidence collection, complaints to platforms, negotiations, and representation in litigation and arbitration.