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Expanding the Playing Field for Video Game Lawsuits

BY Marisa Kendall
January 31, 2015

Video game litigation is a hot area for entertainment lawyers in 2015, as more celebrities have sued over being cast as game characters without their permission. The spree is driven by a pair of 2013 rulings that sided with athletes depicted in college football games, lawyers said, as well as by the overall boom in gaming sales which has made the industry a rich target for plaintiffs lawyers.

Attorneys who specialize in right-of-publicity cases say they don't see the pace of litigation slowing down this year. But they're also eyeing a handful of cases they hope could slow plaintiffs' momentum and expand First Amendment protections for the depiction of real figures in creative works.

Kelli Sager, a partner in Davis Wright Tremaine's Los Angeles office who specializes in media and entertainment litigation, said over the course of 30 years of practice she was used to seeing an average of one right-of-publicity claim every year or two. “We're now defending, I can think of six off the top of my head,” she said. “So it's a huge amount of litigation.”

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