Case Study – Games Development – publishing deal

Our client business came to us for advice on a deal with a computer games publisher.

The draft contract presented by the publisher signed over all rights in the intellectual property created by our client to the publisher. We advised the developer to negotiate this to grant the publisher exclusive rights for the use it needed to make of the game and no more. Changing the fundamental basis of the deal meant that our client was the ultimate owner of the code and all other aspects of the game. This left our client free to manage the work it was creating as the IP assets owned by the business.

How we added value to our client’s business

Ensuring that the contract gave the publisher only the intellectual property which the publisher needed and no more our client was able to start developing its own intellectual property portfolio. We advised our client on protecting functionality of its code by way of patents for artificial intelligence and securing trade marks for its games. Our client was able to license the same code and brands it had developed in different formats such as mobile and even TV. These activities all generated additional revenue for our client who had previously relied on income from publishing deals alone.

Why you need Briffa

We look at the whole picture. We help you use intellectual property to develop your business and make sure that you are in a position to use the intellectual property you have to generate income in your business.

In addition many businesses do not appreciate that building an intellectual portfolio involves reviewing all aspects of your business and dealing with the risks that can damage and undermine the value of your intellectual property. In this case for example we also reviewed and put in place contracts of employment with coders that protected our client from having its knowhow and confidential information passed to a coder by an employee who leaves. Other work involved dealing with intellectual property infringements as and when they arose to again preserve the value of the rights and the value in the products. Why buy a genuine item when a fake is available at a fraction of the price.

And at the end of the day because we work in this way we add great value to your business. The client in this example was sold to a major Japanese publisher for many millions of pounds on the basis that it not only had a great team of developers but also an extensive intellectual property portfolio.

Another Job Done – Happy Client Happy Lawyer!