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 the game, and more

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.