Fair Use or Foul Play? Video Games and the First Amendment

Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/23/2014
5:15 pm - 6:45 pm

In conjunction with UNC’s Media Law Society, we invite you to join us for an exciting First Amendment Day panel where video game, publishing and legal industry heavyweights go head-to-head debating free speech, recent lawsuits over video games like O’Bannon v. NCAA and Lindsay Lohan v. Rockstar Games, the future of media law, and much more!

From Instagram to “indie” games, Americans today often create virtual portrayals of one another that are blurring the distinctions between reference and replication. Modern courts are struggling to balance the strong First Amendment protections content creators have against rights of publicity, trademark and defamation claims, as well as attempted bans on violence and nudity.

Panelists include:

• Janelle Bonanno, editor-in-chief at GameFront.com and former executive director of the Video Game Bar Association
• Gregory Boyd, author of Business & Legal Primer for Game Development, partner and chairman of the Interactive Entertainment Group at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC, and member of the NYU Game Center Incubator Advisory Board
• Alexander Macris, senior vice president at DEFY Media, co-founder and general manager of The Escapist, and creator of the game Adventurer Conqueror King
• Canon Pence, general counsel at Epic Games and formerly of Hunton & Williams LLP
• David Ardia (moderator), professor at UNC School of Law, co-director of the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, and faculty associate at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society

The event is FREE and open to the public. Parking will be available at the law school (free after 5:00 p.m.) and in either of two nearby visitor pay lots: the Rams Head Parking Deck, located on Ridge Road, and the Raleigh Road Visitor Parking Lot at Hwy 54. For directions to the law school and additional parking information, go here.