Legal aspects of the video-game industry

Passionate about video gaming and the legal profession, childhood friends Younes Sebbarh, Gilles Leyssen and Camille Degrave were able to pool a group of specialised lawyers who were willing to contribute to this guide on the legal aspects of the videogame industry.

With seven specific chapters, this book tries to provide a first answer to the most important legal questions that might arise in the lifecycle of a video-game company. These insights are intended to be applicable irrespective of your jurisdiction, illustrated by real-life situations and easy to read for individuals without a legal background.

The promotors and authors of this book have the following backgrounds:
Younes Sebbarh is a corporate lawyer at Baker McKenzie and is specialised in security offerings, listings and other capital market transactions (including ongoing reporting obligations of listed companies), as well as public and private mergers and acquisitions.
Gilles Leyssen is a corporate lawyer at EY Law and is specialised in restructurings and private mergers and acquisitions for both international and national clients, as well as funding rounds for start- and scale-ups.
Camille Degrave is a corporate lawyer at Laurius and is specialised in restructurings and private mergers and acquisitions for both international and national clients, as well as funding rounds for start- and scale-ups.
Sarah De Wulf is an IT-lawyer at Stibbe and is specialised in e-commerce, e-communications law, data protection, digitization, new technologies as well as the intellectual property aspects of the aforementioned specialisations.
Michaël De Vroey is an intellectual property lawyer at Baker McKenzie and is specialised in all contentious and non-contentious aspects of intellectual property law, including trademarks, copyrights, designs, patents, trade secrets and related issues.
Margo Allaerts is an intellectual property lawyer at Baker McKenzie and is specialised in the full spectrum of intellectual property rights (trademarks, copyright, designs, patents, designs, customs seizures), digital media and commercial dispute resolution.
Malik Baba is a dispute resolution lawyer at Stibbe and is specialised in domestic and cross-border litigation as well as in arbitration, with expertise in various areas of law such as obligations and torts, contracts, distribution, banking, insolvency and security. Maxime Nuyts is a corporate finance lawyer at Ashurst and is specialised in Belgian and cross-border transactional finance, debt restructuring and debt capital markets.
Joëlle Simons is a tax manager at EY and is specialised in customer tax transparency for financial institutions, as well as US withholding tax.
Arnaud Flamand is a corporate lawyer at Baker McKenzie and is specialised in security offerings, listings and other capital market transactions (including ongoing reporting obligations of listed companies), as well as public and private mergers and acquisitions.
This book is not intended to delve deeply into the details of every complex legal issue that may possibly arise. Always seek professional legal advice if you encounter legal issues.