Legal Power For The Game Entrepreneur

At Henke Bartram, we recognize that being a game entrepreneur is a rewarding but tough job. Publishers and distributors are demanding. Timelines are unforgiving. Developers and artists get cranky. Industry change doesn’t stop. You have to create, manage and lead.

With all that on your plate, you don’t need missed legal opportunities or legal mishaps. That’s where we help. The attorneys at Henke Bartram have worked with Washington based game entrepreneurs for nearly a decade. We understand the challenges. We use our knowledge of the law and the industry to help protect you and put legal power behind your business.

We help at three legal levels:

• We use Washington law to advance your business in areas like start up, contracts, shareholder relationships, financing, leases, trade secrets, NDAs,and protection against unfair competition.
• We employ federal law to help protect your trademark and copyrights, secure IP licenses, and comply with federal securities requirements.
• We help at the international level by providing insight into the global legal environment and engaging knowledgeable foreign attorneys when needed.

We also move you forward in deal negotiations. Game entrepreneurs frequently negotiate with bigger companies. We help level the playing field by negotiating with savvy and experience. We also tell you what contract issues you can live with and when you should stand firm.

Some of the interesting things we’ve done:

• Negotiated contracts with EA, Microsoft, Vivendi Universal, Encyclopedia Britannica and other international companies, which generated significant revenue streams for our clients while effectively managing their domestic and international risks.
• Helped game entrepreneurs bring in additional revenue by negotiating licenses of game copyrights and trademarks for movie production and other ancillary products.
• Established manageable and effective incentive programs for developers, artists and other employees, which enabled the game entrepreneur to attract and keep key people.
• Negotiated music licenses that enabled game entrepreneurs to use valuable music in different game versions, on different platforms and in different countries without paying higher royalty rates.
• Reduced game entrepreneurs’ IP risks by securing trademark and copyright protection for games distributed around the world.
• Restructured growing game companies, enabling game entrepreneurs to take on new ventures without subjecting their current IP portfolios to new risks.

We can’t put all of our knowledge and experience on this website. If you want to learn more about what we can do, call us today. We would love to hear about your business and the legal issues you face.

Henke Bartram PLLC is a member of the International Game Developers Association and the WSA (formerly the Washington Software Alliance).