slides & audio(44 MB)
Casual gaming is growing in popularity worldwide. As casual gaming providers expand their services to additional countries, differing legal environments and risks apply. In both the United States and the European Union, new regulations and new cases constantly require re-evaluation of gaming site operations.
In this session, attorneys Steve Augustino and Dr. Andreas Lober will provide a comparison of the important legal considerations from the U.S. and E.U. perspectives. Topics of discussion will span from website terms and conditions, to children’s online privacy protection, to unlawful gambling and wiretapping obligations – all of which are of interest to casual gaming sites. Attendees also will learn the differing approaches to ratings systems in the US and Europe. Focusing on recent legal cases of 2007 in the U.S. and the E.U., this session is a must see legal primer for any casual gaming provider. Mr. Augustino, a US lawyer, will discuss cases and legislation in the US. Dr. Lober, a German attorney, will address developments in the European Union.
Delivered at Casual Connect Amsterdam, February 2008
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Steve Augustino (email)
Steve Augustino is a Partner in the Telecommunications Practice Group at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. Steve joined Kelley Drye in 1996 and helped to create the firm’s Telecommunications Practice, which is now one of the largest telecommunications practices in the nation.
In his practice, Steve provides strategic and regulatory advice to all types of communications service providers, with particular emphasis on advanced services, competitive policy, and enforcement matters. He regularly represents CLECs, DSL providers, Internet providers, and enhanced service providers before the FCC, state regulatory commissions, state attorneys general, and federal courts in rulemaking, complaint, and interconnection proceedings. He has experience leading numerous national coalitions in pursuing public policy decisions favorable to competitive providers’ business plans. He once led an industry trade association in enforcing a statutory prohibition on Bell Telephone Company ownership of alarm monitoring companies, which resulted in the FCC declaring over $1 billion in acquisitions to be unlawful. He also has experience in transactional, financing, and bankruptcy matters involving telecommunications carriers and Internet providers.
With over 16 years of experience representing innovative content and service providers, Steve added a Games Specialty to his practice in 2006. The Games Specialty is specifically geared towards addressing mobile and broadband access issues affecting video game developers and publishers. Steve’s expertise in telecommunications helps online and mobile gaming companies meet the business and legal challenges brought on by the intersection of gaming and communications policy in the U.S. Steve received his B.A. from the University of Virginia with highest distinction and graduated magna cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center. Steve is a member of the “Atari generation” of gamers. His most prized game room possession is his original Asteroids arcade machine.
Andreas Lober (email)
Dr. Andreas Lober is a partner at the Frankfurt-based law-firm SchulteRiesenkampff. His main areas of practice are legal questions of computer games, virtual worlds, and the Internet, with a particular focus on the implementation of new business models. He currently works for several gaming publishers and developers as well as companies doing business in or with virtual worlds. Together with his colleagues, he has been advising clients of all sizes for years, in every stage of their business: from MBA or seed financing, EULAs and contracts to litigation, unfair competition and merger control. His book "Virtuelle Welten werden real" has recently been published by Telepolis. He is a lawyer qualified in Germany, but also holds a French degree and a doctor’s degree from Tübingen University.
