Lawyers now seek a piece of the multi-billion dollar a year interactive media and video game industry. In a growing trend, intellectual property law firms have begun to expand their expertise to cash in on the growing number of video game developers, publishers, and other interactive media clients.
One innovative example includes Stubbs Alderton & Markiles LLP, a Los Angeles-based law firm traditionally known for its focus in business securities and intellectual property practice areas.
The firm plans to expand their video game and interactive media practice with the re-hire of Steve Goldstein as a member of the Senior Counsel team at the firm.
Goldstein has worked with the Firm in the past and spent the last three years at Flagship Studios as Director of Business Development and General Counsel. Before, joining Flagship, he worked at the Firm and represented various independent video game publishers and developers, firm studios, and technology companies.
For the month of November, sales in the video game market over all – which includes software, hardware and accessories – rose 10% in November as compared with a year ago. In October, the increase was 18 percent.
That said, hardware sales grew 10 percent in November, as compared with 5 percent in October. The big winner driving the industry growth is Nintendo Wii. It sold 2 million units in November. Microsoft sold 836,000 Xbox 360s, while Sony sold 378,000 units of PlayStation 3.
However, the latest numbers from December suggests a slow down in the video game market, which industry executives and analysts had characterized as relatively recession-proof.