Intellectual Property Protection for Player-Generated Content in Video Games

Nowadays video games are fast becoming one of the most popular media of choice. For more than thirty years now video games are amongst us. At the start being a new form of entertainment for the youth only, in no time it has grown into a medium enjoyed and used for various purposes by consumers of all ages. The global market for video games is still expected to grow substantially in the upcoming years and the legal framework for protection of video games becomes more and more significant.
Intellectual property rights protect video games from different aspects. Copyright safeguards the creative and artistic expression that goes into the software , music, story and characters of game. Patents protect the next generation hardware or technical solutions as well as the inventive game play or game design elements. Trademarks protect the name and logo, game title and subtitle. Trade secrets can be used to safeguard customer mailing lists, pricing information, publishers contacts, developers contacts and deal terms However, due to an inherent characteristic of video game, it faces major challenges. In some video games, the player has a role to play in changing production. His participation in such a way that each game for each player can be different from the other players. Players often create their own unique content. This paper addresses a number of the intellectual property law aspects of the protection of video games and discusses is this player-generated content protectable and it so, who owns it?