Adrian was interviewed by Channel NewsAsia for #TalkingPoint on loot boxes in video games.

A wide-ranging episode that heard - in 23 minutes - from not just the lawyer (at 9:45 onwards), but a young gamer, a counsellor, a poker player, an addiction-focussed psychiatrist, a game developer, and a parent. Gambling and addiction risk were obviously a focus.

Beyond the very short sound bite in video, he says : " I don’t think Singapore legislation currently covers loot boxes, and expect the new local gambling regulator to be taking a closer look at whether more is needed. While some game companies have gone very far, arguably negatively impacting the user experience, I’m also not sure a new law is the only answer, though.

At a practical level, parents need to both understand how these increasingly prevalent game monetisation tools work, and learn how to educate and supervise (including account and payment settings) their children accordingly. It is good that Singapore’s education ministry has already started to include the topic in its cyber wellness programme."

Do find out more by watching the episode at CNA at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/video-on-demand/talking-point-fy2021/the-hidden-dangers-of-loot-boxes-13960232 and on Youtube 

#lootboxes #videogamelaw #singapore (images screen capped from CNA)

Honoured to be among those asked by Lianhe Zaobao to share thoughts on the impact of COVID-19 on lawyers and the local Singapore adoption of legal technology, including the Consigclear experience in innovation.

Adrian : Enjoyed being a panelist for the Legal Tech Track of the Tech3 Forum 2020 Black Swans & Blue Ocean: A New Digital Paradigm, organised by the Singapore Computer Society with support from Singapore Academy of Law, IMDA, and others.

Jack Ow and Joey Pang led wonderfully with two masterclasses on ‘The Future of Work for Lawyers - How to do legal work’, leaving the discussion on  "Lessons Learnt - Best Practices on Digital Lawyering" to ‘it has to work for the client’ Rakesh Kirpalani, ‘being paperless from the start made us ready for lockdown divorces’ June Lim and myself, superbly (prepared and) moderated by ‘it just works’ Josh.

#digitallawyering  #futureofwork 

Proud to have attended the 2nd year anniversary for the Future Law Innovation Programme (FLIP) last week, as the 2 year pilot #FLIPbySAL drew to an end.

We were proud that Consigclear LLC was mentioned at both the 2018 launch and at the 2020 conclusion of the pilot. We were also glad that with the support of the FLIP team and others, we helped set a innovative precedent for the practice of law in Singapore from co-working spaces. 

FLIP put Singapore firmly on the map, helped spark and normalise discussions within the profession about the changing #legalindustry landscape,  and served as a focus for a growing community.

Adrian was also pleased to have helped give back as a mentor in GLIDE.

A big thank you to the FLIP team and the many we crossed paths with during this journey.

#FLIPioneer  #legaltech  #legalinnovation

Some scenes from Adrian's days at #techlawfest 2019, including speaking on the ‘Legal Issues Facing a Smart Nation’ panel. 

"Singapore has embarked on an ambitious multi-year Smart Nation initiative. How exactly do the Strategic National Projects come together to help fulfil the Smart Nation vision and what are the legal issues that these projects may raise? How might the work of lawyers change as the Smart Nation initiatives are realised? What might we be able to learn from private sector leaders in digitalisation? What are the opportunities for providers of legal technology and legal services? And what are the adaptations needed by the legal industry to play an active role in the Smart Nation vision?" from TLF programme page.

Thanks to excellent moderator Yeong Zee Kin, and fellow panelists Kok Yam, Ivan Koh, Steve Tan, & Jo Yeo for helping make the topic surprisingly amusing. Ranging from epayments to national digital identity and signatures, we also managed mentioning various other useful use cases, including for massage establishments. #smartnation #singapore #myinfo  

Big congrats and thanks to all organising this year’s event! To more in the #legalinnovation and #legaltech space!

#singaporeacademyoflaw
#futurelawinnovationprogram #FLIP #technologylawyers

Photo credits : Tech Law Fest (as watermarked), Singapore Academy of Law (group shot), Adrian (brochure).

ps. If you are curious about Singapore's Smart Nation Programme initiatives, do check out their site here. Especially the My Smart Ah Ma video series.

A great first visit by Adrian to #gamescom2019 Cologne, Germany as part of the joint mission by Enterprise Singapore and Singapore Tourism Board.  Happy as the only Singapore law firm attending to help represent the #Singapore #gaming and #esports ecosystem in this joint internationalisation effort, as well as see how the world’s biggest gaming event works before it comes to Singapore in October 2020 at the inaugural gamescom asia #gamescomAsia #gaminglawyers #esportslawyers

Am looking forward to being part of that, especially the business conference and helping SG indies. #SGgamedev #SGGames
 
Was wonderful meeting fellow Singapore companies in the sector, as well as reconnecting with both old friends and also finally meeting in person luminaries in the video game law sector at the VGBA European summit at #Devcom.

Do reach out if you have questions or would like to work together!

Press coverage of the events, mission and Gamescom Asia 2020 :

1. Straits Times via Enterprise Singapore : "Local game developers go global".
2. Channel News Asia : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-companies-looking-to-capitalise-on-region-s-fast-11885172
3.  Gamescom Asis 2020 via GameAxis : "https://www.gameaxis.com/news/gamescom-asia-2020-announced-for-singapore-is-here-to-stay/"
4. Video  Games Bar Association European Summit 2019.

Adrian was asked by online portal Asiaone for his views on microtransactions, free-to-play games in Asia, and whether MTX fueled addiction, following the recent WHO news on gaming disorder. As part of the team that built a PC online and mobile gaming business across 15 Asia territories using Electronic Arts (EA) intellectual property in a F2P/MTX/live services model for Asia markets as the "thin edge of the wedge" for console- and AAA-focused Western companies, he was happy to weigh in.

“On the one hand, you do have that addiction worry. On the other hand, as a dev seeking sticky and engaged users who will hopefully be invested enough to want to spend on items or a season pass, you have some motivation to want to include a ‘compulsion loop’, right?” said the veteran lawyer.

While Kwong is agnostic about gaming-addiction-as-a-disease, he does care about addiction in general, especially for the young. Ultimately, he’s a realist — at the end of the day, he doesn’t think these aspects of games can really be banned. "I don’t think monetisation through free-to-play and microtransactions are inherently necessarily bad, and the reality is it did result in big and long-lasting changes to how games are made, and the business of games,” Kwong explained. 

Read more in the article - long read - here.

Just off the press!  Contributed two chapters (one shared) to the 2018 updated version of Halsbury's Laws of Singapore volume on e-commerce.  One chapter was on domain names, and the other (shared with Wendy Low) on ‘digital rights’, which digs into among other things copyright and other intellectual property issues in a digital context, including performance, communication, databases, copying, recording, protection measures, and network service providers.

For the non-lawyers: Halsbury's is an encyclopedia "designed to be the first point of reference for the legal practitioner". 
"(W)ritten specifically for the legal profession in Singapore by a panel of distinguished local practitioners and academics.  Halsbury’s Laws of Singapore provides a succinct narrative statement of core areas of law and practice.", says LexisNexis, the publisher.

A big thank you to Wendy, and a shout out to the LexisNexis team Sophia and my co-writers Wendy, Nathanael Lim, Jack Ow, Seow Wan Li, and of course lead editor, Bryan Tan. A final nod of appreciation to the authors of the first version from 2008 on whose shoulders we stood in updating : Bryan, Koh Chia Ling and (for my chapters) Siew Kum Hong.

ps. I realise I had previously contributed to another e-commerce law volume (third pic) which in its day actually hit the MPH bookstore Singapore best-seller’s list. 

Are you looking to start an esports team? In this final article of a two part series on esports and law for Asia Law Network by video games and entertainment lawyer, Adrian Kwong,  we look at things from the perspective of someone on the business side, such as a team owner or manager:

In the first article,  I touched on various things an esports player should look out for when reviewing a player contract. These included being clear as to contract obligations and expectations, player employment status, compensation, behaviour, the ownership of intellectual property, and rights of termination.

This second article looks at five legal areas for a team to bear in mind.
​

1. Contracting with players

What can you include in the player contract to better protect your team’s interests as players leave the team?  For example, can you include a buyout clause? Can you restrict the players’ ability to play for another team?  Must they repay training or tournament costs? Can you restrict what they say to the press when they leave?  Would such clauses be legally enforceable?
​
Overall, as you draft your team contracts, do consider whether your terms are not just (a) clear enough to legally rely on, but also (b) fair, in that they are in line with “market practice” or “industry standards” (whatever those might be in the still-evolving industry).  After all, you don’t want your contract being described as an “embarrassing slavery of a contract” or “utterly vile and atrocious”?[1]

You don’t want players tempted to break match-fixing rules for sums as small as USD 900, citing poor team compensation, as was seen in one SE Asian case.[2]

And of course, not having valid contracts, not paying players (and reporting that you have done both) could definitely be a team issue; a team in North America was actually banned in 2016 for this.[3]

     2.  Managing a team

When it comes to running a team, the actions of individual players may get you and the team in legal trouble. For example, bribery, cheating, fraud, or drug use could lead to corporate and criminal liability.

• In Korea for example, 9 were arrested in 2015 for fixing StarCraft 2 matches, resulting in a coach and player being banned for life.[4]  Note : In Korea, where esports players are licenced, such actions can also result in prison time.
• Two LoL teams were stripped of placings and banned by Riot in 2012 for “collusion” (Dignitas and Curse).[5]
• The FatGames team was penalised for allowing a different player to play than was registered.[6]

As such, a responsible manager would be advised to set clear lines on illegality, gambling, substance abuse, and even players’ social media postings. Should they disclose sponsorship or conflicts-of-interests in reviews, or pay taxes on benefits-in-kind, for example?

• The US Federal Trade Commission would agree, having warned bloggers and athletes in 2017 of their duty to disclose sponsored connections. [7]
• In the CSGO Lotto skins gambling case, the CS:GO bloggers didn’t mention that they owned the site they were promoting.[8]
• Sponsored players and teams in Singapore should also consider the Inland Revenue Authority’s guidance on social media influencers and taxes.[9]
  
  

Given that players may front large audiences (the top global names can have millions of followers, and just one event can have a live stream of at least 60 million[10]), with direct access to channels like Twitch and their own social media accounts, the potential for publicity-related issues (including online meltdowns, harassment and even defamation or hate speech) can be especially quickly magnified.

• Anti-religious comments during a livestream got a Polish player kicked off his team in 2016.[11]
• Just this month, a SE Asia player was banned by Valve from a DoTA 2 tournament in China for alleged racism.[12]
• Another two European LoL players were suspended in 2014 for their abusive language, harassment or being toxic in queue.[13]
  
  

Do consider putting in place clear and appropriate policies – ideally also backed up by the team contracts – so as to better manage team risks.  This is particularly true if you are operating a team house, and there are any minors or females involved. In addition to house rules like curfews, do consider appropriate health and safety precautions, as well as basic insurance and security measures.  Also, on a team level, do not neglect your other internal compliance areas, such as corporate secretarial, employee and investor matters.

     3.  Intangible property management

As you grow your team, are you also building up a reputation and your own brand?  Do you make money off merchandising or licencing them?
Don’t risk losing control of your intangible assets or value. Consider making sure that your team name, logos, and other potentially valuable intellectual property required are legally cleared for use and protected, including by applying for appropriate registration.  Do also consider providing that your players, managers and employees have appropriate written assignments of IP to the team. Lastly, be ready to police the serious misuse of your brand, or theft of company property or information.

     4.  Partner revenue deals

As the esports industry grows, ever-more revenue-generation options are opening up for your team’s business.  We see the sometimes-headline-grabbing prize winnings (as may be shared with your players), but teams today are definitely also earning off sponsorship and advertising deals, merchandising, live event and venue ticket sales, publisher partnerships, and last but not least, broadcast and media rights licencing.
Given the relatively new and still fragmented (multiple games, developers, and channels) state of the market, we understand that there is still relatively little industry consistency on business deal terms or structures.
As such, do not assume that the first contract you see is the “only way this is done”, and don’t be afraid to negotiate the contract if you feel something doesn’t work for you and your business (and have a lawyer help redraft the language to what you think is more accurate or reasonable).

      5.   Governance and regulation

Last, on a very high level, what rules regulate your team’s eco-system?
As we know, the industry is still developing.  In particular, there is no universal alignment of rules and league regulations. Instead these are heavily influenced by the individual game developers for their own leagues.
Remember, as the developer and owner of the game and the intellectual property, developers can change their own rules pretty much any time they want – including who can take part in any given tournament that they operate.  As such, do read the specific tournament and developer rules and keep up-to-date on anything that could have a material impact on your team (and make sure the players know the ones that can get them disqualified!).

Having said all that, with esports recently making it as a medal sport into the 2022 Asian Games, and 2019 South-East Asian games, likely using multiple games (eg 2-2-2 for console, PC and mobile) across multiple developers/ecosystems, it will be interesting to see if there is greater alignment of rules and governance (eg ethics, cheating, and adjudication). We are certainly keeping an eye open for anything coming from Singapore’s new national esports association, the Singapore ESports Association, as well as any moves from the Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF) as the sole competent authority in Asia recognized by the Olympic Council of Asia.

Esports is a topical and exciting area right now, and attention can only grow with its recognition as a medal sport for the Asian and SEA Games. With that growth comes many possibilities for increased business.  As with any relatively undeveloped area, though, one can also encounter the potential for legal uncertainty or even disputes.  Hopefully, some awareness of the legal risks –  and a little legal counsel – can perhaps help you prevent and manage issues and focus on maximising your esports business.

Do contact us if you have any questions or comments.


[1] https://cybersport.com/post/indian-asian-games-terrible-esports-contract and https://twitter.com/OfficialBleh/status/1004430804913541120
[2] https://www.joindota.com/en/news/22287-update-mineskimsievogt-match-fixing-scandal
[3] https://www.lolesports.com/en_US/articles/competitive-ruling-team-impulse
[4] https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/3dkxew/9-people-have-been-arrested-for-fixing-starcraft-matches
[5] https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/top-two-league-of-legends-teams-from-mlg-summer-disqualified-for-collusion/
[6] https://www.denofgeek.com/us/games/esports/238498/6-insane-esports-scandals
[7] https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2017/04/ftc-staff-reminds-influencers-brands-clearly-disclose
[8] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36702905
[9] https://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/uploadedFiles/IRASHome/Businesses/Social%20Media%20Influencer.pdf
[10] League of Legends (LoL) World Championship final in Beijing, 60 million watched the final via live stream: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/brunch/game-on-esports-levels-up
[11] http://pacific.network/2016/11/esports-pro-got-kicked-out-from-team-after-racist-remark
[12] https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sport/filipino-banned-from-china-esports-tournament-over-alleged-racism-10996142
[13] http://forums.euw.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=1749326