A BRIEF LEGAL HISTORY OF VIDEO GAMES

Geneviève .Larocque
Sep 21
1 min read

Updated: Oct 5

Geoffray Brunaux

Released in 1972, the first major video game hit, the sports simulation Pong, simultaneously gave rise to the first significant litigation in a booming sector. No one imagined at the time that the meteoric economic growth this cultural activity would experience, nor the disputes that would accompany it. Some of the issues seem classic, such as the lawsuit brought by Universal City Studios against Nintendo, alleging that the Japanese ape Donkey Kong was a counterfeit of the giant gorilla King Kong.

However, since then, new issues have emerged. Was actress Lindsay Lohan's image used without her permission to portray the character Lacey Jonas in GTA V? Was Carlton's dance reproduced in Fortnite, without the knowledge of her portrayer in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, actor Alfonso Ribeiro? By analyzing the sector's structuring disputes, from its inception to the present day, this work aims to demonstrate how technological progress in video games has certainly influenced the players' experience, but also the nature of the legal issues raised.

PUBLICATION DETAILS

LANGUAGE	BINDING	EDITION	ISBN	YEAR	PAGES
French	Paperback		9782386001307	2025	170

OTHER NAMES

Une brève histoire juridique du jeu vidéo