Smith's case victories include a $13 million suit awarded to Ubisoft Entertainment for the contentious Bratz license dispute with MGA Entertainment, a $10 million copyright infringement claim against Optical Experts Manufacturing for leaking info on Assassin's Creed, and scoring Ubisoft rights to Tom Clancy's soul name and likeness.

"We are pleased that Steve has been recognized for his outstanding work within one of the entertainment industry's hottest areas," said Smith's boss, Greenberg Glusker's Managing Partner Norman H. Levine. "His understanding of the industry and the competitive environment helps make the Firm a leader in this evolving area of entertainment law."

Kind of makes me want to be a lawyer. I wonder if I should try and transfer my grad studies to Stanford's law school...

"Our relationship with Ubisoft went far beyond the normal lawyer-client relationship," said Smith, who chairs Greenberg Glusker's Litigation Group and who was lead counsel in the matter. "We effectively became an extension of our client, learning everything about Ubisoft's business from its most senior management."

Greenberg Glusker Client Ubisoft Wins $13 Million Award in Video Game Licensing Dispute

LOS ANGELES—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Greenberg Glusker today announced that its client, Ubisoft Entertainment, one of the world's largest video game publishers, has obtained a $13.2 million judgment in a copyright and trademark infringement dispute against MGA Entertainment, the owner of Bratz™ dolls. Greenberg Glusker attorneys Stephen Smith and Suann MacIsaac, joining with Dale Kinsella of Kinsella, Weitzman, Iser, Kump & Aldisert, represented Ubisoft in the American Arbitration Association (AAA) arbitration that led to the judgment.

"We are thrilled with the result, and we feel completely vindicated," said Ubisoft's General Counsel Cecile Russeil. "We could not have achieved this outcome without attorneys who mastered every aspect of the case, and thoroughly understood our video gaming business."

In 2002, Ubisoft entered into a license with MGA to publish video games based on the Bratz™ dolls. Due to the increasing popularity of the dolls, MGA sought to force a renegotiation of the license in 2003 by terminating the license without cause and on pretextual grounds. When Ubisoft refused to give in to MGA's bad faith demands, MGA sued. Ubisoft counter-sued, alleging that MGA's termination of the license was invalid and a breach of contract.

In an effort to justify its wrongful termination, MGA sought to place at issue every aspect of Ubisoft's handling of the Bratz™ license, which required the legal team to become intimately familiar with Ubisoft's development, manufacturing, marketing and sales operations.

"Our relationship with Ubisoft went far beyond the normal lawyer-client relationship," said Smith, who chairs Greenberg Glusker's Litigation Group and who was lead counsel in the matter. "We effectively became an extension of our client, learning everything about Ubisoft's business from its most senior management."

The arbitrator ruled in favor of Ubisoft, awarding it $13 million in lost profits damages, attorney's fees and interest, and rejecting all of MGA's claims. After the arbitration award was confirmed by the Los Angeles Superior Court, MGA stipulated to entry of judgment in the amount of $13.2 million.

"This arbitration was a textbook example of effective cooperation between an internal legal team and its outside counsel," said lead Ubisoft in-house counsel Virginie Gringarten. "We are extremely pleased with the results."

From the "Sony can't get a break" feed comes this post over on GamesDaily.biz, which suggests that Playstation advertising just doesn't make you feel good about yourself.

On the flip side, the Xbox ads they were up against seemed to increase levels of "distrust". The actual implications of this study are irritatingly obfuscated by the article, but the gist seems clear.

Anderson's study found that boys who were exposed to Xbox pictures were "higher on power motivation" than those who viewed the PlayStation images. Along with "power motivation," the Xbox images also seemed to elicit higher self-confidence scores than those in the PlayStation group. Furthermore, images of the consoles themselves also had different effects on the respondents. Interestingly, boys in the Xbox group had higher levels of distrust after seeing the ad, while this phenomenon was not observed in the PlayStation group.

What's weirdest about this study, I thought, was the sexual dimorphism in the test groups. I can't be sure, but the article seems to say that the children were separated based on gender, with girls being tested only in the Bratz vs. Barbie branding category, and the boys in the Xbox vs. Playstation.

I despise people who run around spouting nonsense like this, but jesus christ that's sexist. Eliza Gauger

More here [GameDaily.biz]