The European Experts

?? We're pleased to introduce another conference partner of 2025: ADVANT , a multi-regional alliance of specialist law firms from ???? Germany ( ADVANT Beiten ), ???? France ( ADVANT Altana ) and ???? Italy ( ADVANT Nctm ).

We spoke to Dr. Andreas Lober to find out more about the idea behind this alliance, and then caught up with both Andreas and his colleague Luca Guidobaldi about the recent developments at the German and the Italian member firms (why have an office in China? which team plays Rocket League? – and other crucial matters):

600 Professionals Across 15 Offices

– Andreas, when was the alliance born?

– It was born in 2021 at the 游戏产业法律峰会 (Games Industry Law Summit) in Vilnius. Ok, “during” the Summit would be more correct. But for me it was born “at” the Summit – all who have seen Sergei on stage, and the branding changed mid-event to ADVANT, will remember.

– How many lawyers does ADVANT have, across the three firms?

– We have around 600 professionals, mostly lawyers and a few tax advisors.

– And how many offices do the firms in the alliance have, together?

– 15.

– What do you see as the core concept of ADVANT?

– The main goal of our alliance is to offer American and Asian clients a solution for ???? Europe, which covers some of the most important markets through its own offices, with deep local roots and contacts, and a solution for the rest of Europe through a network of best friends. Since we are an alliance with moderate overhead costs, we do not have the same fee structure as some of the larger international firms.?

– How do you balance independence and coordination within the alliance?

– We share a set of common values, and a common CI. In the future there may be also joint procurement, e.g. for IT services. As to our daily work, we are fully independent – but naturally, as we meet often in person, we get to know each other very well, and this helps a lot when we work together.

– Would you say that your teams are now happier, having "brothers and sisters" in two other major regions?

?– Very much so. Especially our younger lawyers are enthusiastic about the possibility of going on secondments, for example to ???? Paris, ???? Rome, or ???? Brussels, while our Italian friends are keen to come to ???? Munich, and so on – there are many benefits in being a part of a multi-region, multi-cultural alliance. Not to mention the great 'ADVANT Live' events, where all of our lawyers come together – we've done it in Berlin, and more recently, in Rome.

Reviewing Games > Reviewing Contracts

– Andreas, how long are you with the firm?

– I joined ???? ADVANT Beiten (formerly known as Beiten Burkhardt) ten years ago, in 2015.

– And have you been working on the industry matters before?

– Certainly, I've been working for games companies long before that.

– I actually started working with games even during my studies – just not as a lawyer, but as a freelance games reviewer. In those days, I had the chance to review the original GTA, and the original Unreal games. Later, I managed a games website – the German version of Gamesmania, maybe some people in the community still remember it.

– Then, once I qualified as a lawyer, I wanted to continue working for games companies, but they already had lawyers, so it took me a while until I signed my first major games publisher as a client. But even though that company changed ownership, name and company structure several times since then, and now book over a billion euros of revenue per year, they are still a client of mine – now for over 20 years.

ADVANT Beiten

– ADVANT Beiten operates from 9 locations, with 6 in Germany (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Freiburg) and 3 offices that are based in other countries. Which is pretty unusual.

– Let's start with the office in Brussels: why there?

?– The office in ???? Brussels mostly serves to connect with the EU Commission and the wider Brussels-EU-community, which was most helpful when we represented a major publisher in the EU Commission case on geo-blocking.

?– What about China?

– The office in ???? Beijing is the first port of call for German an European businesses going to China (as a non-Chinese firm, we can provide valuable advice and open some doors, but we cannot practice Chinese law – however, our office in Beijing helps finding the right local counsel for each project, depending on the circumstances).

– That office also helps us to advise Chinese companies, even though that work is done in Germany. Some clients say that our WeChat pages and the Chinese-language “Investing in Germany” brochure are quite good – well, mostly these are created by our Chinese staff that works in Germany.?

– And your office in Russia?

– The office in ???? Moscow provides advice for German and European companies still operating in Russia. A big portion of the work is now winding down these activities, in a compliant way.

–Since studios tend to operate globally, this sounds like a big advantage – when there's a a dispute in one of these regions, you certainly cannot ignore it. Being able to go through a local office of a partner that you already work with in Europe is very valuable.

– Yes, our offices in China and in Russia are for German and European clients who want to verify a matter in those markets, and who would like to access a locally based expert (with a realistic opinion based on the current state of affairs) – while delivering the legal services at the standards they expect, and who, at the same time, fully understands them, and speaks their language as well as the language of the local markets.

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Litigation, Regulatory & Consumer Protection

– Andreas, speaking about ADVANT Beiten's home market –?Germany – what are the top 3 areas where your games team has the most experience?

– Generally speaking, all the matters where you need to understand games – since my entire team loves games, and plays them all the time. If we look at top expertise, this would be:

– Litigation matters, especially IP litigation – for example, we litigated what was probably the first case in Europe against cheaters almost 20 years ago, and many more ever since; plus litigation against clones, emulators, unlicensed merch, and more.

– Regulatory issues, especially age ratings, GDPR and DSA – for example, I wrote my thesis on youth protection for video games, and we helped Wolfenstein II and Dead Rising 4 to be legally available in Germany without any restrictions. We have also been involved in many other age rating cases, and as a youth protection officer certified by USK, I am authorized to rate games which are distributed digitally.

– Consumer protection, especially virtual goods – actually, this was a topic I started working on just after qualifying as a lawyer, when free2play model was still new – it was when browser games took off in Germany.

– As a German-based team, how much of your games projects happen cross-border?

– Today, almost all of our work is cross-border, in one sense or another. The vast majority – maybe 80%, to give you a ballpark figure? - is the work that we do for the international games companies, where we provide advice about matters in Germany or in the EU.

– Some of the work is for non-German law firms, and some for German companies. If we work for German companies, we also coordinate the matters outside of Germany for them. Sadly, these days the German games industry seems to face more challenges than it used to have earlier on.

– What are the extra powers of your legal team?

– Members of our team can serve as external data protection officers and youth protection officers, and our IT team has developed cutting edge tools to handle mass litigation – so they also could handle that in the games space if needed (hopefully, never).

–?Anything else?

– Some on my team are really good at Rocket League, and also at first-person shooters.

– I have to ask this question, even if it may not be relevant to the games industry directly: why do you guys have an office in Freiburg, of all the places?

– Well, who wouldn’t love the Black Forest with its cakes, mountains, and schinken? And who would say no when, what arguably is the region's most reputable corporate team, would like to join?

– Fair points, all of these! For those who haven't worked with your firm yet, who would be the first point of contact in the games industry matters?

– Dr. Andreas Lober (CV) as the main point of contact;

– Susanne Klein, LL.M. (CV) for data protection matters;

– Wojtek Ropel (CV) for contracts; and

– Lennart Kriebel (CV) for data law and regulatory questions.

ADVANT Nctm

– And now we move to Rome, to catch up with Luca Guidobaldi at ???? ADVANT Nctm: Luca, when did you start working with tech and IP, and for how long are you with the firm?

– I’ve been with ADVANT Nctm since 2012, so it’s been a while now.

– My colleague, Lorenzo Attolico , joined the firm in 2014 to become the head of the team, and for 10 years now we work together: you know that feeling when the blocks in Tetris match? Both of us have always been tech and IP lawyers, and BIG copyright lovers. As to our games practice, Lorenzo had started his games practice years before joining our firm, more exactly – since the day of the PlayStation launch, because he had already, at the time, begun with the Sony group in Italy: since then, the practice only keeps growing.

– In Italy, your firm has offices in Milan, Rome and Genoa – why such a split?

– The two main offices of ADVANT Nctm are in Milan and in Rome. I would say that, in terms of our practice, the team in ???? Milan is more into patents and designs (with a focus on fashion, pharma, healthcare and mechanical engineering / automotive).

– The team in ???? Rome is mainly into copyright and soft IP, in relation to the whole world of media & entertainment, including music and films (we have Cinecittà here, and actually our office is a few steps away from Via Veneto and the Trevi Fountain, two of the landmarks of “La Dolce Vita”!).

– As to ???? Genoa, we opened a small office there a few years ago to bolster our maritime law practice.

– What about your office in London: is this for investments into Italy, or more for investments from Italy?

– Our ???? London office is intended as a small hub meant to help the UK companies to deal with the Italian law and market, as it was founded to support our big insurance and banking law teams. We do not provide advice under the British law.

– However, over the years London has been used also by our tech and IP team to reinforce the relationships with our valued UK clients, and best friend firms – especially in the media & entertainment sectors, including the video game world. And I’m always happy when there's an occasion to work from a location near Carnaby Street, and cuddle my memories from the ‘90s of the good’ ol’ SEGA Palace at the Trocadero!

Clearance, Licensing & Litigation

– In terms of games and tech work, what are the areas where your team has the most expertise?

– Our games team in Rome can boast a huge expertise in terms of IP clearance and advice, licensing (including cross-media), and litigation. Want to make a game based on a Spaghetti Western remake? Here we are! Want to fight clone games? Here we litigate! Want to reproduce the Colosseum in your RPG? Come to the arena! :-)

– And what about the “extras”, the special skills at ADVANT Nctm?

– I would say, three things: first, cross-sectorial expertise: we have games lawyers with experience, skills and knowledge in the fashion industry. Also, from the world of music, and films: we know a lot about preparing cross-media contracts.

– Second, big copyright and entertainment law practices: a rarity in most of the biggest Italian firms.

- Third, general service and tailor-made approach: we work side by side with our consumer law experts, labor law experts and even with our tax law gets to deliver their stellar advice to games companies. In short, the princess is really in this castle, as Mario would say!

– Hah, and who would be the best point of contact for the games matters at the firm?

– I, ???? Luca Guidobaldi (CV) and ???? Lorenzo Attolico (CV) – once we know more about a particular project, we can coordinate further internally!