Summit VIII – Day Two

The 8th edition of the conference is now over, and here's what happened on the second day of the program:

Morning Run no.2

While the sessions kicked off at 09:30, for a few attendees the morning started at 06:30 with a 16-kilometre morning run. We salute Meryl J Koh, FSiArb (许君宁） (Drew & Napier), Evelina Georgiades (Chrysostomides), Andy Ramos Gil de la Haza (Pérez-Llorca), Dave Chang (Supercell) and Przemys?aw Walasek (Taylor Wessing) for leading the way towards a more sportive Summit!

Raising Money

At 09:30, we started the program with the exploration of the different ways in which studios can raise money (full title: "Raising finance in the video games sector").

Mike Turner (Latham & Watkins) lead the panel, with...

... Greg Roussel (Latham & Watkins), Kartik Prabhakara (Aream & Co.), Brian Chadwick (Devolver Digital), Kurt Pakendorf (ESL Faceit Group) and Karolina Dunin-Wilczynska (People Can Fly).

Cross-Media Licensing

We continued with the exploration of cross-media licensing: film-to-game, game-to-film, cross-media promotions, in-game integration, and other joys. Anna Kruszewska (HRP) lead the panel, with...

... Kathy Carpenter (née Kim) (Wizards of the Coast), Darya Firsava (Wargaming), Jennifer Stanley (Fenwick), Arata Nomoto (City-Yuwa Partners) and Jonty Cowan (Wiggin).

Patents 2.0

The last session in the block paid a visit to a topic that we last discussed six years ago –?patents. We look at the stats, considered the implications of the growing availability of litigation financing, looked at UPC and compared the different approach to patents in Europe, China and Japan. christine morgan (she/her), J.D. (Reed Smith) lead the panel, with...

... Sara Ashby (Wiggin), Florence Houisse ?? GDC (Kern & Weyl), Dr. Thomas Pattloch (Taylor Wessing), Eric Grouse (Sony Interactive Entertainment)...

...and Matthew Datum (Namco Bandai).

Dark Patterns & DSA

After a break for lunch, Konstantin (Konni) Ewald (Osborne Clarke) and Leonie Schneider (Osborne Clarke) delivered a deep dive into deceptive patterns and the DSA.

This is the first session in the Summit's history that featured an audio track recorded specifically for this presentation! ??

Israel & Portugal

In the next session, Andy Ramos Gil de la Haza (Pérez-Llorca) used his native Spain as a reference when introducing two new regions: Israel and Portugal.

Ricardo Cardoso (Antas da Cunha ECIJA) introduced Portugal, and Lee Noyek (Allen & Overy) introduced Israel.

Nigeria & Africa

Tyson Gratton (DLA Piper) took over, moderating a fireside chat where we explored Nigeria within the broader context of the African continent.

Adewumi Salami (Olajide Oyewole / DLA Piper Africa) introduced Nigeria.

Nicholas Hall (RenderHeads) and Pieter Koornhof (24 Bit Games) provided the context with the legal updates from South Africa, Kenya and a few other African countries (and selflessly promoted AFRICA GAMES WEEK , which happens at the end of November this year).

Improving Diversity & Inclusion

After a break for coffee (and beers), we started the conversation about a topic that's been on the radar for a while: diversity and inclusion in legal teams, and in studios in general. Jennifer Stanley (Fenwick) moderated, with Sergei Klimov (Charlie Oscar), Vanessa Pareja Lerner (DCA) and Roman Zanin (Wargaming) sharing their experiences with the theme.

As we discovered already during the prep calls, the challenges differ significantly between the regions, and what is obvious in Brazil may be hard to spot in California, Cyprus or Lithuania.

Thanks to the active audience participation, we were able to map the first few steps forward and pledged to make the topic a part of every future Summit. If you would like to join the group that develops the session for On Tour in Limassol (April 2024), please send Sergei a message.

Legal Services: Identity & Expectations

This year's Summit closed with a session that looked at the core questions of any legal team: the "what", the "how" and the "why" of our profession. What are the goals and the priorities of a legal team? Bogac EROZAN (Riot Games) started the conversation, with...

...Alexandre Rudoni (Allen & Overy), Rafal Kloczko (Epic Games) and Peter Lewin adding their own takes.

The packed audience is a proof that this theme is very much relevant to teams working both in-house and at law firms, and it's another topic that we would love to continue exploring at the next Summit.

Garden Dinner

Each year at the end of the event, we run Garden Dinner – a relaxed and friendly occasion to compare opinions on the program, and share a drink with friends old and new.

We typically look for something special for this dinner, such as pilaf...

...and a live station for the ?akotis dessert (which took a few hours to cook).

This year we realised that ending the conference on Friday is not a perfect time for some of the attendees, who are bound by the flight schedule to either leave before the last dinner – or spend a part of the weekend flying (which is not great for their families).

Because of this, next year's Summit will run from Tuesday through Thursday (rather than Wednesday through Friday), on September 3-5, 2024.

What's Next?

If you attended the Summit, later today you will receive a link to the Speaker Awards poll that will determine the top sessions and the top presenters of this year's program. Please vote!

A week from now, sponsors of the Summit will receive their Brand Reports. We will also email the Sponsorship Deck 2024 to those who signed up for it.

And within the next two weeks, we will publish the full Photo Gallery from the event (thanks to Simas Bernotas ), announce the winners of the Speaker Awards and close the book on the 8th edition of this little community gathering.

Thanks for coming, and have a good weekend!

– Sergei Klimov @ Charlie Oscar