State of Play VI: Speakers' Bios

Profile

Sean is a member of Drakeford & Kane LLC and manager of the firm's Intellectual Property Practice Group. He counsels clients in the interactive entertainment, videogame, virtual world, publishing and sweepstakes and gaming industries. His clients are engaged in all aspects of these industries and he regularly counsels his clients on various aspects of their business enterprises, including negotiation and completion of business agreements, management and protection of intellectual property rights and other matters relating to their business operations. Moreover, he is regularly involved in transactions ranging from development, financing, publication and distribution of interactive entertainment properties and related technology licensing; licensing and merchandising of brands, character, entertainment and sports properties. Sean's frequent commentary on business and law has appeared in numerous media outlets including Reuters, Forbes.com, CNN, BBC, NY Times, The Economist, among others. Additionally, he has authored various articles and papers on the legal issues in videogames and virtual worlds. Sean has spoken at several national conferences including ABA and GDC.

Mr. Kane also has experience litigating complex business disputes in federal and state courts at trial, appellate levels and in ADR forums throughout the country.  His practice has included litigation and consultation on a broad range of intellectual property matters involving copyrights, trademarks, trade dress, trade secrets and publicity/privacy rights. He has represented clients engaged in various entertainment, communications and consumer products business segments, such as music, motion picture (feature and independent films) and television production and distribution, computer software, video games, virtual worlds and the Internet.

Fordham University School of Law (J.D.-1998)
Villanova University (B.A. - 1995)

Recent Speaking Engagements

• “Internet Gambling Banned, New Legislation Forces Online Gaming Sites to Decide When to Hold Them and When to Fold Them ”, published by Internet Law & Strategy, Vol. 4, No. 11 (November 2006)
  
• “New Kinds of e-Commerce”, published by e-Commerce Law & Strategy, Vol. 23, No. 4, (August 2006)
• “Viacom v. YouTube Does the Highly Publicized Case Deal With The ‘Metaphysics of Law’?”, published by Internet Law & Strategy, Vol. 5, No. 4, (April 2007)
• “Asset Creation, Seclusion And Money Laundering In The Virtual World”, published by Internet Law & Strategy, Vol. 4, No. 7 (July 2006)
  
• “Virtual Worlds And Digital Rights, Can Stealing An Online Gamer’s IP Or Magic Sword Mean Real-World Legal Hot Water?”, published by Internet Law & Strategy, Vol. 3, No. 9 (September 2005)