Photo of Yasamin Parsafar

Yasamin Parsafar is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the firm's San Francisco office and is Co-Leader of the firm’s Blockchain & Fintech team.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) published a report on Banking in Video Games and Virtual Worlds (“Report”) that warns of greater scrutiny of and enforcements against the financial services offered in games and virtual worlds that increasingly resemble traditional financial products and services offered by regulated banking and payment systems. The Report is applicable to all types of games and virtual worlds, but creators and publishers of blockchain games and metaverses, in particular, should take note of this report.Continue Reading CFPB Report Targets Games and Virtual Worlds – What Blockchain Game and Metaverse Companies Need to Know

In a lawsuit filed yesterday against esports entertainment organization, FaZe Clan, Turner Tenney (“Tfue”), a twenty-one year old professional gamer and streamer alleges that the exploitation of young, unsophisticated content creators (streamers) has become standard in the esports industry, and that he is a victim.

Tenney claims that the “gamer agreement” he signed with FaZe Clan when he was twenty years old is illegal for multiple reasons – he alleges that it is “grossly oppressive, onerous, and one-sided,” because it entitles FaZe Clan to a finder’s fee of up to eighty percent (80%) of the revenue paid by third-parties for Tenney’s services and that it contains anticompetitive provisions that unlawfully restrain his ability to make deals that are not sourced by FaZe Clan. Tenney also argues that FaZe Clan is acting as his agent and has a fiduciary duty to him, which he alleges FaZe Clan breached when it rejected a sponsorship offer for Tenney because of a conflict of interest.
Continue Reading Tfue Lawsuit Sparks Scrutiny of Gamer Agreements and Esports Agency Activity