Background:

The concept of an 'Online Gaming Legal Guide' came about in early 2002 when Chris King of FISO Limited and Charles Marks, deputy MD of Fantasy League Limited, were discussing the difficulties facing new fantasy sports websites in understanding the legal issues of running a fantasy football game. For example, 'Fantasy League' is a term often used by fantasy gamers to describe a fantasy game. What many people might not realise is that it is, however, a registered Trade Mark and cannot legally be used without a license from Fantasy League Limited.

This is one of many legal issues that one has to consider when setting up an online gaming web site. There are many others too.

• How do I get a Trade Mark registration?
• What is the law of 'passing off'?
• How do I register a domain name and what if someone has registered the name of my game as a domain name?
• What does copyright protection cover and how is it acquired?
• What is a 'database right' and how is it infringed?
• What notification obligations must you comply with for data protection purposes?
• How do you avoid defaming famous personalities on your website?
• What do the terms linking and framing mean and are they permissible? 
• What are the Betting and Gaming regulations and is your game legal? 
• What jurisdiction of law governs your website?

To try to help remove the confusion, Fantasy League and FISO have teamed up with City law firm Macfarlanes to create an Online Gamers Legal Guide. Macfarlanes are one of the leading law firms in England and have a wealth of experience in this field. They have put together an outline document covering many of the considerations that have to be taken into account when creating a gaming web site. The aim of the guide is to highlight issues that you need to consider before you setup a site. This should hopefully avoid future legal problems.

Please download the guide from here:

http://www.macfarlanes.com/pdf/fant_game.pdf 

It is a valuable starting point that every Webmaster running a gaming website should look at. 

Another link of interest is the Government's website explaining the impact of Pool Betting Duty on fantasy games. Some specific pages from there are:

Forecast and Fantasy League® competitions:

http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/Gambling_racing/gambling_law_until_sept_2007/fact_fantasy_league.htm

Bookmaker info:

http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/Gambling_racing/gambling_law_until_sept_2007/bookmaker.htm

Pool Betting Info:

http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/Gambling_racing/gambling_law_until_sept_2007/fact_pool_competitions.htm

For information on the legal issues of the copyright on statistics and data for fantasy sports see:

http://www.fiso.co.uk/fantasy_sports_copyright_issues.htm

http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=2