Games (Computer / Electronic / Interactive / Video) Expert Witnesses: 2

William (Ned) McLeod, Esq., has been a party to many Licensing Arrangements as an attorney specializing in Intellectual Property in the Entertainment Industry (“IP”), both on the licensor and the licensee side of the table, in different matters from hard media historical archives to blockchain based creations, and, as a non-attorney producer, both as owner / licensor and, alternately, as user / licensee.

As an entertainment attorney for more than 30 years, Mr. McLeod has personally negotiated hundreds of licenses, and reviewed and evaluated hundreds more. He has studied or taught over 400 hours of Continuing Legal education courses, from historical copyright status analysis to blockchain mechanisms, dissecting project content as different as movie scripts and royalty contracts. Mr. McLeod has designed a college course curriculum for international university students entering the resort and theme park entertainment fields. His handling of licenses have covered a broad scope of venues and clientele, including:

The Rockefeller Center (NYC), the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry and The Navy Pier (IL), the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (TX, with 8 associated museums), Graceland (TN), Niagara Falls (NY), The Smithsonian, the Kennedy Space Center (FL), Port of Los Angeles (CA), National Harbor (DC), Leadership Conference of Women Religious (“Catholic Sisters,” MD), the Tupperware Center (FL), Gatorland (FL), the Orlando Ballet (FL), Bob Ross (painter), Cousteau family ventures, 7 years of the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade (live and televised), and others.

Areas of Expertise:

Litigation Support - In Ned McLeod's 40 year capacity as producer, consultant, or attorney, he has negotiated, constructed, analyzed, attacked, or defended hundreds of business entertainment contracts, licenses, and litigation claims; and served as either consultant or expert witness on such matters.

As counsel (or, on occasion for a personal project, as producer), Mr. McLeod has obtained and operated licenses regarding Content, Properties, Brands, Venues, Likeness, Life Story, etc.) from Universal Music, Walt Disney Company, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, SONY, the Getty Images, Warner Bros. Music, TED Talks, Discovery Channel, ABC News, The Cousteau Society, Ford Motor Company, the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Collection, National Geographic, Jerry Lewis Films, The Beach Boys, Irving Berlin Music, Estate of Marvin Hamlisch, Richard Petty, Random House Books, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins, the United States Air Force, NASA, Estate of Yuri Gagarin, Arkham House Books, and others.

Mr. McLeod has been the expert consultant and reviewer for licensing documents litigated against major industry icons SONY Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, National Enquirer, Mad Magazine, and others involving the review of thousands of pages of licenses from domestic and international records. In songs alone, Mr. McLeod has licensed hundreds regarding films, musicals, and film clips.  

View Ned McLeod's Consulting Profile.

Garry E. Kitchen is a respected Video Game Expert Witness, with 40 years of experience in the industry, as a developer, game designer, publisher, and business executive. An early pioneer in the art, he has been recognized with numerous accolades and awards, including a WEBBY award, Inc. Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year, Video Game Designer of the Year, Software Publishers Association (SPA) Excellence in Software, Video Game of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award(s) and many others.

Mr. Kitchen's products have generated more than $300M (USD) in retail sales. His noted achievements include Donkey Kong (Atari), Keystone Kapers (Video of the Year nominee), Bart vs the Space Mutants (the first Simpsons home video game), and Garry Kitchen's GameMaker (the first integrated development environment (IDE) for video games). As Vice President of Game Publishing for Viacom/Nickelodeon Television, Kitchen executive produced the Addicting Games Mobile app for iOS, Viacom's first mobile game to reach #1 in the competitive Apple App Store (2012). 

Litigation Support - Mr. Kitchen has successfully performed as a technical expert for industry-leading companies, including Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Apple, Ubisoft, Wargaming, Disney, LEGO, Hasbro, Zynga, FanDuel, and SuperCell. The majority of his clients have worked with him on multiple engagements, a testament to their satisfaction with his performance. He has been deposed dozens of times and has significant experience testifying at trials and arbitration hearings.

Mr. Kitchen has worked on a number of significant interactive entertainment cases, including numerous early patent infringement cases involving the Magnavox/Ralph Baer/William Rusch patent portfolio (the first issued U.S. video game patents), Atari Corp. v. Nintendo antitrust case (1989), and Escobedo v. THQ, the first copyright infringement case involving the use of a protected tattoo image on an in-game character in a video game, and many more. Expert Case List (Partial) 

Areas of Expertise:

Testimonials - Mr. Kitchen takes great pride in going above and beyond for his clients. Here are recent verbatim comments from Mr. Kitchen's clients:

"The pleasure was all ours!! You have been great. I hope to work with you again soon."

"Your report left us speechless and we couldn't be happier."

"Thank you. Your speed and work on this was amazing."

"I very much enjoy working with you and watching you eat up opposing counsel during depositions."

"I don’t know if you heard, but the arbitrator found in favor of [client] on all 8 causes of action asserted by [opposition], awarded no damages, and will award [client] attorney’s fees and costs against [opposition]... Thank you for all of your work on this.  I learned so much and really enjoyed working with you."