Rachna Shroff, Gaming and Tech lawyer ( today & forever) with a strong passion to mentor and teach young law students and lawyers in their career ahead recently started her content creation journey with Lawswithrachna on Instagram. Rachna spoke about her Journey in Law: Exploring Gaming Laws and Beyond with Apoorva Mehta, Executive Manager at Legal Desire.

Q: Can you introduce yourself to the readers? 

Oh yes! Thank you for the same. I am Rachna Shroff, with 13 years of experience in the field of law with experience in NBFC, iron and steel, law firms and gaming industry. I am also a Gold Medalist in MBA, a faculty of the Art of Living where I conduct mind management and meditation programs and I also have started LawswithRachna – online law school catering to law students and lawyers with mentorship program, career-coaching and the flagship gaming laws workshop.

Q: How did you enter the field of gaming laws? 

It happened to me and I am grateful it found me. It’s very me – dynamic, ad-hoc and challenging. Not a single dull moment. I think we resonate 

Q: With your extensive experience in Asia’s top law firms, could you discuss the key differences or similarities you’ve observed in gaming laws and their enforcement across different jurisdictions in the region?

The Constitution of India under Article 246 divides power between Centre and State where Betting and Gambling has been placed under Entry 34 of List II of the Seventh Schedule under the State List and this makes every State decide their rules. 

In India itself the enforcement has been so diverse.  Some states allow and some don’t. The law is same but sadly, not the understanding. The Nagaland License has helped many operators to operate seamlessly whereas a few states who had called a ban were later challenged in the Court and a couple of them are still pending for hearing before the Supreme Court.

This industry has fought hard to reach where it is and to be recognised under a centre piece of legislation. 

Q: How have your experiences in other fields, such as NBFCs and Iron and Steel, influenced your understanding?

I have had such a diverse experience from dealing with Arbitration, consumer, civil matters, to dealing with police agencies, filing FIR’s, bails, insolvency matters before the NCLT, from high court of Bombay to West Bengal, to Delhi and Bangalore, exposure to cyber-crime matters and visits, to IT raids, ED notices. I have been a part of the most famous IPR litigations on domain infringement, writing notices for recovery where systems were internally hacked and finally lead to a recovery 82 lakhs and odd.

The meeting with the world-famous senior lawyers and holding conferences to consulting has been a feather in the cap.

Q: As a Gold Medalist in MBA, how has your business acumen helped you in your role as an in-house counsel and in navigating the complex industry?

I believe I have been answering this almost every now and then! I am so happy I took the plunge. My entire view about business and its operation became so crystal clear.  Do we as lawyers even know how businesses operates? There are so many different verticals and processes? 

I believe that as a successful in-house counsel, the knowhow of the businesses has made me contribute to the growth of the organisation while equally learning at my end.

I have been saying this off late that businesses do not look at you ( as in the legal dept or just an in house legal counsel anymore) as a cost centre any more , you are as a business partner where you add to the growth of the business in terms of revenue and goodwill , keeping it safe by compliances , timely advise  and strategize on a regular basis.

Q: How do gaming laws differ across various countries, and what are the key factors that contribute to these differences?

In the UK, The Gambling Act governs the gambling side. They have licensing in various manner and the rest follows whereas In India the law prohibits all form of gambling  making games of skill an exception. The things which are similar is strong KYC and no marketing or advertising targeting under aged or below 18.

Q: What are some common legal challenges faced by the gaming industry, particularly in terms of intellectual property rights and copyright infringement?

Technology and IPR are inseparable and gaming are a part of the tech world. IPR is the most valuable asset of this industry. It can be wars of domain or a word. There are quite a few famous cases which are now seen as precedents. The concept of events, tournaments, versions of games & their game play, the UI and UX of the website

In fantasy – the logos being used by each such platform, when parody is made and uploaded on YouTube all are concerning and leads to analysis whether they fall under fair use or leads to copyright infringement.  The everyday promotions by these platforms by videos, posters or meme’s everything is scrutinised. 

Q: Online gambling has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. What are the legal frameworks and regulations surrounding online gambling, and how do these regulations address concerns such as addiction, fraud, and money laundering?

Gambling and Gaming are two different poles. Firstly, the common man needs to understand the difference. India does not allow gambling in any manner whatsoever. Under the garb of gaming, offshore gambling websites had had their share and the common man has been taken for a ride. 

Recently, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had issued three notifications warning all media and publication to refrain from advertising about such offline gambling websites.

The new IT rules 2023 has laid down very clearly that all the policies should be in place and responsible gaming is a prominent policy world wide which takes care of the player very well. This policy goes to the extent to completely block a player only to help him out, if the player senses it’s out of control for him and impacting negatively. All these platforms also provide for counselling on call. Further, the operators are well in co-operation to share any information on record in the larger interest when so required by law to detect fraud, cheating or money laundering, including all rampant forms of cyber crime.

Q: Considering the growing popularity of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) gaming, what legal challenges and potential liabilities exist, particularly regarding user privacy, safety, and intellectual property infringements?

Data is the new gold and IPR the new asset. I would like to share with the readers that our Prime Minister announced about IP financing which is already a system in the west. This itself shows why I compared IP to gold? Data principal privacy and safety is stake and needs explicit consent at each step. 

IP infringement is happening on large scale be it Trademark or Copyright and with the scraping of data from the internet by LLM to train AI’s is a concern. The tracing can be a very costly affair. This needs a solution outrightly of who is the owner asset of this intangible asset. The right to trademark and copyright never stated its needs a registration. But, today, in my opinion more than ever, registration is a huge safeguard. 

Q: As you embark on your new journey as a mentor and teacher, what advice would you offer to young law students and aspiring lawyers who are interested in specializing in gaming laws or pursuing a career in the gaming industry?

This is your niche, jump- start. Don’t stop! Don’t look back. If you are dynamic, love challenges, looking to get into a field which is ever evolving and is the booming sector. You have landed. 

Now the question is how to start? What to do? Please upskill by doing courses, workshops, attend webinars, read article, write post, follow this industry and keep applying to this sector to set in your feet.  I have been doing all of this through my online law school – LawswithRachna through LinkedIn, feel free to reach out to me.