Experienced Industry Lawyers Found Artana

Artana is a new law firm in Hamburg with an unusually high level of gaming expertise. Artana was founded by Valve's legal advisor Dr Jan-Peter Ewert, Sebastian Paul and Dr Christian Rauda. In an interview, Dr Rauda explains the background to Artana's founding.

GamesMarkt: How did you come up with the idea to start Artana and what happened next?
Christian Rauda: We noticed that specialisation was continuing to increase - also due to the advent of AI in many industries. We therefore decided that traditional film, TV and publishing law should no longer be part of our advisory focus, but that technology law, games law and IP law should take centre stage.  In order to create a clear positioning in the market, we decided to establish Artana. The partners of the company are Dr Jan-Peter Ewert, Sebastian Paul and myself. We are supported by my team. In 2025, we will be joined by further renowned partners.

What areas of law do you specialise in and what experience can your clients build on?
IT contract law, data law, software licensing law and trademark law are at the heart of our advice. We also act as external data protection officers for our clients. We are specialists in IT and media law and, as a team, have over 70 years of professional experience. Some of our colleagues also have their own business experience in the games, media and entertainment sectors. This combination is very rare in Germany.

In which sectors will you be looking for clients, at least initially?
We won't have to look very far, as all our existing clients will come with us to the new firm. The gaming sector is a very important pillar of our advisory services. The advent of AI has also given rise to new business models and new services in other sectors. We advise and represent companies in the gaming, greentech, healthtech, fintech, proptech, etc. sectors.

What expertise and services can you offer to clients in the games industry?
As a games lawyer and professor for computer games law and entrepreneurship in the games industry, my aim is to combine legal advice with (games) business expertise. With my book "Recht der Computerspiele", published by Beck Verlag, I have tried to influence legal advice and case law in the field of games law. Our new law firm Artana aims to work at a high academic level, but also to offer solutions that really work in everyday practice. With Dr Jan-Peter Ewert, who will also remain legal advisor at Valve, we have extensive knowledge of the industry and in-depth expertise in the field of digital distribution.

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