PALO ALTO, CA, September 8, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ -- James Alan Cook is a distinguished biographee of Marquis Who's Who. He was recently spotlighted in New York City's Times Square on a 22-story screen that is passed by an estimated 1.5 million people daily. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are chosen from among a pool of the most prominent professionals and are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

Mr. Cook is a leading attorney in the personal computing, video game and interactive entertainment industries, who has assisted clients and the companies that have employed him for more than 45 years. His personal interest in consumer technologies and the evolution of intellectual property laws have enabled his contributions to consumers' enjoyment of interactive entertainment products on both physical and digitally distributed gaming platforms throughout his career.

Mr. Cook began his legal career in 1977 as an associate at Fleischman & Walsh, P.C., a Washington, D.C. law firm that at that time represented Warner Communication, Inc., which had acquired Atari, Inc. from Nolan Bushnell in 1976. Mr. Cook's representation of Atari, Inc. in various matters involving the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office led to him being offered the opportunity to become vice president and counsel for Atari's Home Computer Division in 1981. Mr. Cook was promoted to senior vice president and corporate counsel in 1983 and was given responsibility for Atari's home computer and video game divisions, IP portfolio, manufacturing, product safety/liability, and regulatory compliance. While at Atari, Mr. Cook played an important role in the development and commercialization of the Atari Program Exchange, which was one of the world's first distribution initiatives for consumer-created software applications, including original video games, decades before the introduction of the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store and other online distribution services for consumer software applications.

Mr. Cook first started the Law Office of James Alan Cook in Palo Alto, CA in 1985, following Warner Communications, Inc.'s sale of the video game and home computer divisions of Atari, Inc. to Jack Tramiel (formerly CEO of Commodore International), who renamed the acquired divisions the Atari Corporation. Mr. Cook counseled clients regarding video games, personal computers and entertainment law, and drafted and negotiated agreements concerning the design, development, acquisition, licensing, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of video games, computer hardware and software, and other interactive entertainment products and services. In January 1990, Mr. Cook, along with Nicholas Lefevre (formerly general counsel for Commodore and for Atari Corp.), co-founded Cook & Lefevre, P.C. a Silicon Valley law practice focused on transactional matters involving personal computers, video games, interactive entertainment hardware devices and software products, and the protection and commercialization of IP assets and related intellectual property rights. The firm's clients included well-known video game publishers, including Activision, Capcom, Electronic Arts, and Sega, as well as innovative video game developers, including HumaNature Studios, ICOM Simulations, Appaloosa Interactive, Domark Software, and Psygnosis.

In early 1993, Mr. Cook accepted the opportunity to become general counsel for The 3DO Company, an interactive entertainment startup that was developing a new gaming platform that would offer video games and other consumer software applications on pre-recorded CD-ROMs (instead of ROM cartridges or other recorded media). Mr. Cook's decade-long tenure at The 3DO Company from 1993 to 2003 marked a significant chapter in his career. As the company's general counsel and executive vice president of legal and business affairs, he was instrumental in negotiating licensing agreements with major electronics manufacturers, including Matsushita (Panasonic), Sanyo, Goldstar and Samsung, and with principal third-party publishers of that era that wanted to distribute their video games and other consumer software products on CD-ROMs compatible with 3DO's proprietary video game system. Mr. Cook also contributed to the growth of the company's internal software division, including the acquisitions of New Technologies Group (the company largely responsible for the designs for the original 3DO Interactive Multiplayer), and of Archetype Interactive (creator of Meridian 59), Cyclone Studios (creator of BattleSport), and New World Computing (creator of Might & Magic).

Mr. Cook returned to private practice in 2003 and reopened the Law Office of James Alan Cook in the same Victorian house in downtown Palo Alto where Cook & Lefevre had previously operated. In 2005, Mr. Cook acquired 3DO's "back catalog" of video games and computer games, including BattleSport, BattleTanx, and its sequel, BattleTanx: Global Assault, Vegas Games, World Destruction League: Thunder Tanks, and its sequel, WDL: War Jetz. Such video game properties and related IP rights are held by Prism Entertainment, Inc., a licensing company that Mr. Cook formed in 2009, and which has licensed such properties for digital download platforms and for production and distribution of collectible Nintendo N64 ROM cartridges, and for use with other interactive gaming platforms.

The transition from Mr. Cook's private law practice into the role of being general counsel of a leading technology company has been a recurring cycle during his career. From July 2010 to October 2012, Mr. Cook served as general counsel and executive vice president, business & legal affairs for Gaikai Inc., a cloud gaming company in Orange County, CA that was acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment. From March 2014 to May 2015, Mr. Cook served as general counsel and senior vice president, business & legal affairs for OL2, Inc. (the successor to OnLive), a cloud gaming company in Silicon Valley whose technology was also acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Then from October 2019 to March 2020, Mr. Cook served as general counsel and senior vice president, business & legal affairs at Tastemakers, LLC, which licensed and produced modern embodiments of classic/retro arcade games. More recently, from June 2022 to July 2025, Mr. Cook served as chief legal officer and executive vice president, business & legal affairs for Side America, Inc. (f/k/a, PTW) and its worldwide group of affiliated companies. As importantly, Mr. Cook's legal acumen and strategic business vision have enabled him to remain a trusted advisor to innovators navigating the evolving landscape of technology and interactive entertainment throughout his career.

Mr. Cook's academic accomplishments include his graduation from Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, where he earned his diploma in 1967, after completing his freshman and sophomore years at Pittsford High School in Pittsford, New York. He then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science, magna cum laude, from Dartmouth College in 1971 and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Cook attended Law School at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University in 1975.

Grateful for his education, which has been instrumental in shaping his approach to understanding the evolution of our laws and technology, Mr. Cook's early exposure to rigorous academic environments fostered critical thinking skills that proved invaluable throughout his career. From learning the then-current state of telecommunications law while he was at Fleischman & Walsh, through pioneering work in Atari's behalf concerning the Federal Communications Commission's rules regarding video game systems (including RF emissions standards), to negotiating international licensing agreements for cutting-edge gaming technologies, he is lauded for his expertise in protecting and commercializing personal computing and video game hardware and software products and services.

Mr. Cook has been a longstanding member of the California State Bar Association since the year of his admission in 1985. Although he was formerly a member of the State Bar of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, Mr. Cook has allowed such professional memberships to lapse since he has no expectation of relocating outside of California at this point in his career. Beyond such professional affiliations, Mr. Cook remains committed to preserving his community, a value rooted in habits formed during his childhood years in the Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts of America, and regularly engages in voluntary activities that provide assistance and support for his community and locale.

Throughout his career, Mr. Cook has received numerous accolades and acknowledgments from his employers and clients alike for his insights and guidance regarding their business interests and for his negotiating prowess, drafting talents and valuable perspectives on transactional matters involving intellectual property rights. One particularly memorable event occurred during the time when Mr. Cook was counsel for Atari's Home Computer Division, and, more specifically, during Mr. Cook's meetings with the Israeli artist, Yaacov Agam, who presented Mr. Cook with his portrait which Mr. Agam had drawn on the saucer of the cup used to serve him coffee.

Mr. Cook attributes much of his success to an enduring curiosity about emerging technologies coupled with a passion for continuously learning, qualities instilled by his parents, who emphasized purposeful activity and effective communication as lifelong pursuits. Born in Rochester, New York, he has also drawn inspiration from his family heritage in Upstate New York, shaped by his family's German-American and Irish-America traditions. Looking ahead, Mr. Cook is keenly interested in artificial intelligence's potential applications in connection with both his professional practice and personal pursuits, while dedicating more time to his family.

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