Video Game Lobby Sues California
We knew it was coming.
S.F. Chronicle reports: “California’s newly signed law banning the sale of violent video games to minors was challenged in court Monday by the video game industry, which said the state has no evidence that virtual violence causes real-life mayhem.”
Really? And maybe neo-nazi parades don’t either.
The suit was filed in San Francisco Federal Court by the Video Software Dealers Association and the Entertainment Software Association, which represent the nation’s $24 billion home video industry. They argued that the law, scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, is “content-based censorship” that violates the First Amendment guarantee of free expression.
. . .The measure, AB1179 by Assemblyman Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, prohibits selling or renting a violent video game to someone under 18. Violations are punishable by fines of up to $1,000.
It defines a violent video game as one that enables the player to “virtually inflict serious injury” upon humanlike figures in a way that is “especially heinous, cruel or depraved.” Monday’s lawsuit said those terms and others in the bill have no clear definitions.
Maybe we can help spell it out.
RELATED:
Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Bill To Ban Sale
of Violent Video Games To Children
25 To Life: A Clear And Present Danger
25 to Life: STOP THE RELEASE
(Read more about the petition)