Lawyers in Canada: Davis LLP - Legal Advisors Since 1892

Oklahoma Introduces Violent Videogames Bill

The latest in the seemingly relentless political attacks on the videogames industry comes in the shape of a new violent videogames bill from the State of Oklahoma, which has successfully passed a Senate hearing. The Oklahoma legislation would make it a felony to knowingly exhibit or sell violent video games to minors.

Seeking an amendment to existing laws that are intended to regulate the distribution of pornographic and sadomasochistic material, the new bill proposed by Senator Glen Coffee once again encompasses as broad and vague a definition of what constitutes a violent videogame as possible, ensuring all the bases are covered, but opening the bill up to scrutiny and dismissal on First Amendment grounds.

The new bill defines "inappropriate violence" to mean when "video game or computer software which is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable for minors".

Should this bill be passed by the House and Senate and then signed by the Governor of Oklahoma, it will undoubtedly be challenged by the ESA, which has successfully secured both temporary and permanent injunctions against similar bills in California, Illinois and Michigan.

Coverage at http://shorl.com/fifrifogehydu

NEW NAME FOR REVOLUTION

Nintendo has changed the name of its next-gen consol from 'Revolution"? to 'Wii"? (pronounced 'we"?). 

Interestingly, it appears Nintendo has not yet filed Canadian or American trade-mark applications to protect the new name. Perhaps Nintendo has filed applications in Japan. If so, and if Nintendo files the same applications in Canada and the US within 6 months of the Japanese filing date, then the Canadian and US applications will be backdated to the Japanese filing date.
Wii website is here  http://revolution.nintendo.com/

EA SETTLES OVERTIME SUIT

Electronic Arts recently announced that it had settled a lawsuit with former employees for $14.9 million. The former employees claimed they were required to work significant overtime without receiving overtime pay. 

Under some jurisdictions' laws, employees in high-tech jobs are not entitled to overtime pay. However, the EA employees in this case argued that they were not exempted by the law, and therefore they were owed millions in overtime pay. 

Coverage here  http://www.shorl.com/fysimidydigre (news.com)

WOMEN PREFER IT CASUAL

A recent study by the Consumer Electronics Association found that among game players between the ages of 25 and 34 woman outnumber men almost 2 to 1. Women in that bracket were found to be less interested in console games (traditionally associated to violence and/or competition between players) and more so in 'casual games"? (e.g. puzzle games like Tetris, card games). At least Nintendo is said to be paying attention and is set to service the casual game market.

coverage at http://shorl.com/huluhunydusta

5,400 Players Banished From World Of Warcraft

On April 12, 2006, Blizzard announced that it has banned 5,400 World of Warcraft players and suspended a further 10,700 for participating in activities that violate the game's Terms of Use, including using third-party programs to farm gold and items. Blizzard also reiterated that selling World of Warcraft content, such as gold, items, and characters, can result in a permanent ban of the involved accounts from World of Warcraft - a position that highlights the emerging legal debate as to parties' competing rights over virtual property.

With a subscriber base approaching 7 million, the 5,400 banned players represent less than one tenth of one percent of the total World of Warcraft population.

Coverage at http://shorl.com/jekirarofrogra

Australian Gaming Industry Won't Fight Ban On "Marc Ecko's Getting Up"

In February of this year, we reported that 'Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure"?, after having originally been classified MA15+ by the Federal Government's Classification Review Board, had since been effectively banned from sale when the board decided to remove its classification.

The board's main concern with the game is the idea that it teaches players about graffiti and encourages criminal behavior.

The move was the first time that the board had revoked classification for a computer game and Australia is the only country in the world to have banned the game. Given this situation, it was expected, at the time, that the Australian computer gaming industry would contest the board's decision.

However, the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) announced this week that it has decided against launching a court challenge against the board's decision.

The IEAA released a statement saying that while it felt there were strong legal grounds to challenge the decision, costs were a factor.

"Our decision to not appeal this matter in the Federal Court was made on the basis of the costs involved in establishing these facts in a court of law," IEAA CEO Mr Chris Hanlon said in a statement.

"The IEAA also believes it is more constructive to work with the Attorney General's Department to improve the classification process".

Coverage at http://shorl.com/bidafrifimogro

CHEATERS SETTLE

In an earlier posting we reported that the owner of cheatcc.com (a site dedicated to posting cheat codes for video games) recently sued a competitor, Crave Online Media, for copying his postings and replicating them on their website.  He claims Crave Online Media violated his copyright in the postings.

We now understand that the parties have settled on undisclosed terms. Which is too bad, really, because we wanted to see how the court would deal with the question of copyright ownership. The plaintiff (of course) was not the author of the actual cheat codes, so he wouldn't own copyright in them. Perhaps his claim was based on any original content he added to his site in addition to the cheat codes, but we probably won't ever know for sure.

The case is Allison v. Crave Online Media, 1:2005cv01186 (USDC, District of Colorado).

STUDY SAYS VIOLENT GAMES ARE BAD

A new study published in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine concludes that playing violent video games can lead to negative attitudes and behaviours. The subjects were randomly assigned to play either 'The Simpsons Hit and Run"? (the low-violence game) or GTAIII.

The article's abstract states 'Men randomly assigned to play Grand Theft Auto III exhibited greater increases in diastolic blood pressure from a baseline rest period to game play, greater negative affect, more permissive attitudes toward using alcohol and marijuana, and more uncooperative behavior in comparison with men randomly assigned to play The Simpsons."? And it concludes 'Media violence exposure may play a role in the development of negative attitudes and behaviors related to health. Although youth growing up in violent homes and communities may become more physiologically aroused by media violence exposure, all youth appear to be at risk for potentially negative outcomes."?

Coverage at http://shorl.com/dofrodredybida (GameSpot)

Read the abstract of the report here .

STAR WARS KID SETTLES

Those of you who regularly read our postings know that Dave and Chris are embroiled in an ongoing dispute about whether the USS Enterprise could defeat an Imperial Star Destroyer in a one-on-one fight. Dave says no;  Chris says yes.

That's just one of the reasons why Dave is affectionately known to his colleagues here at Davis as 'the Star Wars Kid"?. (The fact that he has a life-sized effigy of Darth Vader in his office probably helps too.)

Anyway, three years ago our office was abuzz with a rumour that Dave was prominently featured on the internet in a home-made video, twirling lightsabers about with all the dexterity of a newborn fawn. 

Sadly, we were all disappointed to learn that in fact there was (can you believe it?) ANOTHER Star Wars kid. The one in the video was much younger and much less of a video game lawyer. But he was equally good at twirling lightsabers.

What happened to that Star Wars kid is he shot a video of himself doing the Jedi Knight thing, but unfortunately the video fell into the hands of three schoolmates who posted it on the internet. The video soon became wildly famous, and as a result the kid endured years of humiliation. So, like any good Canadian Star Wars Kid would do, he sued. The case was due to be heard next week, but the parties have recently settled for an undisclosed amount.

You're probably wondering how this is a video game law case. It's not really (although we could make a point here about privacy and personality rights and the risks of including unauthorized content in video games). It's just that this story touched so close to home for our local Star Wars hero that we couldn't help but report it.
Coverage is here  http://www.shorl.com/fykyhyfrypypa (Globe& Mail)

MERCURY FALLING?

Mercury Games, run by the same individuals who ran the now-defunct Digital Jesters, is in some hot water already. Apparently Mercury's new web site, launched just last week, contained incorrect data relating to UK game charts. Mercury admits that the incorrect data was mistakenly posted on its site, and that it was quickly removed. Mercury says that it is being persecuted by certain individuals who claim that they are owed money by Digital Jesters, and Mercury says that plans to sue these individuals are in the works.

Coverage at http://shorl.com/hyfryfeduropu (GamesIndustry.biz)

XBOX 360 PATENT INFRINGEMENT?

Lucent Technologies has sued Microsoft for infringing Lucent's US patent for 'Adaptive Coding and Decoding of Frames of Fields of Video"?. Lucent has claimed that the XBOX 360's method of decoding MPEG-2 files violates the patent.

Video game patents have been hot news lately, with Immersion's $82 million win against Sony regarding the rumble feature in Sony's dual shock controllers, Atari's agreement to pay $300,000 to AVG to settle a lawsuit regarding AVG's patent for spherical panning, and Yahoo!'s lawsuit against Xfire regarding in-game instant messaging technology. 

These cases are a good reminder that game companies can't always include standard techniques (such as 3D panning and zooming) or technology (such as force feedback) in their games and consoles, even if everyone else in the industry is doing it. 
Coverage at  http://www.shorl.com/gadrimelogrybo (Macworld)

Power Up Paranoia

Five Ravenna, Ohio teenagers are facing criminal charges after constructing life-size Super Mario Bros. power-up blocks and placing them around their town on April 1st.  Although Tim Surette of GameSpot reports that "no materials to harm people, mushrooms to increase a person's size, or flowers that bestow the ability to project bouncing fireballs" were contained in the boxes, the police were called in after employees at a local Catholic Church where one of the boxes was found called in a "suspicious package."  They were evidently not familiar with all things Mario.

The girls "turned themselves in" after seeing reports of the flap they had caused by placing the boxes at the church, the high school, the county courthouse and a bakery, and Police Chief Randall McCoy says the girls may be charged to send a message that such acts of mischief will not be tolerated.  The girls got the idea for their April Fools' prank from Qwantz.com, which features a gallery dedicated to public art displays paying homage to Mario, Luigi and the Koopa Troopas that have sprung up world wide.

Coverage here and here .

M-rated Video Games Full Of Unlabeled Content

A report released on April 3, 2006 by the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that 80 percent of M-rated video games include sex, violence, profanity, gambling or drug and alcohol use which is not described on the labels. Though the video games in question are labelled 'M"? for Mature, pursuant to guidelines by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, the report's authors are concerned that parents and physicians recognize that M-rated video games may contain a wide range of unlabeled content.

Coverage at http://www.shorl.com/hedujikohetra

A link to the report can be found at http://www.shorl.com/dugisatikebri

 

CHINESE COURT UPHOLDS CONVICTION FOR STEALING VIRTUAL PROPERTY

Last year a Chinese court convicted a man for selling passwords and in-game property which he had stolen from players of the online game "Da Xihua Xiyou". Another court has just upheld the initial decision, stating that the robbed players had spent time, energy and money acquiring and adding value to their virtual property. The accused had sold the stolen (virtual) goods for about $500; he was fined about $620 for his illegal activities.

Coverage at http://shorl.com/henumuhyropri (ZDNet)

British Man Jailed For Mod Chip Possession

A man named of Essex, in south east England, was convicted for handling stolen goods, and has also received an extended sentence for being in possession of modified game console chips.

Investigators from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), a British trade organization, were called to provide evidence at the trial with regard to chipping offences. With the input of the ELSPA investigators, the man was successfully convicted of possessing the chips and received an extra month to his sentence, taking his full prison term to eighteen months.

"We're pleased we could assist in this case," said Michael Rawlinson, deputy director general of ELSPA. "The modification of games consoles, more commonly known as 'chipping', is a criminal offence and so is the possession of modified chips. The successful resolution of this case highlights the very real threat of prosecution and a criminal record to anyone tempted to become involved."

The question of mod chip use in the UK has long been a source of consternation amongst hardcore game players, since they are widely used to play imported U.S. and Japanese game titles which are either not released or significantly delayed in Britain.

Many countries have recognized the use of mod chips for importing games, notably Australia, Italy and Spain where concerns over the chips' dual use for piracy were overcome by concerns over free trade, with game prices in many smaller markets making importing titles a significantly cheaper option.

The questions surrounding importing and mod chips may be resolved to some degree following the release of the PlayStation 3, which Sony has indicated may be region free. However, publishers will still be given the chance to region lock titles, as they are on the already region-free Xbox and Xbox 360, which could still lead to mod chips being used for non-piratical purposes.

Coverage at http://shorl.com/hygidrirufridra