Video Game Law Review for April 4th 2006

Welcome to the Video Game Law Review. This is a feature of Fragmintz of Video Game Law and Other IP Issues where we collect various headlines and captions via RSS feed for the interactive entertainment law industry.

• MI Game Law Found Unconstitutional (04/04/2006) - a video game bill recently signed by the govenor of MI has been temporarily blocked. The bill would restrict the sales of video games to minors. There are similar bills like it in other courts. The judge based his ruling on the following: "It is unlikely that the State can demonstrate a compelling interest in preventing a perceived 'harm'... the Act will likely have a chilling effect on adults' expression, as well as expression that is fully protected as to minors. The response to the Act's threat of criminal penalties will likely be responded to by self-censoring by game creators, distributors and retailers, including ultimately pulling 'T' and 'M'-rated games off stores shelves altogether." Read more.
• 5 Teenagers May Face Criminal Charges for Real World Video Game Joke(04/02/2006) - Five teenage girls may face criminal charges for their April Fool's joke of making sculptural replicas of the question box cubes in Super Mario Brothers and erecting them around town. Hazmat and bomb squads responded. Read more.
• Leap Frog Patent Suit Dismissed (03/31/2006) - A DE court dismissed Leap Frog's patentlawsuit against Mattel over their Fisher-Price line of Power Touch talking books. The court found that the Mattel's technology did not infringe. Read more.
• Ubi-soft in Court Over Use of Starforce Copy Protection (03/31/2006) - A $5 million class action lawsuit has been filed against Ubi Soft for the use of DRM in their video games. The complaint stated: "the DRM can compromise Windows operating systems’ security. Any virtus or trojan can control a computer by and through the Stareforce DRM installeed on the computer, despite the security measures taken in newer versions of Windows." Read more.
• Star War's Kid Sues (04/04/2006) - The infamous light saber video depicting an overweight teenager re-enacting a double light saber routine from Star Wars made an internet buzz a few years ago. A Quebec judge is going to hear the $160K damages case on 04/10/2006. Read more.
• Console Wars (04/04/2006) - Online services and digital delivery of content will determine who wins the console war btw Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. I blogged yesterday on a potential Microsoft strategy that could see them at the top of their game. Read more.