As reported during the weekend, the Supreme Court started examining legislation from California that would make the sale of violent video games to minors illegal.
The Schwarzenegger vs EMA case landed in the highest court in the United States and the reaction of the court can only fairly be described as very critical. Justice Antonin Scalia in particular had a lot of questions to ask the California attorney general, who was arguing for the law previously declared unconstitutional by a lower court.
“I am concerned with the First Amendment, which says Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech,” Scalia said. “It was always understood that the freedom of speech did not include obscenity. It has never been understood that the freedom of speech did not include portrayals of violence. You are asking us to create a whole new prohibition. What’s next after violence? Drinking? Movies that show drinking? Smoking?”
Scalia also took issue with the use of the term “deviant violent videogames” used by proponents of the law. “As opposed to what? A normal violent videogame?” asked Scalia. “Some of the Grimm’s fairy tales are quite grim, to tell you the truth… Are you going to ban them too?” he added.
President Obama’s Supreme Court picks, Justice Elana Kagan and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, also pressured California attorney general, Zackery Morazzimi. “One of the studies, the Anderson study, says that the effect of violence is the same for a Bugs Bunny episode as it is for a violent video. So can the legislature now, because it has that study, outlaw Bugs Bunny?” Sotomayor said.
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Result for: video games
The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) have seized 7000 pirated video games from a 35-year old Saskatoon man’s residence and charges are currently pending.
RCMP officials say, if sold authentically, the games would be worth $200,000.
The citizen had his house raided following an investigation “into intellectual property crime offences,” adds the police.
More specifically, the authorities were looking into the sale of gaming consoles that were modded to be able to play pirated games.
The man had been advertising the modded consoles via online ads.
Authorities noted that the plethora of games and consoles including systems from Nintendo, Sony, Sega, and Microsoft.
Result for: video games
Thanks to a new judgement made by the United States Court of Appeals, used game and software sales may be a thing of the past.
The decision (linked below) rules that “a software user is a licensee rather than an owner.”
Originally, the suit was brought forward by Autodesk, the makers of the expensive AutoCAD software, who were angry a consumer purchased many copies of the software and then resold them on auction site eBay.
Autodesk wanted to know who, legally, had the rights to the software.
This new ruling does not implicitly imply video games, but games are considered software, so the ruling could affect the used game market, as well.
It will be interesting to see how the major publishers run with this ruling, and we will certainly keep you updated.
