FC: Federal judge says videogames not speech, can be regulated

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Robert found the text of the opinion, which is here:
http://pacer.moed.uscourts.gov/opinions/INTERACTIVE_DIGITAL_SOFTWARE_ASSOC_V_ST_LOUIS_COUNTY-SNL-36.PDF

Two excerpts:
> This Court reviewed four different video games, and found no conveyance of 
> ideas, expression, or anything else that could possibly amount to speech. 
> The Court finds that video games have more in common with board games and 
> sports than they do with motion pictures... The Court has trouble seeing 
> how an ordinary game with no First Amendment protection, can suddenly 
> become expressive when technology is used to present it in "video" form.

> The Court finds that plaintiffs failed to meet this burden of showing that 
> video games are a protected form of speech under the First Amendment. 
> However, even if plaintiffs could establish that video games are a form of 
> expression, their constitutional argument still fails.

Previous Politech messages:

"Appeals courts rule on violent arcade games (YES), anonymity (NO)"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-01433.html

"Sell 'violent' video games to a teenager, go to jail"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03238.html

-Declan

---

From: "Robert Helmer" <roberthelmer () earthlink net>
To: <declan () well com>
Subject: Vid Games and First Amendment
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 11:29:42 -0500

Declan, thought you might be interested that the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch is reporting that the federal court in St. Louis has
ruled that "video games are not free speech." What follows are a few
paragraphs from the story and the link to St/ Louis Today, one of the
Post-Dispatch's web sites.

Bob Helmer

Daily Rotation
http://www.dailyrotation.com
Shell Extension City
http://www.shellcity.net
St. Louis, Missouri


Officials surprised by ruling on violent video games

By Eric Stern
Of the Post-Dispatch
04/29/2002 08:59 PM

Two years ago, St. Louis County wanted to add teeth to the industry's
rating system by making it illegal to sell sexually explicit and
violent video games to minors without parental consent.

So, the county passed a law. As expected, it got sued by video game
makers, but last week, it unexpectedly won an initial ruling in
federal court.

Now the county is trying to figure out what to do next. Should it
enforce a law that one federal court has ruled unconstitutional?
Should it spend more time and money defending the law, maybe all the
way to the U.S. Supreme Court, against an industry that had $6 billion
in sales last year? Or should it try to reach a settlement?

Despite a ruling in a different federal circuit, U.S. District Judge
Stephen Limbaugh last week said video games are not free speech and
ruled that the county has a compelling interest to protect the
physical and emotional health of children. He rejected the video game
industry's attempt to throw out the ordinance, and the case is heading
to trial.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/6F953FEE16C0CE4B86256BAB000CFBE7?OpenDocument&Headline=Officials%20surprised%20by%20ruling%20on%20violent%20video%20games




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