By: Dale Dietrich
All posts on video game law cases, convictions, decisions, injunctions, investigations, police actions, pleadings, proceedings, settlements etc.
A retailer was ordered to pay 3,310 pounds ($5,768 USD) in fines and serve 240 hours of community service for manufacturing and selling counterfeit games for all console systems after being apprehended by a joint operation of the ELSPA, Staffordshire Trading Standards, and the local police.
Source: Gamasutra
Other Piracy Related Posts:
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld complaints from three television viewers that adverts depicting scenes from Activision title Call of Duty 2 and its current generation console counterpart CoD2: Big Red One were misleading, and declared that they must not be shown again in their present forms.
Sources: GameIndustry.biz | Gamasutra | Gamespot | GamePolitics.com | EuroGamer | 1Up.com | IGN | Boomtown
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The two-year legal battle between GMX Media and Tesseraction Games appears not to be settled contrary to Tesseration’s claim.
Source: GameIndustry.biz
Other Royalty Dispute Posts
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Yearlong dispute over patents used in Yahoo Messenger settled. Yahoo! had sued Xfire for using in-game friend finding technology that allegedly infringes Yahoo’s Messenger patent 6,699,125.
Sources: GameSpot
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Text of September 23, 2003 Complaint
The lawsuit alleged that GMX Media failed to produce timely and accurate sales and royalty accounts, failed to pay royalties from sales and interest on delayed royalties, distributed the title in countries outside of those defined in the agreement, and distributed the title in packaging that was not approved by Tesseraction, contained altered text and omitted vital game support information.
Source: GameIndustry.biz
Other Royalty Dispute Posts
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The alleged pirates were said to have either removed the copy protection from, duplicated, or otherwise bootlegged over $6.5 million worth of software (including game-related content) and movies.
Source: Gamasutra | Next Generation | GameDaily | GameIndustry.biz
William Agnew, aged 50, of Hamilton in central Scotland, was sentenced to 200 hours of community service after admitting to trademark offences. 4,000 pirated DVDs, CDs and games on PlayStation, Xbox and PC platforms were seized during the raid on Agnew’s business premises. Agnew was known to sell the goods from his ice cream van.
Text of Sony v. Filipiak Decision
On Dec 27, 2005, In this decision, Sony was awarded more than $6 million in statutory damages against an individual that sold Playstation mod chips in contravention of the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA. The statutory minimum and maximums are $200 and $2,500 per violation. Sony was awarded $800 per “wilful” circumvention/infringement for initial violations and the highest possible, $2,500, for violations that occurred after the defendant had signed a consent judgment agreeing to stop such violations – he didn’t! In this case a computer forensics expert was able to determine that the defendant had erased thousands of incriminating transaction files/records just prior to handing his hard drive over to Sony’s counsel as agreed in a consent judgment.
Sources: Findlaw | InternetCases.com | Davis & Co
Two Hollywood video game store owners and a third man who were charged in December for allegedly pirating video games and installing them on modified Microsoft Corp. Xbox consoles were indicted on Thursday, according to the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. The indictment also charged the three with two felony violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act,
Sources: Gamasutra | Next Generation | Information Week
California Assembly Speaker pro tem Leland Yee and a representative of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger comment on the preliminary injunction halting the implementation of California’s game restriction law.
Source: Gamasutra
GamePolitics Full Coverage Of California’s Violent Video Game Law
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Text of VSA v. California Preliminary Injunction
Following on the heals of similar decisions in Illinois and Michigan (see stories on Dec 2 and Nov 9, respectively, below), Northern California District Judge Ronald Whyte handed down a preliminary injunction halting the implementation of California’s Game Restriction Bill (see Oct 7, 2005 story below). The law was set to go into effect as of January 1, 2006.
Sources: Gamespot | Gamasutra | GameDaily.biz | | Forbes | San Jose Mercury News | San Francisco Chronicle | L.A. Times | Reuters | MSN Money | ZDNet | TechNewsWorld | 1Up.com | ABC News | USA Today | CNet
VSDA Comments on Injunction | IEMA Comments on Injunction
GamePolitics Full Coverage Of California’s Violent Video Game Law
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Authorities charge three Los Angeles-area men with hacking Xbox game consoles to allow pirated games to run on them.
Sources: Red Herring | Information Week | Reuters UK | 1Up | Techtree | NextGen.biz | Joystiq | Gamasutra | Law Fuel | Xbox 360 Fanboy
A Baltimore man was arrested for “disorderly conduct” jumping the queue while waiting to purchase an Xbox 360.
Source: Xbox 360 Fanboy
Marvel and NCsoft did not disclose terms of the settlement, but the result appears to allow NCsoft’s games to continue to allow players to create characters without restriction.
Sources: Gamasutra | GameSpot NextGen.biz | 1Up.com | GameDaily | IGN | Houston Chronicle
Text of ESA v. Illinois Decision
Text of Rejected Act
In ESA v. Illinois, an Illinois District Court issued a permanent injunction against the implementation of Illinois’ “Safe Game Illinois Act” that implemented two new criminal laws, the Violent Video Games Law and the Sexually Explicit Video Games Law, finding that each violate the First Amendment.
Sources: Gamasutra | MSNBC | Chicago Tribune | CBS News | L.A. Times | Chicago Sun Times | Next Generation | Gamers.com | joystiq | ESA Statement
Pivotal hearing in early December scrapped as parties seek to settle patent infringement lawsuit out of court. Yahoo! had sued Xfire for using in-game friend finding technology that allegedly infringes Yahoo’s Messenger patent 6,699,125.
Sources: GameSpot | TG Daily Reports the Parties have Settled
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Text of Preliminary Injunction
District Court judge prevents ban on sales of violent games to minors from taking effect, says the act is “unlikely to survive strict scrutiny.
Sources: Gamespot | GameDaily.biz | Gamasutra | Next-gen.biz | 1Up.com
GamePolitics Full Coverage Of Michigan’s Violent Video Game Law
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Texan, Ponce de Leon, is sentenced to three years, ten months in prison and ordered to pay a $1.154 million fine for criminal video game piracy over the Internet.
Sources: U.S. Immigration & Customs | Gamasutra | Gamespot | Next Generation
Text of Stevens v. Sony Decision
In Stevens v. Sony, the Australian High Court ruled that modding Playstation consoles to circumvent region coding restrictions does not breach Australian copyright laws.
Sources: High Court Press Release | Freehills | GameIndustry.biz | Gamasutra | PS3Focus.com
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EA to pay $15.6 million in settlement of claim that workers were improperly classified as exempt from overtime.
Sources: gameindustry.biz | EuroGamer | GameSpot | Next-Gen.biz | 1Up.com | GamaSutra | neoseeker
Activision (Canulti):
Activision (Erimez):
EA (Lender Hasty): EA Programmers
EA (Tam Su):
EA (Kirschenbaum): EA animators, texture artists, and modelers
Sony:
Biren Amin, owner of Pandora’s Cube, is: (i) sentenced to five months in prison, (ii) sentenced to three years of supervised release, including 5 months of house arrest, (iii) fined $$247,237.05; and (iv) ordered to complete 80 hours of community service, for copyright infringement and DMCA violations.
Sources: Xbox Solution | Next Generation | CNet | ESA Press Release
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Gizmondo has settled its sponsorship agreement lawsuit with Jordan Grand Prix in an out of court mediation by the payment of $1,500,000 in cash and the issuance of 30,000 shares of the Company’s restricted common stock. Gizmondo had contracted with Jordan to feature Gizmondo advertisements on the side of Formula 1 race cars.
Source: Gamasutra
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Viliami Fehoko (Vili) and E.A. have settled Fehoko’s earlier claim of using his character without compensation in E.A.’s NCAA Football 06 for an undisclosed amount of money, and the game will continue to be sold with Vili the Warrior in it.
Source: Game Politics | KHON2
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Namco America and Sony BMG Music Entertainment have announced that the companies have settled a complaint filed by Namco alleging that sounds from its video game Pac-Man were used in the song of a Sony BMG artist. Namco’s complaint alleged that the sampled portions were not cleared. The terms of the settlement were not revealed.
Sources: Gamasutra | Gamespot | AllHipHop.com’s Earlier Sept 24, 2004 Report on Lawsuit
Ruling on infamous “disc read error” issue could give qualifying PS2 owners $25, a free game, free repairs, or a replacement system. Canadian and U.S. courts must approve the settlement before it is finalized.