By: Dale Dietrich
In a similar action to that of many other MMOs such as Blizzard’s World Of Warcraft, which has been particularly proactive on the issue, Square Enix’s PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 MMO Final Fantasy XI has announced that it is banning the accounts of many in-game ‘gold farmers’, following economic problems in the online game.
Source: Gamasutra
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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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Harry Potter and Medal of Honour game developer Visual Science, based in Dundee, seeks bankruptcy protection and plans legal action against Vivendi after Vivendi terminated a development contract “without grounds”.
Dale’s Comment: This will all, of course, hinge on the terms of the development agreement. Did Vivendi actually “need” to have a reason for terminating? Commercial agreements frequently have termination for convenience clauses which allow one party to terminate the agreement for any reason or no reason at all.
Sources: GameIndustry.biz | EuroGamer | MCV
See also: Earlier related GameIndustry.biz story.
The British High Court denies application for bankruptcy protection and orders Gizmondo to be wound up. Tiger Telematics is hoping to salvage some assets from subsidiary’s demise.
Source: Gamespot | Next Generation | GameIndustry.biz | Red Herring | 1Up.com | Gamasutra | Engadget | Joystiq
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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.
Last month, Josh posted an article in Downinfront.tv, commenting on PS3 development. He revealed that at the time of his writing there was no final hardware development kits and that SOE got one of only five PS3 development kits delivered in the U.S. But probably what irritated his bosses the most was Robinson’s comments on the superiority of the Xbox 360
Sources: PS3 Week | GameIndustry.biz | Xbox Circle | EuroGamer | Next-Gen.biz | GameDaily | Bit-Tech.net | Spong | Team Xbox
Hall of Fame Pool Player Mike Sigel filed a lawsuit today against computer game manufacturers, Interplay Entertainment Corp and Celeris, Inc., for using his name and likeness without his permission.
Source: PR Newswire
Official Conference Web page
A two-day comprehensive conference on current developments in Gamer Technology Law has been announced for March 16 & 17 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA.
Sources: Gamasutra | Next Generation
Take-Two and Rockstar are facing a large number of legal proceedings revolving around the Grand Theft Auto franchise, with multiple lawsuits pending from, amongst others, the city attorney of Los Angeles, the family of police officers killed by a man allegedly influenced by the game and class action complaints in New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois.
Sources: GamaSutra | GameSpot | Next Generation | GameDaily | GameIndustry.biz
New York Investigation:
LA Civil Suit:
FTC Investigation Related Posts:
Stanhouse Class Action Suit:
Cohen Class Action Suit:
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Text of Open Letter from EA to Ubisoft
A long-running conflict between the Montreal studios of major publishers Electronic Arts and Ubisoft over non-compete clauses for departing Ubisoft game development employees has again flared to life, following the hiring of an unnamed former Ubisoft employee to work at EA’s Montreal studio.
Sources: Gamasutra | Gamespot | Next Generation | GameDaily | GameIndustry.biz
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Letter from Red Cross to Davis & Co.
The Red Cross is currently contacting members of the video game industry regarding their use of the symbol in video games—especially violent games—and asking them to stop using the symbol.
Sources: Davis & Co. | GameIndustry.biz | Calgary Herold | Joystiq | Globe & Mail | Game Politics
Police said two Mercedes were racing each other nearly three times over the speed limit when one of the cars smashed into a taxi late Tuesday. The video game Need for Speed, was found on the front seat of one of the suspect’s cars following the crash.
Sources: Ottawa Sun | Globe & Mail | Toronto Star | McLeans | 24 Hours | Toronto Sun | Calgary Sun | Winnipeg Sun | National Post
Follow-up: 
Click Here to Listen to a PC GAMER Podcast where initial headline writer is interviewed (about 1/3 in).
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Text of Complaint
Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo sued the makers of “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” Thursday, claiming they violated state law by embedding ‘Hot Coffee’ sex scenes into the video game.
Sources: NBC 4 | Gamasutra | Next Generation | GameDaily | GameIndustry.biz | Good Morning Silicon Valley | GamePolitics | Reuters UK | Forbes | IGN | MTV.com | Inquirer | San Jose Mercury News | L.A. Times | San Francisco Chronicle | 1Up.com | ABC News
New York Investigation:
LA Civil Suit:
FTC Investigation Related Posts:
Stanhouse Class Action Suit:
Cohen Class Action Suit:
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So ends the high profile legal confrontation between previous license holder Activision and Viacom, in which Activision accused Viacom of letting “the once proud ‘Star Trek’ franchise stagnate and decay.”
Sources: Gamasutra | 1Up.com | GameSpot | Bethesda Press Release | GameIndustry.biz | Bethesda Press Release
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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
Tiger Telematics subsidiary and handheld game hardware company Gizmondo Europe filed a High Court application for administration in the United Kingdom
Sources: Gamasutra | Gamespot | Next Generation | GameIndustry.biz | Red Herring | 1Up.com
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The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund has called on retailers not to stock the game, which involves gang violence against police.
Sources: Next Generation | 1Up.com | 
Click Here to Watch CNN Video Coverage of Story.
In this self-declared “rant” attorney Tom Buscaglia urges the gaming community to educate themselves on candidate positions and to get out and vote before the gaming industry is handicapped by legislation.
Source: GamaSutra Feature
TERRA NOVA has written a terrific piece on how Gold Farms Work.
Click here to read it.
In its most recent issue, PC Gamer announced that it would no longer accept advertising from Gold Farming agencies.
Source: Next Generation
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Following the stabbing of eight persons at a Moscow synagogue two days earlier, Russia`s lower house of parliament is drafting legislation to restrict Web sites and computer games that promote extremist views.
Sources: Moscow Times | Monsters & Critics Tech | TMCnet
Tiger Telematics, the US parent company of struggling handheld console firm Gizmondo, has revealed that it has offered the stock, IP and patents of its Smart Adds subsidiary as equity on a $21.2 million loan from two shareholders. Smart Adds pushes video ads to mobile devices.
Sources: GamesIndustry.biz | Gamasutra | Joystiq | Engadget | Gamespot | GameDaily.biz
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