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Arnold's law still terminated

By Chris Bennett, Tudor Carsten, Michael R. Coburn, Sarah Dale-Harris, Pablo Guzman, Danielle (Dani) Lemon, Chris Metcalfe and David Spratley

In January 2008, we reported that the State of California had become the site of an ongoing battleground between free speech advocates and legislators seeking to limit access to violent video games.

In 2005 the State Legislature passed a law that would impose fines and other sanctions on people who sold certain video games to minors. That law was down by the U.S. district court in 2007. Shortly afterwards, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that the State of California had filed an appeal of the district court decision with the U.S. Court of Appeals.

The Court of Appeals recently issued its ruling, concluding that the law is unconstitutional. The ESA described the ruling as a "win" for California citizens. Not surprisingly, the government of California doesn't see it that way, especially in light of the order to pay almost $300K to the ESA for its attorneys' fees.

Gamasutra coverage here.

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Full post as published by Video Game Law Blog on February 24, 2009 (boomark / email).