US District Judge Stephen Limbaugh ruled that a game is not free
speech. He wrote:
"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.
He continued:
"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. For instance, the game of baseball is not a form of
expression entitled to free speech protection."
Judge Limbaugh continued to say that even if the Association had
managed to establish that video games are a form of expression,
“their constitutional argument still fails.”
The law was passed in 2000, but it is only due to come into
effect on 1st July. The Association has said that it plans to
appeal the verdict. In its favour are comments made by a
Connecticut judge last month, when ruling that the maker of the
game Mortal Kombat could not be sued for the death of a child who
was allegedly imitating a fight scene from the game with a friend.
In that case, the federal judge ruled that the game is protected by
the First Amendment's right of free speech.
