Posts tagged minnesota 
Minnesota pays ESA $65k in legal fees
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced today that the state of Minnesota has paid $65,000 – that's $6.50 for every lake – in attorney's fees and expenses to the organization over its unconstitutional game law. The ESA claims it has now been awarded moneys totaling almos...
Minnesota game law's only recourse is Supreme Court
GamePolitics reports that the 8th Circuit Court has declined an "en banc" review of the Minnesota "fine the buyer" video game law, meaning the only place left to run for the currently unconstitutional law is the Supreme Court of the United States. Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson hasn't sai...
Minnesota's game bill loses again on appeal
The 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld a ruling from 2006 stopping a Minnesota bill which attemped to fine minors $25 for trying to buy M- or AO-rated games. The Star Tribune reports a three-judge panel concluded that violent video games fall under First Amendment free speech protections...
The Political Game: Anti-game candidate works the crowd
Each week Dennis McCauley contributes The Political Game, a column on the collision of politics and video games: Picture a crisp Saturday morning in early November, 2006. Elections are only three days away. A flatbed truck draped in red, white and blue bunting cruises slowly through the parking lot ...
Minnesota's game law ruled unconstitutional
U.S. District Judge James M. Rosenbaum exercised his judicial muscle today, striking down Minnesota bill HF1298, a bill that sought to impose a $25 fine on minors who purchase M- or AO-rated games. Like a gamer to an automatic weapon a moth to a flame, the ESA filed a lawsuit shortly thereafter. The...
Minnesota targets minors in new gaming law; ESA to file suit
Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty signed into law yesterday bill SF0785, which targets minors attempting to purchase M and AO-rated games. Such persons under the age of 17 (and thus, likely their parents) will be required by law to pay a fine "civil penalty of not more than $25." ESA president Doug Lo...
Minnesota fines minors $25 for M-rated games
Despite constitutional setbacks regarding similar bills across the country (most recently in Michigan), Minnesota state representative Jeff Johnson seeks to limit the sale of violent video games to minors with a new approach: fine the underage consumers of M or AO-rated games and not the retailers. ...
