''Entertainment Software Association v. Foti'' is a lawsuit filed on June 16, 2006 claiming that a

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

law should be declared unconstitutional. The recently passed Louisiana law was a way for the state to censor video games by making it illegal to supply minors with video games considered violent, similar to laws making pornographic material unavailable to minors, but using violence as the criteria instead of sexual content. The lawsuit claims that the law infringed on the video game industry's constitutional right to freedom of expression. The suit was successful in getting the law overturned in late 2006, and the plaintiffs were awarded attorney's fees in early 2007.

Lawsuit

The

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of t ...

s in the case, the

Entertainment Software Association The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the trade association of the video game industry in the United States. It was formed in April 1994 as the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) and renamed on July 21, 2003. It is based in ...

(ESA) and the

Entertainment Merchants Association The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) is the not-for-profit international trade association dedicated to advancing the interests of the $32 billion home entertainment industry. The Mission of EMA is to promote, to protect, and to ...

(EMA), claimed that Louisiana criminal law RS 14:91.14 is unconstitutional on

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and Fourteenth Amendment grounds. The defendants were Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., and Doug Moreau, US District Attorney of the

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

of East Baton Rouge. Louisiana Governor

Kathleen Blanco Kathleen Marie Blanco (née Babineaux; December 15, 1942 – August 18, 2019) was an American politician who served as the 54th Governor of Louisiana from January 2004 to January 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first and, ...

had signed HB1381 just the day before as Act 441 of the 2006 Louisiana Regular Session. The law made it illegal for someone in Louisiana to sell, lease or rent a violent video game (as defined in the Act) to someone under 18 years of age. The suit pointed out that in other states, similar laws had already been declared unconstitutional, and thus impossible to enforce. Furthermore, according to the suit, the law would have chilling results with video games being less likely to be accessible by adults (as well as by minors, as was the initial intent of the law).

Aftermath

Louisiana Middle District Judge James J. Brady issued a preliminary injunction on August 24, 2006. On July 17, 2006, Florida attorney and activist,

Jack Thompson Jack Thompson may refer to: Sports * Jack Thompson (footballer, born 1892) (1892–1969), English footballer who played for Sheffield United and Bristol City * Jack Thompson (1920s footballer), English footballer who played for Aston Villa and Brig ...

, who helped Louisiana Representative

Roy Burrell Roy Allen Burrell is an American politician. He served as a Democratic member for the 2nd district of the Louisiana House of Representatives. In 2004, Burrell won the election for the 2nd district of the Louisiana House of Representatives. ...

author HB1381, filed an amicus curiae brief which Judge Brady denied on July 19, 2006. The law was permanently enjoined on November 29, 2006, and the court entered final judgment on December 5, 2006. In his April 10, 2007 ruling, Judge Brady stated that he was dumbfounded that the law even passed and was signed into law, given that similar laws were struck down in other states and those same states were forced to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. Judge Brady ordered the state to pay $92,000 in legal fees to the plaintiffs, ESA and EMA. Representative Roy Burrell stated that he may pursue such legislation again in the future.

References

External links

HB1381 - 2006 Regular Session (Act 441)
at the Louisiana's Assembly website
SB340 - 2006 Regular Session (Act 529)
at the Louisiana's Assembly website
coverage of HB1381
on

GamePolitics.com GamePolitics.com was a blog which covered the politics of computer and video games. GamePolitics was launched by freelance journalist Dennis McCauley in March 2005. At the time, McCauley was the video game columnist for ''The Philadelphia Inqui ...

{{Video game controversy Video game case law Louisiana law Video game censorship 2006 in United States case law 2006 in Louisiana Entertainment Software Association Video gaming in the United States 2006 in video gaming United States district court cases