The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld the ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and struck down a 2005 California statue that would regulate the sale and rental of computer and video games.

A California law that would ban the sale of violent video games to minors does not violate the First Amendment and ensures parents can exercise their authority to determine what content is appropriate for their children, according to an amicus brief written by Columbia Law School Professor Theodore Shaw.

The state of California today reimbursed the ESA $282,794 for attorney’s fees after the state attempted to defend an unconstitutional law restricting the constitutional rights of video game publishers, developers and consumers.

On Oct. 7, 2005, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation banning the sale of violent video games to children. The video game industry filed an appeal few days later, and since the law was on hold until Judge Ronald Whyte had a chance to review the facts. According to Gamepolitics the Judge has now thrown out the law as unconstitunional saying, "The evidence does not establish that video games, because of their interactive nature or otherwise, are any more harmful than violent television, movies, internet sites or other speech-related exposures."

Hot on the heels of the Rule of Rose debacle, and recent high school shooting, EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said the 27-nation bloc's executive body wants to harmonise the rules restricting the sale of violent video games to children under 16.

The State of Michigan must pay the video game industry $182,349 in attorney's fees and costs as a result of successful litigation challenging an unconstitutional effort to enact a law banning the sale or rental of violent video games to minors, Judge George Caram Steeh, US District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, ruled yesterday.

Yesterday US District Judge Robin J. Cauthron handed down a preliminary injunction halting Oklahoma’s law which prohibits the sale of video games depicting inappropriate violence to minors, claiming it unconstitutional in various ways.

US District Court judge George Caram Steeh, Eastern District of Michigan, today issued a permanent injunction against a Michigan bill which sought to ban video game sales to minors, ruling that the bill is unconstitutional and cannot be implemented.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked a new California state law banning the sale or rental of violent video games to minors, saying a lawsuit challenging the measure was likely to prevail on grounds of free speech.

Back in May Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich introduced a bill to ban violent video games, which was then later approved and had to go in effect January 1st. On July 25, 2005, a lawsuit was filed challenging the law, claiming it violated the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech. Today, Federal District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly in Chicago, IL agreed with the plaintiffs and ruled that the video game restriction law is unconstitutional, and issued an order permanently enjoining the law's enforcement. You can read the full, 53 page, ruling right here...

Today a federal judge put a temporary hold on the violent video game law banning sales of violent video games to minors which was to go in effect December 1, 2005. The Entertainment Software Association ands several other organizations challenged the law and Judge George Caram from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan granted a preliminary injunction stating that the state had failed to show what harm could result from selling games to minors. Instead the judge claimed stifling free speech could cause more obvious harm.

The Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) and Entertainment Software Association (ESA) filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to overturn the recently passed California law banning the sale or rental of violent video games to minors.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ignored strong lobbying from software makers and signed legislation on Friday that bans the sale of violent video games to children.