Western Washington Summary Judgment
On July 15, 2004, Judge Robert Lasnik, Western District of Washington, permanently enjoined a Washington State law that would prohibit the sale of video games that depict violence against law enforcement officers.
In his ruling, Judge Lasnik rejected the state's argument that video games should be regulated under obscenity law, and declined the state's invitation to expand the narrowly defined obscenity exception to include portrayals of violence. Judge Lasnik wrote that "such depictions [of violence] have been used in literature, art, and the media to convey important messages throughout our history, and there is no indication that such expressions have ever been excluded from the protections of the First Amendment or subject to government regulation."
Reinforcing that games are protected by the First Amendment, Judge Lasnik wrote: "The games at issue...[have] story lines, detailed artwork, original scores, and a complex narrative which evolves as the player makes choices and gains experiences. All of the games provided to the Court for review are expressive and qualify as speech for purposes of the First Amendment. In fact, it is the nature and effect of the message being communicated by those video games which prompted the state to act in this sphere."
Dismissing the claims of the state's expert witnesses and the studies presented, Judge Lasnik determined that "...the Court finds that the current state of research cannot support the legislative determinations that underlie the Act because there has been no showing that exposure to video games that 'trivialize violence against law enforcement officers' is likely to lead to actual violence against such officers."
Additionally, Judge Lasnik found that the state's attempt to ban the sale of games depicting violence against law enforcement officers was impossibly vague and "failed to give a person of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to know what is prohibited, so that he may act accordingly."
After striking the Washington law as unconstitutional, Judge Lasnik ordered the State of Washington to pay the video game industry $344,000 to cover their attorney's fees in this case.
To view this decision in its entirety please go to: http://tinyurl.com/dmxwnx.
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