Entertainment industry opposes California video-game law

A coalition of entertainment industry trade groups urged the Supreme Court on Sept 17 to uphold a court ruling that declared California's ban on sales of violent video games to minors unconstitutional in 2006, claiming the law could have a "dramatic chilling effect on the motion picture industry."

California passed a law in 2005 banning the sale of any game to minors deemed "excessively violent" by the attorney general. The Entertainment Merchants Association fought back in court and won when the U.S. District Court struck down the law a year later. A subsequent state appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that compared the law to restrictions on the sale of pornography was unsuccessful, prompting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to take his challenge to the nation's highest court. With oral arguments set for Nov. 2, members of the entertainment industry are concerned that if the law were allowed to stand it could eventually lead to similar restrictions on art and motion pictures. Groups including the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association of America and the American Federal of Television and Radio Artists have joined together to file an amicus brief opposing the law.