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Judge Lifts Injunction Against Video Game

October 16, 2006

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A judge in Florida has lifted an injunction that would have blocked the release of a video game that a Miami lawyer found objectionable.

This week's scheduled release of a game called "Bully," set in a fictional private school, was challenged by Jack Thompson, described as an "anti-video game attorney." His lawsuit asked the court to stop release of the game on the grounds that is was "witless and crass."

Miami-Dade County Circuit Court Judge Ronald Friedman agreed to bar release of the game but, after reviewing it, decided to lift the injunction.

"There's a lot of violence," he said but added it was, "a whole lot ... less than we see on television every night."

The game will have a teen-only rating in the US and a 15 rating in the UK. It is being released under the title "Canis Canem Edit", Latin for Dog Eat Dog, in the UK.

Thompson sent an open letter criticising Friedman and his methods, stating: "What you conducted in your chambers, Judge, was the equivalent of Iran leading UN weapons inspectors around the country taking them to places where the illegal activity was not occurring," gamesindustry.biz reported.

The constitionality of the judge's acting as censor is questionable, critics noted.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1931 that injunctions placed on material before publication is a violation of the Constitution's free speech protections.

In a follow-up ruling 40 years later, the court ruled that an injunction "constitutes an impermissible restraint on First Amendment rights."

"If it's not on the market yet, I find it hard to imagine a basis for the prepublication review of the game," Robert Corn-Revere, a partner at law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, told CNET.

The video game is produced by Take-2 Interactive, which also produces "Grand Theft Auto." The Web page for the new game describes "Bully" as "humorous, tongue-in-cheek storytelling set in the schoolyard."

"As a mischievous schoolboy, you'll stand up to bullies, get picked on by teachers, play pranks, win or lose the girl, and ultimately learn to navigate the obstacles of the worst school around, Bullworth Academy -- a corrupt and crumbling prep school with an uptight facade."

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