Last year, Louisiana passed a law which would fine any person $1,000 to $2,000 in addition to up to one year of prison time for selling adult and mature rated games which violated decency content guidelines for children. But the U.S. District Court of Louisiana has ruled that the state must pay the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) for legal costs accumulated during their attempts to stop the law from passing. The law which was adopted by the state was authored with the help of anti-video game lawyer Jack Thompson.
The law was later blocked last November by James Brady, U.S. District Judge of Louisiana, for reasons related to the inability of the authors of the legislation to prove their points that video games are harmful to minors and on grounds that the law was unconstitutional. The ESA immediately sought to reclaim its legal fees in its battle to overturn the law.
Senior Vice President Gail Markels commented on the ESA victory by saying, "It’s unfortunate the some officials continue to believe that unconstitutional laws are the answer, when time and time again courts have thrown out these bills and proven them to be a waste of taxpayers’ dollars. It couldn’t be clearer that the real answer is not regulation, but education of parents to empower them to use the video game rating system, parental controls in game consoles, and other available tools."
[via Gamasutra]
