NEWS - Friday, July 11, 2003
Video Games Sales Law Blocked! For Now....
A federal judge on Thursday issued an order postponing enforcement of a Washington state law designed to restrict the sale of violent video games to minors. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik issued an injunction blocking enforcement of the law, which was set to take effect from July 27 and would have imposed a $500 fine on anyone who sold a video game depicting violence against "law enforcement officers" to minors under age 17. "Plaintiffs have raised serious questions regarding the constitutionality of House Bill 1009 and the balance of hardships tips in their favor," Lasnik wrote in his order from the court in Seattle. A spokeswoman for the Interactive Digital Software Association, the game industry trade group that was one of the main plaintiffs, had not seen the judge’s ruling and had no immediate comment. Washington state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, the Democrat who wrote the law, had said recently that any injunction would only be preliminary and that she expected the case to go to trial. (With additional reporting by Reed Stevenson)Source: http://www.reuters.com
