Jack Thompson Claims God is Behind Take-Two Stock Drop

Readers of this blog need no introduction to Jack Thompson.  In fact, it appears he’s an avid reader himself.  It should be no surprise then that our favorite crazy ex-attorney is in the headlines yet again.

Gamepolitics published an email transaction between Dennis McCauley (GP staff) and Thompson.  Res ipsa loquitur:

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From: Jack Thompson
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 6:44 AM
To: Dennis McCauley
Subject: Spin this, Strauss…

GOD STRIKES TAKE-TWO DOWN

Take-Two dropped $2.35 to $9.72 in extended trading after the announcement and fell as low as $9.60. The shares… have declined 35 percent this year. The results contrast with comments Zelnick made in an interview on Nov. 3, when he said sales of the company’s video games hadn’t been hurt by the recession…

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From: Dennis McCauley
To: ‘Jack Thompson’
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 6:52 AM
Subject: RE: Spin this, Strauss…

So, if T2’s business reverse was God’s vengeance, does that mean that God struck you down too when you were disbarred?…

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From: Jack Thompson
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 9:10 AM
To: Dennis McCauley
Subject: Re: Spin this, Strauss…

…If you had any understanding of the Bible and of God you would understand that persecution comes Christians’ way, and we are blessed by it.  There is no blessing for Zelnick, who is not a Christian, when he gets what he deserves…

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From: Dennis McCauley 
To: ‘Jack Thompson’ 
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 6:54 AM
Subject: in relation to your Take-Two shareholder revolt…

…Are you saying that problems for Christians are blessings, while problems for non-Christians are vengeance from the Almighty? Also, how do you know what Zelnick’s religion is?

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From: Jack Thompson 
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 7:11 AM
To: Dennis McCauley
Subject: Re: in relation to your Take-Two shareholder revolt…

Here’s another passage of Scripture that you don’t understand and never read:  ”All things work to the good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”  That group would include me and not Zelnick.  Zelnick is not a believer in the Gospel.  How do I know?  Because the man who got us together [secretly, in Manhattan in 2007] is a Christian, with a massive ministry in Hollywood and the rest of the entertainment industry.  It was because of the spiritual aspect of this struggle that he got the two of us together, and Zelnick failed the test. 

If you knew anything about the Gospel, you would understand further that Paul, whose writings are considered part of the canon, tells Christians, not unbelievers, that we are to “count it all joy” when trials and tribulations come our way. 

I have been persecuted for my faith, not because I did anything wrong, by those committed to evil.  Glad to clear it up for you.  And as it now stands, Mr. Zelnick’s problems at Take-Two are minuscule [sic] compared to the eternity of punishment that is coming his way unless he repents and accepts Christ as I did 32 years ago this month.  You might do well to read the Gospel of John yourself.  Come to think of it, I’ll write Strauss about all this and send you a copy…

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How long until Thompson’s novelty wears off and the media begins to consider him a regular crazy person?  We wouldn’t want to speculate on that.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Feed update

A quick note — if any of you are former subscribers to Wikilaw, and are using the RSS Feed from that site, you’ll probably have noticed that there are a bunch of ads for payday loans and other nonsense. That’s because I no longer control the former Wikilaw site and it is now taken over by a spammer. If you’re receiving the spam ads, please update your RSS Feed to the one available from this site. Thanks!

Popularity: unranked [?]

Konami Sues Pentavision Over DJ Games

Konami is suing Pentavision, the Korean developer of the DJ Max and DJ Max Portable series of rhythm games alleging patent infringement and intellectual property rights infringement, (according to the translation from the Korean press release).  Konami will be filing in the Seoul Central District Court, and is apparently seeking an injunction as well as damages. This is not the first music game related lawsuit for Konami, which has previously sued Harmonix, MTV and Viacom for patent infringement.

More news as we get it, and it gets translated.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Apple v. Psystar Update

I can’t make this stuff up.

According to TUAW, Apple knockoff maker Psystar is defending their suit from Apple by saying that Apple does not own the copyright to OS X, despite the fact that there is a registered copyright for OS X under Number TX0005401457, and despite the fact that that registration is made out to Apple, and despite the fact that even an erroneous copyright application offers protection, Psystar is pinning all their hopes and dreams on this thin legal ground.

Good luck with that.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Jack Thompson Update

More craziness in response to our  recent post about the Florida Bar’s announcement on the disciplinary action disbarring Jack Thompson. Thompson had the following comments to say:

Mayanne Downs
King, Blackwell, Downs & Zehnder
<REDACTED ADDRESS/PHONE>

Dear Ms. Downs:

Congratulations on just being elected President-Elect of The Florida Bar today, as you were unopposed. As I understand it, you will be installed into that office this coming June.

Let me tell you what you have to look forward to, as an officer of The Bar:

I will secure a Florida constitutional amendment removing the regulation of the practice of law from the judicial branch and placing it within the Department of Professional and Business Regulation where it belongs with the oversight of every other profession in our state.

Further, The Bar will be successfully sued under the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act for its “discipline” of me because of the activist exercise of my Christian faith. Maybe you all can get Steve Chaykin to testify that that was not the case. There are other grounds for this state lawsuit as well, including Florida’s Anti-SLAPP statute.

Finally, you personally are going to have to explain to a jury why The Bar’s Board of Governors, on which you now sit, executed a formal document, dated July 29, 2008, that on its face admits that the Governors covered up the prosecutorial misconduct of Leon County Prosecutor Matt Smith in order to keep an innocent man in jail.

You will rue the day you were elected to this office.

Regards, Jack Thompson

Followed immediately by the following rant:

Jack Thompson, Once and Future Attorney (Trust Me) wrote:
HEY, BILL, YOU SOUND NERVOUS. HERE’S SOMETHING FOR YOU TO REMEMBER, IF YOU CAN: HE WHO LAUGHS LAST LAUGHS BEST. OH, AND DAVA AIN’T LAUGHING ABOUT THIS, ARE YOU, BILL?

John B. Thompson, J.D.
<THOMPSONS ADDRESS/PHONE/EMAIL REDACTED TO PREVENT HARASSMENT OR SPAM>

December 16, 2008

Dava Tunis
Referee
<JUDGE TUNIS ADDRESS REDACTED>

Re: Hearing on Motion to Vacate Referee’s Report

Dear Referee Tunis:

You will either give me a hearing before you on the enclosed Motion to Vacate, or I will get an order making you give me one.

Have a nice day!

Regards, Jack Thompson

Perhaps Jack would have been more successful as a trial attorney if he didn’t take such a demanding, abrasive tone with Florida jurists.

And finally:

Jack Thompson, Once and Future Attorney (Trust Me) wrote:
Petition to amend the Florida Constitution and remove discipline from The Florida Bar, as recommended by the ABA and as done in other states, will be available to the public shortly.

Sweet!

I’ll be laughing my ass off next time I see that on a Florida ballot. I knew there was a reason I still vote in Florida.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Jack Thompson “dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation”

Not that this is news to any of you, since we all know of Jack Thompson’s disbarrment. But the Florida Bar News had this to say Monday:

The Florida Bar News Disciplinary Actions for December 15, 2008

John Bruce Thompson, 5721 Riviera Drive, Coral Gables, permanently disbarred without leave to apply for readmission, effective 30 days from a September 25 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1977) Thompson is charged with extensive misconduct and a complete lack of remorse. In five separate cases over a three-and-a-half year period, Thompson engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. (Case Nos. SC07-80 and SC07-354)

Awesomesauce, I must say, and appropriate to note the “complete lack of remorse.”  Thompson has been pretty quiet as of late. Lets see if this latest “blow” from the bar sets him off. Gameslaw readers will remember that Thompson believes (and has stated to the court) that we (GamesLaw) are one of his enemies, a criminal element of the games industry. We look forward to seeing what he comes up with next.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Refusal to Hire MMO Players–Employment Discrimination? Not So Much.

A recent posting on GamePolitics regarding the anecdote in which a (supposed) recruiter was told not to hire WoW players has been stirring up a lively discussion and maybe even a little aggro. So everyone please come read this before you do anymore ridiculous flaming. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 2% [?]

Upgrade

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Update: the upgrade should be complete. Please let us know if you see anything screwed up with the site.

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Does the ESRB Provide Adequate Notice for User-Generated Content?

After the recent Animal Crossing N-word kerfluffle, I’m not so sure. MTV Multiplayer has an interview with the ESRB in which the ESRB claims that “ESRB ratings cannot anticipate and therefore consider user-generated content in the ratings we assign.” However, this raises an interesting question; given that the ESRB ratings provide a relied-upon service to consumers, does their failure to provide warnings for user-generated content constitute negligence?

Currently, a purchaser could buy a used game with a T rating from the ESRB, and find mature content in the game. Since the mature content is user-created from the previous owner, or from viral information transfers like Spore or Animal Crossing, they aren’t covered in the ESRB’s ratings. Does this rise to the standard of negligence? While an in-depth analysis could certainly fill its own law review comment, we can briefly speculate.

Let’s run through the elements of negligence: A duty of care between the parties, a breach of said duty, damages, and proximate cause between the breach and the damages.  We’ll dispense with the two easy questions: the unexpected sight of a giant penis, or racial slur, can certainly be damages; furthermore, if the ESRB’s ratings were relied upon, there’s your proximate cause.

The issues of a duty and breach of that duty, however, are more complex. In In re Take-Two Interactive Securities Litigation, 551 F. Supp. 2d 247 (S.D.N.Y. 2008), the court found that Take-Two’s false statements of compliance with ESRB labeling and marketing requirements in their 2004 and 2005 form 10-K’s were sufficient grounds for a claim (though the defendant’s motions to dismiss were granted on other grounds). This seems to imply that in at least some instances, a duty of care can arise by failure to comply with ESRB ratings while marketing otherwise.

On the other hand, in Entertainment Software Ass’n v. Hatch, 443 F. Supp. 2d 1065 (D. Minn. 2006) the court held “[t]he ESRB rating is determined by a private body with no duty to answer to the public. Indeed, the rating scheme does not provide a method for the public or the State to challenge a rating once it is determined; only video game publishers are given that right. The State, itself, has no recourse should it disagree with an ESRB rating, be it too harsh or too lenient.”

So, the existence of a duty to accurately provide notice of a game’s content by the ESRB itself is not actually clear; there appears to be evidence pointing either way. It may be the ESRB ratings themselves provide a limited duty for the purpose of determining compliance and accuracy of statements made in SEC filings, but not extending to a general duty to accurately rate content to the public. There’s not a lot of case law either way to decide. If I were to make an educated guess, I’d have to say that the general trend is against the existence of a duty, based on  ESA v. Hatch’s explicit rejection of a duty. Looking similarly at general duty to warn in products liability law, there are 13 major points of law that AMJUR PRODUCTSLI §1125 notes courts consider regarding the existence of a duty to warn. These include: the foreseeability of the particular use made of the product by the user, the type of danger involved, and foreseeability of the user’s knowledge of the danger; whether the manufacturer knew, or should have known, of the risk or hazard about which it failed to warn; the “state of the art” relevant to the claim; and the likelihood of an accident occurring, and the seriousness of the consequences of failing to warn. Given these concerns, one could make a viable argument against the existence of a duty.

Given that the threshold question of the existence of a duty is more than likely not met, the question of a breach of that duty is less important of an issue. However, it is likely that if a duty were to be found, under the standard of In re Take Two Litigation, a breach would likely have occured.

Again, this is a only the briefest of considerations of the issue, and certainly not a full length analysis of a complex issue that unfortunately will more likely than not see litigation in the coming decades. As user-generated content becomes more and more prevalent in games over the coming years, keep the issue of ESRB ratings in mind. After the Hot Coffee scandal, we saw a change in the ESRB’s standards for “wrapped content” like Hot Coffee, clarifying the issue. Perhaps we’ll see, in the relatively near future, a more explicit ESRB standard regarding User-Generated Content in games that carry it.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Kitten Hung to Death With PS2 Cable.

I’m a cat person myself, so this makes me especially pissed.

Two kids (literally, ages 6 and 7) stoned a kitten then hung it from a tree via a PS2 cable. They’re getting off scot free too, not even being mandated counseling.

Deputies say that language and cultural differences made it difficult to persuade both boys’ parents of the urgent need for counseling but ultimately they have agreed to perhaps seek counseling for the boys. (emphasis added)

Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County (which includes Phoenix, Mesa, and the surrounding suburbs) was quick to blame GTA for the situation.

Of course, it couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that the kids were raised in a trailer park by a family who doesn’t think that stoning and hanging a defenseless animal merits counseling of any sort, right Joe? Or that the mother’s illegal alien status might instill in them a lack of respect for U.S. law? Not according to Arpaio.

“This game allows players to kill cops and rape women,” Arpaio says. “It’s little wonder why they perpetrated such violence against that little animal.”

Of course, it’s always easier to blame the game, rather than the parents who ignored the ESRB ratings and let their kindergarten-aged kids play GTA in their trailer in-between spats of animal abuse.

In fact, this is actually a situation where I’d be glad to see the media making a public spectacle about this, because it would only serve to help reinforce the importance of adherence to ESRB ratings, responsible parenting, and proper supervision.

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