March 16, 2007 -
In the wake of a recent legal threat by Miami attorney Jack Thompson (left), game publisher Take Two Interactive has launched a pre-emptive strike.With Thompson threatening to file suit to block the release of Grand Theft Auto 4 and Manhunt 2, Take Two has petitioned the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida for relief.
The software publisher seeks to block Thompson from trying to have the games declared a public nuisance under Florida law. Thompson filed a similar action against Take Two's Bully last October, but a Florida judge rejected Thompson's contention, allowing Bully to be sold by retailers.
In its complaint, Take Two claims the action is necessary because:
Thompson has a history of making multiple threats of legal action, whether substantiated or not, both against (Take Two) as well as the retailers who purchase the video games and offer them for sale to the public. Thompson has made such threats again in connection with Manhunt 2 and GTAIV...
The suit alleges that Thompson's public nuisance tactic violates Take Two's First Amendment rights. Lawyers for the game publisher argue that the Florida statute under which Thompson is seeking to have the games declared as nuisances essentially makes the controversial lawyer "a private attorney general on behalf of the State of Florida."
Take Two is also seeking to recover from Thompson its attorney fees and other costs incurred related to the pending legal action.
For his part, Thompson criticizes the Take Two complaint in a writ filed with the Florida Supreme Court, and rather dubiously takes credit for a recent shareholder revolt which is expected to result in the firing of CEO Paul Eibeler as early as next week. The attorney writes:
So successful has Thompson been in exposing the fraud and criminal conduct of Take-Two on the national stage... that a corporate coup by 46% of Take-Two’s shareholders is set for March 23, which nearly all financial analysts... are predicting will be successful and which will result in the firing of all Take-Two management and the entire board...
Comments
Re: BREAKING: Take Two Sues Jack Thompson over Manhunt 2, ...
He should have stayed at home. Nothing bad coud have happened there, he could have even enjoyed a game of online poker, win your money in a fair way. I hope he gets what he deserves.
"Take Two is also seeking to recover from Thompson its attorney fees and other costs incurred related to the pending legal action."
Now, given that a win for take two is a pretty sure thing considering thompsons history of attempting these bills, It's concievable that Take two could go to exhorbitent lengths to defeat jack and transfer the cost of such to Jack upon winning.
To the best of my knowledge, Jack isn't part of a partnerhip or lawfirm. as such, all of his money would come from either his wife or a bank loan, niether of which could likely support jack if the cost of the trial shot up to around a few million.
In short, Take two might be able to bankrupt the man in miami.
His wife goes Lorena Bobbitt on his ass, and he is found guilty of atleast being an asshole
I think this is actually the 1st time Thompson made a pre-emptive strike against Take Two due to both games not being out yet or have ESRB ratings. It's also the 1st time TT grew some balls and actually went forth into putting a foot in the proverbial ass of Jacko.
There's been a lot of changes in the industry lately, this being one of them. :)
I wonder if he's listed as a dependent on her insurance?
. . .
Can I be the first to LOL at how oblivious that post is to reality?
Lol, you made my day, that was hilarious. :)
I doubt he will have enough time to counter sue will being sued by everyone. Sue him for being a public nusance. Can u say harassment? Everyone probably can sue Jack Thompson for that. Maybe we can get class action suit on him for harassment. And then sue him again to cease and desist. Then hopefully the florida bar will then drop his license to practice while this is going on.
Oh it would be so nice if this could happen.
Matthew 7:3-5
3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
...
For a while, you made me think you were being serious. ^_^ That's funny.
Re F'ed up: Which would then give him the ability to claim the same harrassment that T2 can currently claim against him.
Doesn't this guy ever give up? You'd think he'd be in an asylum by now...
I bet this affected the area of the brain in adults where they are more prone to commit violent acts.
I wonder if he is beating up a hooker in GTA just to get his fustrations out. Therefore causing more stimulation to the violent area of the brain before going on a psycho killing spree.
and with numerous brain scans we have found the area of the brain which we call jack thompson stupidity. Only one person has been found to have active areas of this part of the brain, in which we named this diease after. No other humans have this much stimulation in that part of the brain. Schizophrenia is a close one but not as much as this one. Therefore anyone with stimulation in this area of the brain will be locked up and never seen again.
(if u didnt know thats basically his argument on video games)
Rockstargames, my favorite game publisher, sued that bastard Jack thompson because he was going to declare GTA 4 a public nuisance. Thi s is one of the best birthday gifts ever. I just found out about this. I would be pissed if he got away with it because i preorder GTA4.
:D
This is going to be fun.
A couple of points to make though. Not addressed in the Bully suit (and this is where that judge really dropped the ball) is whether or not the Florida nuisance law applies to "expressive content." Reading the law would simply suggest that it can not be applied to expressive content, nor was it designed to.
Enter Jack Thompson, who has threatened use of this law to further harass Take Two. It makes sense for Take Two to step in and try to get a judge to say this type of behavior isn't allowed under the Florida law. They're also allowed their court fees to be reimbursed.
Thomson has opened himself up to this. His failure to understand the nature of the Florida nuisance law has led to this. He is singling out Take Two / Rock Star in this behavior as he hasn't tried tried to prevent other M-rated games from being released in Florida. That is the very definition of harassment.
Take Two should not have to send a team of lawyers to Florida every time some knucklehead attorney thinks a game falls under the public nuisance law there.
yeah, I think you've got the right call on this one. TT might succeed in getting an injunction against the use of the Florida nuiscance laws against first amendment protected items (games), but I would be surprised to see them awarded costs for something Jack hasn't done yet. Part of a preemptive injunction is that it's preemptive, ie nothings been done yet. Sure, Jack did alot of stuff in the past, but the place to ask for that money was at those trials.
Number of Violent Crimes per 100,000 people in the US since 1991
correlated with game console releases in the US.
1991 758.1 (Super NES)
1992 757.5 (Turbo Duo)
1993 746.8 (Jaguar)
1994 713.6
1995 684.5 (PS1, Saturn)
1996 636.6 (N64)
1997 611.0
1998 566.4
1999 523.0 (GameCube, Dreamcast)
2000 506.5 (PS2)
2001 504.5 (Xbox)
2002 494.4
2003 475.8
2004 463.2
2005 469.2 (Xbox 360)