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
what with this and the other cases against JT that are coming up I think this is going to be a bad year for Mr Thompson and I shall be laughing my ass off when he finally does get his just deserts
I certainly don't like the idea that they could prevent him from doing something that he may not actually be planning to do (unlikely, I know, but I stand by the point) and then charge him for it.
That is not how costs work.
There are 2 kinds of costs awards. One based on a rather outdated fee listing and the other based on what a the client has actually paid. Neither of these have anything to do with the actual bill accumulated by the client. Think of it as getting some sort of a discount.
However, all costs have to be 'reasonable' for the action. Things like rediculous costs (hiring 28 lawyers) will not be awarded by the court. Then again, if the losing party was exceptionally unreasonable (delaying, not producing proper documents, wasting court's time...) then the cost award will increase.
Yes, he always writes his Press Releases in 3rd Person. The reason is obvious. Most people don't bother to find out the name of the author when reading news items, so they assume that it is a factual 'News' report, not just Thomspon blowing hot air about himself.
its interesting to see just how quickly jack's world is falling apart, he has to be worried about this even if he still acts like he is king of the world
With just cause though, it's allowed. And seeing as he's bombarded them with tons of frivolous lawsuits, the court could be persuaded to at least put some restraints on what he can file against them.
They've tailored their complaint pretty narrowly too, to only limit his ability to file "public nuisance" suits against them in the state of Florida. They can also argue that his threat of a lawsuit plus his history is enough proof that he was fully intending to file one anyway, so that's why they have to do this.
Now then, I'm in favor of a pre-emptive lawsuit. TT has all the evidence it needs to prove that Thompson is engaging in a personal vedetta against the company, and had filed lawsuit after lawsuit in an attempt to bully them (ha!) into doing what he cannot compel them to by drafting laws. Thompson himself has admitted as much, and has in fact bragged about dragging them into court. He considers it a personal victory, even when the court turns his suit down.
I doubt that the court would award court fees, but I can certainly see them ordering Thompson to refrain from filing lawsuits in a Florida courtroom for a while...
As I understand it, this is Take 2 suing on behalf of Rockstar's First Amendment rights, so, to be honest, the managerial status of Take 2 is moved even further back in relevance.
It doesn't make since to me. As for T2's action I applaud them. All his bogus lawsuits and Bills have been based around T2 and R* I think he was just burned because a nephew of his kicked his butt in a T2 game.
I don't know, I'm no lawyer.
Sorry, I couldn't resist. This is going to be very interesting.
Unfortunately, Thompson is protected by the same First Amendment.
Seems they're fighting fire with fire, with a legal team to back it up I bet.
What can they get from him? Can he get disbarred through this?
On one hand, I think Take Two's "preemptive strike" might work since Thompson's case against Bully resulted in him having to show cause for why he should not be held in contempt of court (still no resolution on that, I think... speaking of which, doesn't the Florida Supreme Court still have to rule on his misconduct complaints?). On the other hand, Bully deserved its "T" rating (instead of "M") and some stupid judge might determine that GTAIV, which very well might receive an "AO" rating, is a different matter entirely. Overall though, I see this as one more opportunity for him to get himself disbarred and I hope I see that consequence come to fruition some time this year.
Errr.. This is nothing whatsoever to do with Take Two's financial position, nor the fidelity of its management, what the hell have they got to do with anything? If Paul Eibeler screwed up and gets booted, fine, but if Thomspon thought that would somehow stop everything that Take Two was, long before Eibeler ever joined them, then he is obviously delusional.
So his argument against being stopped from making another two public nuisance lawsuits and wasting money is that the company he is constantly harassing has management issues?
Not an auspicious kick-off for Thompson so far. I don't see this suit being started if Take Two weren't pretty sure of a positive result, they know better than to feed the troll, so I'm not letting Thompson wriggle out of this one just yet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_%28attorney%29
He's been at it since about 2002 time, and he blames virtually every killing on video games, especially GTA. It's time for him to come to his senses. I sure hope Take 2 and Rockstar win. Mr Thompson is a moron.
You heard me, RIGHT!
Because of him I play lots of video games that are violent (to see how BAD these games are). And then when I don't slaughter 15people a day, I get MAD! I get MAD at these games and JACK for their BROKEN PROMISES! I WANNA BE A PSYCHO BUT DAMNIT THESE GAMES AREN'T DRIVING ME CRAZY!
And that MAKES ME CRAZY! I wanna kill somebody.
I think I should start with THE person that let me down the most. The promise maker of promise makers. The person that said "YOU TOO CAN TURN PSYCHOTIC!".
JACK.
YOUR TIME IS UP.
/starts chainsaw and starts implanted tracking device monitor.
A hunting we will go... a hunting we will go... hi ho the dairy-o a murderous rampage on Jack Thompson we will go.