Home

Illinois

Appeals Court Upholds Injunction on Illinois Video Game Law

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 28, 2006 - 2:41pm.
Chicago - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has upheld a lower court ruling that declared an Illinois law banning the sale of sexually explicit games to minors in the state to be unconstitutional.
tags: Games | Law | Adult | Youth | Censorship | Legislation | Injunctions | Minors | Parental Control | Illinois |

Sprint Nextel Wins Stay in Ongoing Dispute with Affiliate

Authored by dmw on October 16, 2006 - 1:37pm.
Reston, Va. - Sprint Nextel, the Reston-based wireless giant, said on Monday that the Illinois Court of Appeals has granted a stay in its ongoing litigation with affiliate iPCS. The company said that it plans to continue operating its Nextel network throughout iPCS's territories for the foreseeable future. The territories include secondary markets in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska and a portion of Indiana. In August, the Cook County (Ill.) Circuit Court ruled that Sprint's merger with Nextel violated Sprint's affiliate agreement with iPCS. Now, Sprint Nextel is appealing that decision, and expects a verdict in seven to nine months.
tags: Mobile | Law | Wireless | Sprint | Telecom | Affiliates | Illinois | Nextel |

U. of Illinois Taps UsableNet for Mobile Sports Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 1:55pm.
New York - UsableNet, a provider of mobile services to universities, corporations and government agencies, said on Friday that the University of Illinois is using its Lift Mobile service to deliver content including live sports scores to students, alumni and fans. New York-based UsableNet said the Illini mobile site has attracted 30,000 visitors since it launched in September.
tags: Mobile | Sports | Mobile Sports | Tech | College | Education | Illinois | UsableNet |

Judge Orders Illinois to Pay $500K in Attorney's Fees to Video Game Industry

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 10, 2006 - 1:21pm.
Washington - The State of Illinois has been ordered by a federal judge to pay the video game industry over $500,000 in attorney's fees, to compensate for the industry's legal expenses in suing the state to have a law banning the sale of violent games to minors overturned.
tags: Games | Law | Lawsuits | Commerce | VSDA | Retail | ESA | Fines | Illinois |

Illinois Enacts Ban on Violent Game Sales; Game Industry Sues to Overturn

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 25, 2005 - 8:29am.
Aurora, Ill. -- Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Monday signed the Safe Game Illinois Act into law, which prohibits the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors in the state. "For the same reason we don't allow kids to buy pornography, for the same reason we don't allow kids to buy cigarettes, for the same reason we don't allow kids to buy alcohol, we shouldn’t allow them to go to stores and buy violent and sexually explicit video games -- games that teach them to do the very things we put people in jail for," said Blagojevich. In addition to fining retailers who break the ban $1,000, it requires them to create their own parental warning labels to place on game packaging, and post signs explaining the industry's game ratings system in their stores. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the large video game industry trade group, announced on Monday that it will file suit in Illinois to have the law thrown out. "In similar cases in St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Washington State, virtually identical bills were struck down, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees," the ESA said in a statement. The ESA was joined in its complaint by the Video Software Dealers Association, a rental industry trade group, and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. ESA president Doug Lowenstein added, "This law will have a chilling effect on free speech. It will limit First Amendment rights not only for Illinois' residents, but for game developers and publishers, and for retailers who won't know what games can and cannot be sold or rented under this vague new statute."
tags: Law | Ban | Game Industry | Overturn | Violent Game Sales | Illinois |

Illinois State Senate Approves Ban on Violent Game Sales to Minors

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 20, 2005 - 7:14am.
Springfield, Ill. -- The Illinois state Senate this week approved a bill that would restrict the sale of violent video games in the state to minors. The Safe Games Illinois Act, proposed by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, would put the onus on retailers to determine which games are too violent or sexually explicit for minors, and then fine them should they sell such titles to anyone under 18. As the Senate's version of the bill deleted a section in the Illinois state House's version that called for jail time for offenders, the bill must now return to the House for debate. "Video games are not art or media," Illinois state Sen. Deanna Demuzio told AP. "They are simulations, not all that different from the simulations used by the U.S. military in preparation for war." Similar laws banning the sale of violent games to minors have been consistently struck down by a number of courts as being unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds.
tags: Games | Minors | Senate | Ban | Violent Game | Illinois |

Illinois, Alabama Lawmakers Approve Bans on Sale of Violent Games to Minors

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 17, 2005 - 10:33am.
Springfield, Ill. -- Illinois state lawmakers have approved a bill that would ban the sale of violent video games to minors in the state, with the Illinois House voting 91-19 in favor of the legislation. The bill will now move to the state Senate. Meanwhile, a similar bill to ban violent game sales to minors passed on Wednesday in the Alabama House of Representatives. Courts have routinely struck down similar video game sales bans on First Amendment grounds in the city of Indianapolis, St. Louis County, Missouri and the state of Washington.
tags: Law | Bans | Illinois | Alabama Lawmakers | Violent Games to Minors |

Illinois Lawmakers Seek Ban on Sale of Violent Video Games to Minors

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 1, 2005 - 8:10am.
Springfield, Ill. -- Two Illinois state lawmakers have introduced legislation that would ban the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors, punishing retailers who violate the ban with fines of between $1,000 and $5,000. State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia and State Sen. Deanna Demuzio, both Democrats, will sponsor bills in the Illinois state House and Senate, respectively. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has also pushed for the legislation. "As a society, we've agreed that children do not have a right to certain things that pose a risk to their health or development: things like cigarettes, alcohol, and pornography," said Blagojevich. "We know violent and sexually explicit video games pose a direct risk to kids, so we should make every effort to keep them out of kids' hands." Although similar bills have been struck down on First Amendment grounds by courts in Washington state, St. Louis County, Mo. and the city of Indianapolis, efforts to ban the sale of violent games to minors are also progressing in California, D.C., Georgia, Michigan, Missouri and Pennsylvania. The proposed Illinois legislation would define violent games as "those that include realistic depictions of human-on-human violence in which the player kills, injures, or otherwise causes serious physical harm to another human, including but not limited to depictions of death, dismemberment, amputation, decapitation, maiming, disfigurement, mutilation of body parts, or rape."
tags: Minors | Ban | Violent Video Games | Illinois |