Violent video games are protected speech, companies say

By The Associated Press

07.19.01

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DENVER — Eight manufacturers of violent video games have asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought against them by the families of some of the victims of the Columbine massacre.

In a motion filed July 16 and made available yesterday, lawyers for the companies said the class-action suit should be dropped because it doesn't allege that any particular game led Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to go on their rampage.

They also argue that video games are protected as free speech and the companies who make them cannot be held liable for someone's reaction to them.

"Even speech expressly advocating criminal activity (which the video games do not) cannot be the basis for liability unless the speech is directed to inciting imminent lawless action and likely to produce such action," the motion said.

The companies said the families' claim that Harris and Klebold were influenced by long-term exposure to violent video games does not meet this narrow exception.

The lawsuit seeks $5 billion in punitive damages from 24 entertainment companies, including operators of pornographic Web sites as well as video-game makers.

The companies filing the July 16 motion were Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., Activision, Inc., Capcom Entertainment, Inc., Eidos Interactive, Inc., Infogrames, Inc., formerly known as GT Interactive Software Corp., Interplay Entertainment Corp., Nintendo of America Inc. and Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.

Square Soft, Inc. was also included in the motion, but the families dropped their claim against the company on July 16.

Infogrames and another defendant, ID Software, are the creators and publishers of the game "Doom," in which players follow a gun through a maze of streets and buildings, shooting anything in their path.

Investigators said one of the Columbine gunmen had named his sawed-off shotgun Arlene after a character in "Doom."

Other video games mentioned in the lawsuit include "Quake" and "Redneck Rampage."

Harris and Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999.

Update

'Doom' distributors seek dismissal of lawsuit
Company says suit claiming video game influenced Columbine gunmen is identical to one thrown out in Kentucky.  09.03.01

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Federal suit blames video-game makers for Columbine shooting
Victims’ families say massacre would not have occurred if gunmen hadn’t been exposed to violent games, sex-oriented Web sites.  04.24.01