Legal News

A patent lawsuit targets several social game publishers, and could have a hefty impact on the free-to-play business model.

A patent suit against Nintendo has been dismissed by a Maryland district judge, the company announced today.

The Oklahoma bill proposing a 1% sales tax increase on violent video games has been defeated in a House subcommittee. It was followed quickly by the proposal of a task force on video games, obesity, and aggression -- but the task force was also voted down

A new Oklahoma bill proposes an extra 1% tax on T, M, and AO games, offering the extra revenue generated to combat child obesity and bullying.

The state of California has agreed to reimburse the Entertainment Software Association $950,000 for its Supreme Court battle, and the ESA has announced it will put a portion into a new initiative to teach underserved communities important job skills.

Both PIPA and SOPA have been postponed, following large-scale protests of the legislation on Wednesday.

A former Codemasters employee has publicly accused the publisher of unlawful business practices and threatening former employees after his job was made redundant.

A settlement has been reached in the case between ZeniMax Media subsidiary Bethesda Softworks and Interplay Entertainment surrounding the fate of an MMO set in the Fallout universe.

Our final selection for "top story of 2011" is the Supreme Court's ruling of video games as free speech.

Nintendo, Sony, and EA have dropped their direct support for the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act.

A Quebec appeals court has ruled in favor of THQ, striking down an injunction filed by Ubisoft that claimed THQ was poaching talent from the competition.

Microsoft has updated its Terms of Service alongside yesterday's Xbox 360 dashboard update, preventing class-action suits and committing to binding arbitration for disputes.

Nintendo, Sony, and EA were all listed as corporate sponsors of a letter urging lawmakers to create new anti-piracy legislation, which has now been introduced as the Stop Online Piracy Act.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected Bethesda's preliminary injunction against Interplay regarding the ongoing development of a Fallout MMO, allowing work on the game to continue.

The first, but surely not the last, judgement in the Scrolls vs. The Elder Scrolls trademark case has come down in favor of Mojang, denying ZeniMax's bid for an interim injunction that would've forbidden the Swedish indie from using the 'Scrolls' name.