Entertainment Merchants Association and Entertainment Software Association
Respondents
Paul M. Smith, Counsel of Record The Entertainment Merchants Association and Entertainment Software Association represent the video game and software industries, which sell more than $10 billion a year in games to American consumers. In 2005, the two trade groups filed suit against the State of California, charging that Civil Code sections 1746-1746.5, which prohibited the sale or rental of “violent video games” to minors, violated game companies’ First Amendment right to artistic expression and free speech. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California entered a preliminary injunction, holding that the act was a content-based restriction on…
