If you've been following the entire mess of Activision being sued because of a certain glitch that makes the audio of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC) come out of your sound system as mono, you'll be glad to know that the company that brought us the rhythm game has another legal cloud erased from its skies. Yes, that's right - the lawsuit has been dismissed. All the details at the full article.

Long-standing lawsuit filed by WWE against THQ and Jakks Pacific concerning racketeering and bribery was finally put to rest by a US district court judge last December 3rd. More details about  the allegations made by WWE against THQ and Jakks Pacific and the lawsuit in general at the full article.

From the old 16-bit days to the current generation of gaming, the quest to make games more realistic has been the golden fleece of just about every developer. Game makers, however, need to slow down as an article in Game Daily warns that lawsuits can arise from this aspect of creative exploration.

The First Amendment has recently been put to the test against laws barring the emulation of people and landmarks for commercial use. Lawsuits have been filed against Sega and Rockstar Entertainment for alleged violations of identities and trademarks. Courts ultimately decided to favor the developers, but not without a heated court debate for each case.

In the litigation involving Rockstar, East L.A. strip club PlayPen complained that the makers of the Grand Theft Auto series depicted a very similar club in a very similar location with a very similar name in one of their titles. The club in the game? The PigPen.

In the same manner, Sega got into a bit of trouble with Kierin Kirby of the 80's pop group Dee-Lite. Kirby claims that the Japanese publisher created a game called Space Channel 5 with a main character that resembled her. The Space Channel 5 heroine, Ulala, has a similar dress motif, hairstyle and dance repertoire to the real-life performer, thus ushering a litigation.

Sega won by the power of freedom of expression. The court ruled that there were substantial differences between Ulala and Kirby in terms of hair arrangement, dresses and body frame, ending the dispute.

Lawyers assured the public that this isn't the last of these cases and offenders will be taken to court whenever the need arises for litigation.

Jack Thompson and Take-Two Interactive have reached a settlement on two pending legal actions in Florida. The lawsuits began last month with Take-Two Interactive filing one against Thompson based on his threats to sue the company in order to prevent the release of Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV. Thompson filed a counter-suit against Take-Two citing the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) act.

The recent settlement was filed with Federal District Court Judge Cecilia Altonaga which had both parties agreeing to drop the lawsuits they filed against each other. In addition, Take-Two has also agreed to drop the contempt of court case which happened in the hearing for Bully.

Thompson, on the other hand, will never sue or threaten to sue Take-Two or any of its subsidiaries to block sale or distribution of any game the company is publishing. He is also barred from communicating with any of the company's business associates with allegations that selling Take-Two games is illegal or wrong. He is not restricted from criticizing Take-Two games and is still allowed to act as counsel in lawsuits against Take-Two filed by other parties. Any future contact of Thompson with Take Two will have to be coursed through Take-Two's attorneys.

So does this mean that Jack Thompson is out of Take-Two's hair forever? We can't say for certain, but the settlement might be enough to stop him from harassing the company.

You can find a copy of the entire settlement documentation here.

Six GameStop store managers finally had it to the brim with the supposed excessive manner by which GameStop, specialty retailer, deals with its employees.

Filing a collective-action lawsuit against the company, the store managers allege that they have been wrongfully declared exempt from overtime regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Putting in about 50-60 extra hours a week without compensation, these employees are now seeking to win damages with interest for the unpaid overtime work, as well as an award of their attorneys' fees.

The FLSA states that those "employed in a bonafide executive, administrative, or professional capacity" are exempt from its overtime regulation. The store managers, however, claim that their job does not, in any way, include actual management of employees or exercise of discretionary function. These are in fact all determined and exercised by the corporation itself. Decisions concerning pricing, compensation of the store staff, stocks (which and where to be placed on shelves) are all up to the call of GameStop. They could not even hire or fire their own employees, as that power is practiced solely by the district managers.

In response, GameStop has moved for the dismissal of the case on the merit of it being similar in substance to a case filed back in 1994, that up to now is still pending. The said lawsuit was brought against the company by an assistant store manager in New York City, on behalf of all Electronics Boutique employees denied of their minimum wages or overtime pay since 1998. Legal proceedings have already begun before Electronics Boutique merged with GameStop last year.

As of May this year, the New York suit parties have made known to the court that they were already in the preliminary stages of negotiating a settlement. There is no ruling yet, however, from the judge in the Louisiana suit as to whether or not the case will be dismissed, postponed, or moved to New York so the same court may hold jurisdiction over both suits.

Publishers Electronic Arts and Activision have also faced employee lawsuits over the same issue of overtime compensation in the past.

According to Webpronews a recently approved patent for Nintendo could lead to lawsuits against other game console manufacturers. The patent was originally filed in 2000 and is for a videogame instant messaging system. The patent covers a chat system that involves a remotely stored buddy list, allows for multiple statuses, and could broadcast information about gaming activities. It would also display alerts when new e-mail is received, enable the transmission of player preferences, and allow for communication through either voice or text messages.

Two aging products, the Nintendo64 and the Game Boy Color, are mentioned in the patent, but there is speculation that the system could be implemented in the upcoming Wii. It may also serve as a bartering chip against software giant Microsoft. It looks as though Microsoft's Xbox Live system may infringe upon Nintendo's new patent.

If so, Nintendo could try to reach a cross-licensing deal that would allow it to delve into areas covered by some of Microsoft's patents. Sony is another potential target if Nintendo tries to pursue the matter. It's possible that nothing will come of this. It's also possible that we'll see a voice chat-enabled Wii, and a huge court battle between Nintendo and Microsoft. Of course, there are a few likelihoods that fall between those potential outcomes.

If anyone does cause a dispute out of this it would be very weird for Microsoft as being a member of Xbox Live since it first came out I know that the messaging system that Microsoft has in place is one of the best things the Xbox and the 360 has going for it and I couldn't imagine Xbox Live without it. Hopefully all the online gaming systems will have their own "Xbox Live" and be just as great. Go ahead and give us your thoughts about these rumors by commenting after the jump.