Here's another lawsuit to help fill your weekly quota of legal drama. This one was filed by the Entertainment Software Association against the Chicago Transit Authority for its 2009 ordinance that prohibits M and AO-rated video game ads from all its vehicles and facilities, citing that the ordinance is a clear violation of the entertainment software community's constitutional rights.

It's quite an emotional rollercoaster, this week really was. Straight off from the news that the King of Pop has died, we went on to have the usual string of gaming news that rocked our own worlds. With the usual news on lawsuits, layoffs, company shutdowns, convicted murderers over consoles, it was looking to be a sad state of affairs. Good thing we've got our own Neverland to brighten things up a bit. And now we've come to the Fourth of July weekend. Time to kick off those shoes, stretch out, unwind and celebrate. You know we all deserve it. Happy FOJ weekend, everyone!

Another week full of lawsuits. Poor, beleaguered company Midway came under fire once again, and this time it was from a very unlikely direction: the guy behind the Mortal Kombat movies is suing them in order to "protect his IP rights", which is a better way of saying that he wants to keep milking the MK franchise for as long as possible. Square Enix also got served with a class-action lawsuit for "deceiving" Final Fantasy XI patrons regarding fees. Not everything was bad, though. Read all about 'em after the jump in this week's Warrior recap.

A series of lawsuits filed by Activision has led to speculation that the world's biggest video game publisher is now employing tactics similar to those employed by the RIAA to crack down on file sharers. However, Karin Pagnanelli, Activision's lead attorney, has denied that the
lawsuits had anything to do with file sharing. More after the jump.

Looks like the floodgates have been opened for lawsuits against Nintendo. After losing a few million to Anascape over the patents of several of their controllers, the big N is once again slapped with another lawsuit, this time over the motion sensing technology they used for the Wiimote. Details in the full article.

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.