Schwarzenegger

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

[Re Docket No. 5, 27, 28, 41, 48]

Plaintiffs move for a preliminary injunction prohibiting California state and local officials from enforcing a recently passed law, effective January 1, 2006, which requires violent video games to be labeled and prohibits the rental or sale of those games to minors (“Act”). The Act includes a narrow definition of “violent video games,” requires specified labeling of such games and imposes a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for violations. For the reasons given below, the court grants the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction.

I. BACKGROUND

The plaintiffs are the Video Software Dealers Association (“VSDA”) and the Entertainment Software Association (“ESA”), two groups who describe themselves as associations of companies in the video game industry. The defendants are California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, Santa Clara County District Attorney George Kennedy, Santa Clara County Counsel Ann Ravel, and San José City-Attorney Richard Doyle. Kennedy and Ravel (“County defendants”) joined the opposition filed by Schwarzenegger and Lockyer…