ESA vs. the Chicago Transit Authority
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), challenging the CTA’s prohibition on certain computer and video game advertisements as a violation of the guarantees of free speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that the CTA is unfairly targeting the entertainment software industry by enacting an ordinance that selectively bans advertisements of computer and video games rated “Mature 17+” (M) or “Adults Only 18+” (AO).
In January of this year, the CTA enacted Ordinance 008-147, prohibiting any advertisement that “markets or identifies a video or computer game rated “Mature 17+” (M) or “Adults Only 18+” (AO).” The ESA’s suit contends that this new ordinance is unconstitutional and restricts speech in a public forum that is otherwise open to all speakers without a compelling interest for doing so. In addition, the complaint argues that the ordinance discriminates on the basis of viewpoint and ignores less restrictive means of achieving the supposed ends of the ordinance.
