EA Files Cert. Petition in Davis v. Electronic Arts
By Jennifer E. RothmanOctober 7, 2015
On Monday, EA filed a Petition seeking Supreme Court review in Davis v. Electronic Arts, 775 F.3d 1172 (9th Cir. 2015). The video game maker asks the Supreme Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit and hold that the use of realistic depictions of people in expressive works, including video games, is protected by the First Amendment. I agree. As Eugene Volokh and I explained in an amicus filed before the Ninth Circuit, and signed on to by numerous leading constitutional law and intellectual property scholars, the Davis decision and the Keller decision upon which it relied jeopardize the use of historical figures and public figures in bio-pictures, biographies, documentaries, songs and more. Stay tuned for my amicus in support of the cert. petition.