EA Breaks Law with Brass Knuckles
Saturday Kotaku reported that Electronic Arts emailed a distress call to the press, asking everyone to return the golden brass knuckles that came with press copies of Godfather II
Saturday Kotaku reported that Electronic Arts emailed a distress call to the press, asking everyone to return the golden brass knuckles that came with press copies of Godfather II
According to Kotaku, Electronic Arts shipped brass knuckles along with press copies of The Godfather II. Unfortunately, someone in marketing apparently didn't do their homework: the possession of brass knuckles is illegal in most countries. In the United States alone, brass knuckles are illegal in at least ten states: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. In Canada, brass knuckles--and similar variants--are prohibited weapons, and anyone in possession of said weapons face criminal charges under the Criminal Code of Canada.
Electronic Arts, based out of Los Angeles, California, is now emailing the press, demanding that each individual return the brass knuckles. That in itself is a tricky predicament: according to California Penal Code Section 12020(a), it's not only illegal to possess "metal knuckles," but illegal to ship the weapons as well. Electronic Arts, in fact, broke the law on numerous counts for not only possession, but for distribution. Now the company is asking members of the press--many of whom are probably breaking the law in their states for possession alone (a class 1 misdemeanor in Colorado)--are required to illegally ship the weapons back into California.
"The representative that contacted me said that the company wanted to make sure that the brass knuckles were properly disposed of," said Kotaku's Brian Crecente. "He declined to comment any further. Contacted by email Friday, an Electronic Arts spokesperson verified that the company is asking that all of the brass knuckles shipped out be returned." Strangely enough, members of the press may be able to "properly dispose" the brass knuckles by selling them as paperweights; sometimes they can be found on sale as belt buckles in flea markets and yard sales.
Last year, New York state lawmakers added plastic knuckles to the list of illegal weapons, saying that the knuckles do not set off metal detectors in airports, government buildings, and schools. Although plastic knuckles aren't made out of metal, lawmakers said that they can be just as dangerous. California outlawed plastic knuckles back in 2002, signed and sealed by Governor Gray Davis. The law states that, like brass knuckles, companies cannot manufacture, import, or sell plastic knuckles in the state. With that said, Electronic Arts would have faced legal issues even if the company chose plastic over metal.
Electronic Arts has not issued a formal statement.
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Lol, all I can say about that.
Fail
you would think EA would be a little smarter than that. However, the godfather can be pretty persuasive.
As the quote from civilizatoin 4 goes "Corporation: Noun: An ingenious device for making individual profits without any individual responsibility." Someone is gonna get fired over this. Probably not the right guy either.
bravo
Why the f@%# would you ship brass knuckles to the press? There's no good reason to do that.
I wonder if they had planned on including brass knuckles in a special collectors-edition of the game or something, and thus they shipped that version to the press. Why not include a horses head while they're at it?
Where did the press kits ship from? EA is apparently based out of California, so if they shipped from the corporate offices, how did EA even get the knuckles in the first place?
*Hoping I get a .30-06 with the next rendition of Deer Hunter.*
LOL @chris.
Betcha my Desert Eagle .500 will be included with the special edition GTA IV.
I grant this news article the 'LOL Award of the Day'.
I find this retarded. Not the EA sent it, but the fact that a relatively rudimentary shaping of metal makes it illegal, but it would be fine if I put a lot more work into that metal and make a knife into it, it's completely legal.
they should throw them all in jail and beat them with golden brass knockles for what they have done to the games and companies they've purshased...
wow what crackheads rly.
Ok, now I want a pair...., ebay anyone?
as a paper weight of course....
are carbon fiber knuckles illegal lol
AWSOMELY EPIC fail.. None the less. I want one.
Yet somehow guns are legal? Not saying they should be, but come on, brass knuckles are less dangerous than a letter opener.
Someone is going to loose their job over this one. If EA wanted to do something like that with brass knuckles then why not have them made out of plastic or something? To quote Bugs Bunny, what a maroon.
If EA wanted to do something like that with brass knuckles then why not have them made out of plastic or something?
Last year, New York state lawmakers added plastic knuckles to the list of illegal weapons.
Brass knuckles..... so not cool.... Gimme a baseball bat instead. They are not illegal, yet do the job better than the knuckles...
And, Mr. Parrish, I am surprised you havent perished yet. Two reasons for this statement:
A) Find some real news
B) Quit using double headers. For some reason, they dont make your "so called news" more powerful. lol
LOL hopefully they reallocate the money from the DRM division to pay off this lawsuit =]
"In the United States alone, brass knuckles are illegal in at least ten states: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, and Washington."
Awesome! So I can get one because I'm in TX? Oh wait, everyone here carries gun. Brass knuckles=fail. Interesting article though.
I find this retarded. Not the EA sent it, but the fact that a relatively rudimentary shaping of metal makes it illegal, but it would be fine if I put a lot more work into that metal and make a knife into it, it's completely legal.
If you're going to -1 me, atleast reply to admit you're an idiot. There are much better things to attack someone with that are completely legal.
Thats incredible. its like say "become a criminal, see how cool it is" to thousand of teens. EA need to fire somebody...
Pepole, what is legal or what is not, is not the point.
The point is the messagge you give to the teens !
And in a country like the USA that already have a big
problem of criminality!
EA= Electronic Assholes
They are so up to the times with copyright IP law that they forgot about illegal weapons law?
O_o?
Thats incredible. its like say "become a criminal, see how cool it is" to thousand of teens. EA need to fire somebody...
Pepole, what is legal or what is not, is not the point.The point is the messagge you give to the teens !
These came with press copies, they aren't retail copies. You must have one amazingly huge deficiency in your mental facilities if you missed a detail mentioned in the first sentence of the article.
And in a country like the USA that already have a bigproblem of criminality!
What problem? We have a single digit murder rate per 100,000 (We're not even in the top 50), and while a solid crime rate is difficult to determine, it's been shown that crime is going down in the USA. Just take a look at this graph:
http://rechten.uvt.nl/icvs/images/Graph03.JPG
The biggest issue we have with crime is recidivism, as our percentages are higher than most other countries.
Forgot to add this in
The biggest issue we have with crime is recidivism, as our percentages are higher than most other countries.
Which is completely irrelevant when it comes to teens that weren't already bludgeoning people with illegal weapons. So bringing up the whole crime thing is complete malformed bull****.
EA's new DRM policy. You steal from us and we send the press to "collect".
"Let's put a weapon in with our violent videogame"
How is this the FIRST time it's happened?