Jack Thompson vs. Mortal Kombat

Nate writes to mention the news that Jack Thompson has issued a cease and desist for the new Mortal Kombat:Armageddon title. Says Mr. Thompson: "It has today come to my attention that the newly recently Mortal Kombat: Armageddon contains an unauthorized commercial exploitation of my name, photograph, image, and likeness within the game." Thompson's likeness has appeared on websites in the game over the last few days as a result of his construction in the 'build-a-fighter' mode. His image is not actually a selectable character in the game, a fact he's chosen to skirt in his demands to Midway. If that's not enough Jack Thompson news for today, Game|Life has the video and commentary on Thompson's dressing down by the judge in the Bully case. Video courtesy of the Destructoid site.

Comments

"Celebrity"

[Enoxice]

Once you are a public figure (or 'celebrity', I guess) you give up certain privacy rights. You don't see Dubya suing SNL for using his likeness, do you?

Thompson needs to seriously get a grip.

Re:"Celebrity"

[PsychicX]

So let's see the list of problems here:

1. As the parent mentions, he's a public figure. That puts his likeness up for grabs.
2. The game is user moddable, and this is a user mod. I could do an HL2 model of JT (theoretically) and shoot him up, and apparently that'd be Valve's fault.
3. He doesn't actually have an explanation of why any of this is illegal -- he's a lawyer and he doesn't like it, therefore it must be illegal.
4. He's already in danger of being held in contempt of court, you'd think he'd at least wait a couple weeks before making it clear he's a nutcase, again.

Re:"Celebrity"

[IcyNeko]

There should be a www.jackthompsonmods.com, dedicated to making Jack Thompson mods for every game. .. which will last until JT finds out and has the site sued.

Here it is...

[Recovering Hater]

The obligatory- "FINISH HIM!" hahah. :)

I think...

[thoriphes]

...he just needs to UP, UP+BACK, BACK, DOWN+HK his way for a FRIENDSHIP!!!

Customization isn't a feature, it's a lawsuit!

[liak12345]

Dear MK Developers,
I recently purchased your violence simulator which you refer to as a game called Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. While observing the features of the game I tested out your Kreate a Kharacter option which lets you customize a character to your preferences given a wide variety of choices. Apparently I can design a character in a suit and name him Jack Thompson, which makes this game in clear violation of allowing games to design men in suits and name them after people. You are ordered to Cease and Desist production of this game immediately until my name and all variations of spellings are disallowed during designing characters in suits. This includes "Jerk Thompson" AND "Jackoff Thompson".

Lovingly,
Jack Thompson, the original man fighting lost causes

Oh, Jack...

[Tickenest]

Thank God we have someone incompetent like Jack Thompson carrying the torch for this crusade instead of someone who actually knows what he's doing.

Summary of the video

[nuzak]

This summary is kind of haphazard, and may not be totally chronologically accurate, there may be things out of order -- I don't really feel like watching it again though.

First 5 minutes of it are spent watching some dork drive, then run into the courthouse, camera running. Thank god for fast-forward. Once inside the courthouse, he gets both Jack and Judge Friedman in the picture. Mostly Jack, whose body language is nothing short of nonchalantly defiant throughout.

Judge F, throughout, speaks very calmly, slowly, repeats himself quite a bit, indicating that this isn't the sort of game he would want his kids playing, but "that is not the test" and that the defendant would prevail on first amendment grounds.

Jack first speaks up, saying something like "am I going to be allowed to speak at this hearing?" but offers nothing, except to try to hold up a rather oversized (about 5 feet tall) sign, which we don't get to see. The judge doesn't actually say anything except "no" and Jack quickly takes the sign down, and it doesn't come back up (at the end of the video as Jack is leaving the courtroom, you can see that it has some relevant statute concerning disqualification of judges). Jack hands the bailiff a normal sized printout to hand to the judge, but no indication is given as to what it contains. One could easily assume it's the same thing as on his poster.

The judge then goes on to call Jack's behavior "inappropriate, unprofessional, and contemptible", and in his usual style, repeats himself quite a bit saying it. He mentions how Jack filed a lawsuit against the judge and attempted to use that as a reason for the judge to recuse himself, which the judge shoots down by saying that you can't simply sue a judge you don't like just to get him out of your case. While the judge is dressing Jack down for this, Jack is making a big show out of putting away his papers, like he's getting ready to leave.

Jack does get a little soliloquy in though: basically he tells the judge to his face that he "you misrepresented what was said in your chambers", and several times used the word "misrepresented" -- basically accusing Judge F. of lying. Ouch. The Judge is pretty much unfazed by this.

I saved the best for last: Judge Friedman won't hear the Motion to Show Cause, he's kicking it to another judge. The reason for this is that Judge Friedman has himself filed a complaint with the Florida Bar about Thompson's behavior.

So not only is Thompson still facing contempt charges, he's going to be up against the bar again. Last time, the FL Bar paid him off to go away, but now he's almost certainly going to face disciplinary action again, and this time, they might just decide to give him some serious payback.