Take-Two warns Jack Thompson over Manhunt 2, settlement terms between parties under duress

Jack Thompson - Image 1

Take-Two Interactive and Jack Thompson have certainly had a storied past. While we all know about the uneasy settlement between Take-Two and Jack Thompson involving a particularly heated lawsuit last April, we’ve also caught wind of the many moves Jack has made against Take-Two, the most recent one being his lodging of a complaint against the televised ads of Bioshock.

The shaky relationship between the two is still not looking good. What started as an e-mail from Jack Thompson to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick, CEO Ben Feder, the Federal Trade Commission, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the legal counsel of Blank Rome and GamePolitics turned into an exchange between the Florida-based lawyer and Gena Feist, Take-Two’s VP and Associate General Counsel.

Below is Jack Thompson’s opening e-mail, unedited and presented as is:

From: Jack Thompson

Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 4:55 PM

Subject: Letter to Take-TwoÂ’s Strauss Zelnick, Ben Feder Re Manhunt 2

Dear Mr. Zelnick and Mr. Feder:

Congratulations on receiving a “Mature” rating for Manhunt 2. You’ll live to regret it (trust me), so enjoy it while you can. I want to bring to your attention the fact that at www.rockstargames.com anyone of any age can order Manhunt 2 and receive it, with no age verification whatsoever.

Asking a 14-year-old if heÂ’s 17 is not age verification, now is it? You also know that the use of a bank card as an age verifier is a violation of all bank card agreements, right? Govern yourselves accordingly, if you can.

Regards, Jack Thompson

Strong words indeed, and it’s to note that things go downhill from there on in. See Feist’s reply by clicking on the Full Article link below.

More behind the Full Article link!

Buy: [Manhunt 2 (PSP)]
Buy: [Manhunt 2 (Wii)]

Jack Thompson - Image 1

Take-Two Interactive and Jack Thompson have certainly had a storied past. While we all know about the uneasy settlement between Take-Two and Jack Thompson involving a particularly heated lawsuit last April, we’ve also caught wind of the many moves Jack has made against Take-Two, the most recent one being his lodging of a complaint against the televised ads of Bioshock.

The shaky relationship between the two is still not looking good. What started as an e-mail from Jack Thompson to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick, CEO Ben Feder, the Federal Trade Commission, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the legal counsel of Blank Rome and GamePolitics turned into an exchange between the Florida-based lawyer and Gena Feist, Take-Two’s VP and Associate General Counsel.

Below is Jack Thompson’s opening e-mail, unedited and presented as is:

From: Jack Thompson

Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 4:55 PM

Subject: Letter to Take-TwoÂ’s Strauss Zelnick, Ben Feder Re Manhunt 2

Dear Mr. Zelnick and Mr. Feder:

Congratulations on receiving a “Mature” rating for Manhunt 2. You’ll live to regret it (trust me), so enjoy it while you can. I want to bring to your attention the fact that at www.rockstargames.com anyone of any age can order Manhunt 2 and receive it, with no age verification whatsoever.

Asking a 14-year-old if heÂ’s 17 is not age verification, now is it? You also know that the use of a bank card as an age verifier is a violation of all bank card agreements, right? Govern yourselves accordingly, if you can.

Regards, Jack Thompson

Strong words indeed, and it’s to note that things go downhill from there on in, with the uneasy relationship between the florida-based lawyer and the publishing company straining. A few e-mails later, Gena Feist replied with an e-mail warning Jack that legal action will be taken if he doesn’t stop harping about Manhunt 2 (PSP, Wii). Here’s the part of the e-mail that states that, in its unedited form:

We entered into the settlement agreement because we did not want to engage in unnecessary litigation with you, but I assure you that we will enforce the terms of the agreement if necessary and that any suit will include a claim for our legal fees under paragraph 11.

The exchange ends right after Jack’s rebuttal to the message above. You can check out the full exchange at the Via link below, and it’s to note that there could be a few parts of it missing – as message timestamps of some of the message did not quite match up accordingly, and had to be re-arranged for contextual coherence. Still, it looks like a very interesting time indeed for both Take-Two and Jack.

Updates as we get them, and you can give us your two cents’ worth on the matter by your comments below.

Buy: [Manhunt 2 (PSP)]
Buy: [Manhunt 2 (Wii)]

Via GamePolitics

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