There are all kinds of controversies in the games industry, and not all of them are about violence or sexuality in games. These come in the form of corporate squabbles, ticked-off designers, and lawsuits not entirely threatening to a game's livelihood, but more so about money, licensing deals gone awry, or sometimes nationwide bans on anything related to video games. We've collected a few of the more recent choice selections and a few earlier ones you won't want to miss.

• Capcom filed suit against Data East Corporation (Data East ISA, Inc.) in 1994, alleging that Data East had knocked off Capcom's Street Fighter characters for its Fighter's History game. In the end, the court dismissed the case.
• In November 1997, Nintendo sued guidebook publisher Prima Guides (Imagine Media) for allegedly lifting maps and tips for GoldenEye 007 out of Nintendo's publication Nintendo Power and then making a profit on the guide. This case was dismissed, and then Prima and Nintendo decided to partner to publish the guides in the future.
• In May 1998, several plaintiffs filed suit against Origin Systems and Electronic Arts alleging that Ultima Online shipped as an "incomplete" product. The case was settled in January 1999, with an agreement that Electronic Arts would donate $15,000 to a San Diego museum.
• Starcraft maker Blizzard Entertainment was sued in May 1998 by a California consumer group, Intervention Inc., which alleged the game invaded people's privacy due to a feature that transmits registry data from the client computer when users are connected to Battle.net.
• In April 1999, a California court denied an injunction Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) sought against software emulator maker Bleem that would keep the company from publishing its PlayStation emulator for the PC. SCEA tried to stop the emulator with legal force a couple more times, losing each battle. Then in May 2001, Bleem sued SCEA for allegedly using its influence to thwart the company's ability to successfully sell its emulator, Bleemcast. Bleemcast was a software program that would allow some PlayStation One games to be played on the Sega Dreamcast console. In November 2001, Bleem folded.
• The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) wrote a public letter in February 2002 to the distributors of Ethnic Cleansing, an online, white-supremacist PC game, asking them to cease publication of the title. Many such primitive concentration-camp-management sims have been made and posted on the Web, but fortunately, organizations such as the ADL keep them from surfacing more often.
• In February 2002, Nike sued Sega claiming that television ads for Sega's NBA 2K2 game were a direct rip-off of Nike's "Frozen Moment" television ad from 1996. Two months later, Sega and Nike settled, under the agreement that Sega would donate $50,000 to charity in Nike's name.
• Greece banned all video games and gaming units nationwide in July 2002, making it illegal to be caught with one in the street. Law number 3037 brings hefty fines (5,000 to 75,000 euros) for even having them in one's home. The worst that can happen? A fine and 12 months in jail. No joke. The law is still in place.
• In February 2003, BMX star Dave Mirra sued Acclaim, seeking $21 million in alleged damages as a result of breach of contract, unfair competition, injury to reputation, false advertising, and invasion of privacy over association with the game BMX XXX. Mirra, who was no longer associated with the game as of August 2002, claimed that he had withdrawn from his role in BMX XXX once he'd heard the game plan had changed.By October 2003, Mirra and Acclaim announced that an agreement had been reached and that neither party had paid monetary damages, adding that the licensing partnership would continue through 2011, as planned. In a statement released to the press, Mirra said, "I'm glad that this issue is behind us. I look forward to working with Acclaim and to continue making the best BMX video games available for fans of the sport."
• In April 2003, Kierin Kirby (Lady Miss Kier to Deee-lite fans) filed suit against Sega of America, alleging the company styled Ulala, Space Channel 5's heroine, after her ultra-diva persona, Lady Miss Kier.
• The First Amendment protected video games in June 2003 when the United States Court of Appeals struck down a St. Louis County law to make selling video games to minors illegal.
• In July 2003, former WCW wrestler Darryl "Maxx Payne" Peterson sued Rockstar for $10 million for what amounts to identity theft, claiming the company hijacked a personality he had created. Rockstar publishes an action franchise called Max Payne for the PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance.
• In August 2003, graffiti artist Christopher Ellis sued Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive, alleging his artwork titled "Daze" was used without permission in Grand Theft Auto III.
• Crime writer Robert Crais sued for an injunction against Activision in November 2003, alleging the company copped his character, Elvis Cole, and re-created him under the name Nick Kang for its upcoming True Crime: Streets of LA game set for the GameCube. Crais later dropped the case.
• Sega of America sought legal action against Electronic Arts, Fox Filmed Entertainment, Vivendi Universal's Fox Interactive, and Radical Games for The Simpsons Road Rage in December 2003. Sega alleged that Road Rage "deliberately imitated" Crazy Taxi.
• In December 2003, Beijing's Chaoyang District People's Court granted an online gamer in China, 24-year-old Li Hongchen, his virtual belongings back when he sued the creators of Red Moon for allegedly allowing a hacker access to the collection of virtual goods he had built up over two years.
• A Scottish computer consultant, Mark Gallagher, who had interviewed at DMA Designs (the Edinburgh-based company that would become Rockstar North), accused the developer in December 2003 of stealing his idea--Crime, Inc.--for Grand Theft Auto. DMA's Brian Baglow told GameSpot in response, "I object to the idea that the GTA team ripped someone off. We worked damn hard on that game for a long time and finally created something I think we are all proud of."