ake-Two has confirmed their actions in filing a suit against the Chicago Transit Authority for violation of their contractual agreement. Posters on both busses and transit display spaces were pulled after supposed pressure from the press, who made connections between a recent wave of shooting incidents in the city and the mature-rated title.  The advertisements were not violent in nature; they featured character art that was standard in most of the GTA IV promotional material nationwide.

The publisher was upset to say the least when the $300,000 campaign was pulled from Chicago’s streets. Via GameSpot we learned that originally the Chicago Transit Authority felt their actions were justified.

"The CTA has the right to regulate and establish guidelines for advertising on its properties," the authority representative told GameSpot.

Despite their defense, Take-Two has chosen to press charges against the CTA and its advertising agent Titan Outdoor LLC. Take-Two accuses them of free speech violations in addition to voiding their contractual agreement without consent. They ask for the CTA to run the advertisement campaign again and dish-out at least $300,000 in damages for the premature removal of the six-week campaign.

"We can confirm that Take-Two Interactive has filed suit against the Chicago Transit Authority," a Take-Two spokesman clarified. "Although we prefer to resolve these issues amicably, the CTA has refused to discuss with us its outrageous decision to pull advertising for the critically acclaimed game Grand Theft Auto IV while running ads for other forms of popular entertainment with similar content, including mature-themed TV shows and R-rated movies."