Vi har nettopp mottatt en pressemelding som forteller at Sony har vunnet rettsaken mot et selskap som solgte og monterte Mod chips på PlayStation konsoller.
Retten har konkludert med at selskapet, Channel Technology, har på ført Sony betydelig skade i form av tapte inntekter og dermed må betale en erstatning, i tilleg til å levere fra seg alle Mod chips de måtte ha på lager. Pressemeldingen sier ingenting om hvor mye Channel Technology må betale i erstatning til Sony, men det hersker vel ingen tvil om at det dreier seg om et betydelig beløp. Nedenfor er pressemeldingen i sin helhet: 24 January, London - In a High Court action yesterday, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) won a comprehensive victory against "chipping" of PlayStationâ games consoles, and were awarded substantial damages against the defendant, Channel Technology.
PlayStation games for use on all PlayStation games consoles include copy protection to ensure that the consoles will only play genuine games, and to prevent unlawful copying and subsequent use of the intellectual property rights. A business called Channel Technology had been offering "mod chips" for sale which, once installed in a PlayStation console, unlawfully bypassed the copy protection on the games.
The presiding judge held that the copy protection that SCEE put on a games disk was intended to prevent or restrict copying of the game. It followed that the "mod chip" was a device designed to circumvent that copy protection. He held that some uses of the "mod chips" would involve copyright infringement and the defendants would have known that. In consequence the sale of the ‘’mod chips’’ would be unlawful.
The court ruled comprehensively in SCEE’s favour, deciding that the defendant had acted flagrantly, and awarded substantial damages and costs against the defendant. The defendant was also ordered not to deal in any PlayStation "mod chips" and to hand over any stocks it held of them. The defendant did not ask for leave to appeal.
Commenting on the success of the court action, David Reeves, SCEE Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing said; "This case confirms, in the clearest possible terms, that Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has the right to protect against piracy, and to prevent the unlawful use of the intellectual property rights of SCEE and third party games developers.
We are sending a clear message to manufacturers and distributors of mod chips throughout the PAL territories that we will be actively pursuing legal action against them".
Dette er vel rimelig klar tale!