SONY Loses Chipping Court Cases

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4315172.stm

[marky]

Sony has lost a legal battle in Australia over the modifying of its PlayStation games console.

The High Court has ruled that chipping the console so that it can play imported games does not breach copyright law.

Sound good to me lets hope the same happens here

[liamboyle06]

If only we lived in Australia

Originally Posted by marky

Sound good to me lets hope the same happens here

Too late. Here it has already been decided under EU copyright protection legislation.

[marky]

EU

[sherer]

the EU is meant to be there to provide an open market and stop monopolies.. they've already messed about with football and ruined the transfer system and number of foreigners but i can't see how they are helping any members of the EU with the chipping thing on xbox and ps2s

we've already got region dvds which means that the studios can make more money and control when films are released in each country which doesn't help us now we can't by a game a foreign PS2 game and play it.. how does that help me as a consumer!! i sense a back hander to the EU here

[BBKing]

we've already got region dvds which means that the studios can make more money and control when films are released in each country

Presumably it isn't illegal to use a multi-region capable DVD player (like mine)? I remember Tesco selling them a couple of years back with a sheet explaining how to do it.

Although the EU have a directive on it, that hasn't stopped Spain and Italy declaring mod chips legal - it's still down to the individual country's courts to decide on each case.

[AndrewJ]

Originally Posted by ScaredWebWarrior

Too late. Here it has already been decided under EU copyright protection legislation.

And that stops it happening.... nope not a little bit.

I once was in a shop which was offering it, in my local town centre.

[jrhnewark]

Let's be honest, this won't be causing too many problems for the general public who've been doing this for many years.

Sony have a greater problem with me - my PS1 hasn't been switched-on in nearly a year.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by BBKing

Presumably it isn't illegal to use a multi-region capable DVD player (like mine)? I remember Tesco selling them a couple of years back with a sheet explaining how to do it.

Perfectly legal AFAIK.


The thing with console mod chips is that not only do they let you play DVDs & games from other regions, they also let you play copied games - which is where the copyright violation comes in.

Originally Posted by BBKing

Although the EU have a directive on it, that hasn't stopped Spain and Italy declaring mod chips legal - it's still down to the individual country's courts to decide on each case.

I'm sure I read something recently about how decisions in Australian courts can sometimes affect decisions in UK courts & vice versa... so maybe if a case went high enough in the UK a judge could actually use the Australian ruling as a precedent. Or I could quite easily be completely wrong lol.

Originally Posted by Saxodriver

And that stops it happening.... nope not a little bit.

I once was in a shop which was offering it, in my local town centre.

Maybe, but all it means is that in Australia it is NOT illegal, whereas here it IS!