Patent row gets Playstation 3s banned from Europe
PS3s and Bravia TVs, get your stock in now
The long-running patent dispute between LG and Sony over Blu-Ray technology just got serious - a European court has approved a ten day ban on imports of Playstation 3s into Europe.
A court ruling in the Hague last week means Sony's game console and its Bravia TVs could disappear from the High Street in the next few weeks. European customs are obliged to block any imports of the popular consoles, and Dutch authorities have already seized devices.
Sony holds very little stock in its channel, according to sources, and shops could start struggling to find stock within two to three weeks.
LG can either seek to extend the ban, or Sony could appeal the ruling, the Guardian reports. The Reg has also recently heard the story from our own sources: Sony, LG, HM Revenue & Customs and Dutch patent authorities were all unwilling to comment on Friday.
LG is seeking a similar ban in the US. There are seven patents at stake in the dispute. ®
COMMENTS
Kharma's a beast...
Serves Sony right for their draconian approach to dealing with jailbreakers.
Go, go, go LG!
@Drunk
A company sells a "thing" that does A, B, C and D you pay £100 for that "thing".
At some juncture in the future, the company says "From now on you can do A, B and C; or A, B, and D. You have to choose between C and D".
That is not right.
Whether you care or not is not the issue. All that matters is that the company (Sony in this case) has unilaterally decided to knobble your device in one way or another. I will agree that people /could potentially/ use the Linux install to do some naughtiness, and if they do I won't complain when they are done for it.
But removing a feature just because it /could/ be used in that way is no excuse.
Imagine if companies did that for everything.
Haha!
Since Sony removed my Yellow Dog Linux installation from my PS3 (in their recent software update), I've been rather upset with them. This was compounded by them charging £6 for a software update to PlayTV - an update which scuppered the device and is awaiting a fix.
So it's quite satisfying to see them getting the sharp end of someone else's stick!
Re: Europe
I'd rather be a "hacker-supporting linux-loving hippy tosser" than a corporate shill trolling forums :)
Not just PSN removal
But also Blu-ray removal. I 'had' to update my PS3 because new Blu-ray DVD's would not play on the PS3 unless the encryption keys were updated. Sony provided no method to do that without 'upgrading' the PS3 to reduced functionality. I'm guessing new games would probably demand 'updating' as well before they'd install.
So the choice Sony gave owners was either to keep a Linux box, with no PSN, new games or Blu-rays, or allow the update to remove the other OS functionality. But it could have been worse. If the patents are about Blu-ray, LG may have just asked for all PS3 players to be revoked until the case is settled.
(man in Blu-ray disc cos Blu-ray controls your viewing pleasure. See any recent Momentum release for more info. Sorry, you cannot skip the adverts we slap on your expensive movies)
