James Delahunty
6 Oct 2005 21:15
The High Court of Australia has overturned a decision by an appeals court that ruled modifying gaming consoles was illegal. This is the outcome of a four year battle between Sony Corp. and Sydney retailer Eddy Stevens. Stevens sold PlayStation consoles containing installed modchips so it would be possible that his customers could import and play games from other areas of the world. Sony sued Stevens on the grounds that he had bypassed encrypted access codes that were in place to protect copyright, making it possible for imported or copied games to be played on the console.
In Australia, PlayStation games come in PAL format, as they also do in Europe, but imported games from regions such as North America or Southeast Asia requires a console that will play NTSC games; without a modchip, an Australian PlayStation console can't play an NTSC game. Originally Sony lost the battle against Stevens in court but convinced an appeals court to overturn the earlier ruling. However, Sony failed to convince the High Court of Australia to uphold the appeals court's ruling.
"This is a hell of a victory for the consumer -- that's why we did it," Stevens said. The court criticized Sony saying the different access codes in PlayStations restricted the rights of consumers and restricted global market competition. "There is no copyright reason why the purchaser should not be entitled to copy the CD-ROM and modify the console in such a way as to enjoy his or her lawfully acquired property without inhibition," said the court in a ruling posted on its website.
Sources:
Reuters
p2pnet
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