::scr Messiah!

[Simon Wistow]

Not really as exciting as it may seem. A Judge has just ruled that the
makers of the Messiah chip for the Playstation 2 are breaking the law
and have awarded judgement to Sony.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?M52C2335

For a summary. Normally this wouldn't interest most of you but this
comment was made :

"Judge Jacob commented that Sony licensed games for the territory that
they were issued, the licensing of these games did not allow for their
use in other territories, therefore whether they were imported for
private and domestic use by personal purchase for instance via the
internet, or purchased abroad on holiday, they were not allowed by Sony
to be played outside of the licensed territory. The technical reason for
the decision being based upon the fact that a game that is run without
permission makes a copy of copyright material in memory, this copy is
'infringing' because it is an unauthorized copy argued Sony. Basically,
this 'controversial' ruling made it illegal to play games purchased from
abroad."


Which, I'm sure you'll be able to see, can now be easily stretched to
DVDs theoretically making it illegal to export DVDs outside of their
region (yes there are ways round it but you see my point).

What's even more interesting is that Sony make CDRs and CD burners.
Surely they're just as liable ass NEO are. In fact, Sony were one of the
people who set the precendent of being able to make copies in the
landmark Sony vs Universal City Studios 'Betamax' case way back in 1983

http://www.virtualrecordings.com/betamax.htm

Bah.

So, do you think this is going to any long term effects.

Simon