The games division of Sony said that it would appeal a recent
Australian federal court decision which it sees as giving a “green
light” to people to modify PlayStation consoles to play pirated
games, according to media reports. Sony Australia and its parent
companies claimed that a Sydney vendor had infringed Australian
trade mark and copyright laws by selling pirated games and
mod-chips.
The Australian Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act of 2000
makes it an offence to make, sell or promote devices to override
copy-protection technology. Mod-chips are small devices that allow
PlayStation users to play games on their consoles without needing a
unique access code – intended for overriding the region controls on
the consoles that stop, for example, US games being played in
Australia.
The federal judge ruled that the vendor had infringed Sony’s
trade marks by selling pirated games. However he decided that
chipping the consoles was not illegal, reasoning that modified
chips overrode a device that only prevented copied games from being
played and did not prevent them being copied at the first
place.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had welcomed
the ruling saying that it allowed Australian PlayStation users to
play personal back-up copies and games purchased abroad.
Sony said that the decision was in contrast with other rulings
in similar cases worldwide. The company also claimed that “close
scrutiny” by the Full Bench of the Federal court would be
necessary, since the case was the first to be judged under the
relevant session of the (amended) Australian copyright law.
