SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the live-by-the-PS4,-die-by-the-PS4 dept.
Submitted via IRC for chromas
Court Orders 'Jailbroken' PS4 Seller to Pay $16,800 in Damages - TorrentFreak
A California man has been ordered to pay $16,800 in damages to Sony Interactive Entertainment, for selling jailbroken PS4 consoles filled with pirated games. In a default judgment, the Federal Court sided with the gaming company, ruling that the man's activities violated the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions.
Sony’s PlayStation 4 (PS4) console has remained ‘piracy free’ for years, but last year things changed.
Following up on some earlier experiments, the release of a jailbreak version brought PS4 piracy to the masses.
[...]In a case filed at a federal court in California last October, Sony accused a local resident of offering jailbroken PS4s for sale, filled with pirated games. According to the complaint, defendant Eric Scales used the handle "Blackcloak13" to sell the consoles preloaded with pirated games on eBay.
The man was further accused of running a separate website (now offline) where he advertised his services and products. The website stated that he'd been jailbreaking and modding consoles for more than a decade, and encouraged people to "stop buying games."
Despite the allegations and possible damages, Scales did not respond to the complaint. This left Sony with no other option than to file for a default judgment, which United States District Judge Jesus Bernal signed last week.
[...]The PS4 consoles were modded in such a way that they could circumvent anti-piracy measures. This is a classic case of a circumvention product. In addition, Judge Bernal also agreed with Sony that the pirated games can be seen as circumvention products.
[...]In addition to the damages, the court also issued a permanent injunction which prohibits Scales from developing, marketing, and selling any infringing PS4 games or code. Nor is he allowed to offer any jailbreaking or modding services and products related to the PS4.
[...]All in all, however, the judgment is definitely a setback for Scales. In addition to the injunction and the $16,800 in statutory damages, he must also pay $1,608 in attorneys' fees, and $1,250 in costs.
A copy of the default judgment issued by United States District Judge Jesus Bernal is available here (pdf).
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @08:47PM
When I read the headline I thought that it was the modification and selling of modified game consoles that was illegal. Then I read the summary saying he had filled the consoles with copies of games he hadn't aquired to right to sell or give away. Modifying electronics or any other product should never be illegal. The same goes for software and other content, you should always be allowed to modify it to your will when you own it.