Sony Must Show It Has Jurisdiction To Sue PS3 Hacker

RedEaredSlider writes "A California court today asked that Sony show it has jurisdiction over the hacker who publicized a 'jailbreak' for the PlayStation 3 console. Judge Susan Ilston, in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, said Sony has to show that George Hotz, a hacker who posted a method of 'jailbreaking' PS3 consoles, has some connection to California if Sony is to claim damages for his work on the PS3." For his part, Geohot has moved quickly to fight back against Sony's accusations. His legal team issued a statement (PDF), and also pointed out, "On the face of Sony’s Motion, a TRO serves no purpose in the present matter. The code necessary to 'jailbreak' the Sony Playstation computer is on the internet. That cat is not going back in the bag. Indeed, Sony’s own pleadings admit that the code necessary to jailbreak the Sony PlayStation computer is on the internet. Sony speaks of 'closing the door,' but the simple fact is that there is no door to close. The code sought to be restrained will always be a Google search away."

Re:Great Legal Team!

[xaoslaad]

They put the word jailbreak in there. I forsee the defense attempting to use thebrecent decision by the the Library of Congress for jailbreaking under the DMCA. I was wondering if they would try this. I also wonder if it will work.

Re:Great Legal Team!

[camperslo]

If Sony wishes to bring up potential harm instead of actual harm, the court ought to be reminded of the rootkits installed by Sony audio CDs on machines they didn't own or manufacture.

Voice chat

[tepples]

If the PLAYSTATION 3 video game console is not a telephone, then what's the Sony Wireless Bluetooth Headset for the PS3 [playstation.com] supposed to do?