Are game console backups illegal?
10 December 2002, 02:49 PM
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Not in Australia:
Sony has suffered a setback in its international fight against "mod chips" that enable its PlayStation video game machines to play illegally copied games.
A federal judge in Australia ruled Friday that mod chips sold for the original PlayStation do not infringe on Sony copyright protections under Australian laws, which are similar to the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The decision comes a week after a Canadian man was sentenced to probation and fined $17,000 for selling mod chips and pirated games for Sony's PlayStation 2.
Mod chips are add-ons that typically have to be soldered to a game console's main circuit board. Properly installed, they defeat copy protection measures built into the consoles, allowing users to play games originally sent to different geographic markets, backup copies and bootleg discs. Hackers have also seized on mod chips for Microsoft's Xbox as a way to run homemade software on the console.
In the Australian case, Sony accused Eddy Stevens of Sydney of violating Sony copyrights by selling and installing mod chips for the original PlayStation.
Federal Court of Australia Judge Ronald Sackville found that the chips do not violate Australian laws forbidding circumvention of "technological protection measures." Sackville said the technology mod chips disable doesn't constitute a "technology protection measure" under the law because it also prevents legal activity, including the playback of imported games and personal backup copies of games.
Sony has suffered a setback in its international fight against "mod chips" that enable its PlayStation video game machines to play illegally copied games.
A federal judge in Australia ruled Friday that mod chips sold for the original PlayStation do not infringe on Sony copyright protections under Australian laws, which are similar to the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The decision comes a week after a Canadian man was sentenced to probation and fined $17,000 for selling mod chips and pirated games for Sony's PlayStation 2.
Mod chips are add-ons that typically have to be soldered to a game console's main circuit board. Properly installed, they defeat copy protection measures built into the consoles, allowing users to play games originally sent to different geographic markets, backup copies and bootleg discs. Hackers have also seized on mod chips for Microsoft's Xbox as a way to run homemade software on the console.
In the Australian case, Sony accused Eddy Stevens of Sydney of violating Sony copyrights by selling and installing mod chips for the original PlayStation.
Federal Court of Australia Judge Ronald Sackville found that the chips do not violate Australian laws forbidding circumvention of "technological protection measures." Sackville said the technology mod chips disable doesn't constitute a "technology protection measure" under the law because it also prevents legal activity, including the playback of imported games and personal backup copies of games.
10 December 2002, 02:53 PM
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And also the PS2:
Mod chips have turned into a sticky area of copyright law. Sony, whose PlayStation 2 console is the target of close to a dozen mod chip makers, claims the devices infringe on its rights to enforce copyrights. Yet recent legal decisions have cast doubt on such arguments.
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