Sony obtains Australia ban on PS3 hack chip.

[Lee79]

BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11116416

Sony has won a temporary ban to prevent Australian distributors selling a hardware hack for the PlayStation 3 (PS3).

The PS3Jailbreak "dongle" allows gamers to play homemade and pirated games on the game's console.

The ban prevents OzModChips, Mod Supplier and Quantronics from importing, distributing or selling the device.

Sony has until August 31 to makes its case to the court for a permanent ban.

If it fails, the chips could go on sale on 1 September.

The firm declined to comment on the proceedings. The Australian distributors could not be reached.
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The court order also gives Sony control of all of the dongles in the firms' possession and allows the electronics giant to test the devices - including "destructive analysis" - to see how they work.
Homebrew games

PS3Jailbreak is a dongle containing software that allows users to save games to the console's hard drive.

It is the first product to crack the security on the PS3.

It was met with scepticism when videos of the device - posted by OzModChips - first appeared online in early August.

At the time, a spokesperson for Console Pro, another distributor based in the Netherlands, told BBC News the "dongle converts a retail unit into a dev unit".

Dev units are used by developers to test code for the machine.

"Dev mode means it will run any - even unsigned - code," said the spokesperson. "Using a simple backup maker or player software, you can play backed-up [saved] games without the actual disc being in the PS3."

The legality of these products - commonly called modchips - differs by country.

In Australia they are legal, whilst in the UK a recent court case brought by Nintendo said that "game copiers" were illegal to import, advertise or sell.

Proponents of modchips say they are the only way to play homemade games, known as "homebrews".

It is not known whether distributors in other countries have been served similar notices.

But, a spokesperson for Console Pro told BBC News in the wake of Friday's ban that the firm had "not heard anything from Sony or any lawyer or court yet".

"I really doubt Sony has grounds to ban this dongle."

 

[redact]

Sony has until August 31 to makes its case to the court for a permanent ban.
QUOTEProponents of modchips say they are the only way to play homemade games, known as "homebrews".

don't mean to be a grammar nazi but for a news article, two typos are two too many...

 

[Fat D]

the latter one sounds more like a degree of uninformedness. See also: "Pokémons"

 

[Neo_Ch!p]

BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11116416The court order also gives Sony control of all of the dongles in the firms' possession and allows the electronics giant to test the devices - including "destructive analysis" - to see how they work.Looks as though they want to see how it works they will probably issue an update soon blowing this dongle to "smitherings"

Proponents of modchips say they are the only way to play homemade games, known as "homebrews".lol

QUOTE

"I really doubt Sony has grounds to ban this dongle."

Win!

 

[Jamstruth]

The legality of these products - commonly called modchips - differs by country.

In Australia they are legal, whilst in the UK a recent court case brought by Nintendo said that "game copiers" were illegal to import, advertise or sell.

Proponents of modchips say they are the only way to play homemade games, known as "homebrews".

Wasn't that case primarily about NDS flashcarts. The main rpoblem with flashcarts is that its really easy to download games off the interent for DS and the flashcart companies and constantly updating firmware to allow new ROM dumps to run. They never give any way to backup games yourself (pretty sure that's legal in the UK) so piracy is the implied usage of the carts (apart from iPlayer which was specifically designed to be entirely legal)
This PSmodchip gives you a way of backing up in its software. It will not run burnt discs or even back them up (although its only a matter of time before this happens the point is that the company are not letting you run backups) so the only way to abckup to harddrive is to have access to the game in the first place either through buying it, renting or borrowing from a friend. This means that you WILL sell games. Those who buy the modchip need a retail copy to backup. If this is deemed illegal this means the end of console modding etc. The USA just made rooting/jailbreaking legal as long as there is no piracy done by the end user so I don't see why this is any different.

 

[MushGuy]

See also: "Pokémons"

Hey, I like it better!

 

[Maz7006]

not surprised

also posted a similar article in the PSjailbreak thread

Was never a practical solution, this wasn't even a hack in the first place, it was a theft that was being sold for 120$

 

[Jamstruth]

Depends whether it actually used anything copyrighted. We don't know what's on the flashstick. If its entirely their own reverse-engineered code then they're scot-free imo

 

[Deleted_171835]

Already posted.
http://gbatemp.net/t250575-sony-files-laws...p;#entry3075565

Name is misleading.
Makes you think they obtained a permanent ban.