European Customs Begin Seizing PS3 Shipments as LG Wins Injunction
European Customs Begin Seizing PS3 Shipments as LG Wins Injunction
Posted 02/28/2011 at 8:52pm
| by Pulkit Chandna
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Sony has been dealt a severe blow by a European court in its ongoing patent battle with LG. According to the Guardian, the latter has been granted a preliminary injunction on the import of PS3 consoles into Europe by the civil court of justice in the Hague, thus requiring European custom officials to seize all PS3 shipments for at least 10 days.
The report suggests that tens of thousands of consoles meant for the European market have already been confiscated by Dutch custom officials. The confiscated PS3s will continue to be warehoused until further orders in the case. LG could ask the court to extend the ban or even seek the destruction of the seized consoles. However, the likelihood of the court granting the latter, if such a request is made, is pretty remote.
The patent dispute between the two Asian electronics giants concerns the way several Sony products, including the PS3, handle Blu-ray playback. The import ban only needs to be extended to around three weeks for Europe to run out of its PS3 stockpile.
The matter is also pending in the States. LG filed two patent infringement claims against Sony with the International Trade Commission (ITC) in early February, seeking a permanent ban on the import of the console into the United States.
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LatiosXT
March 01, 2011 at 9:00am
Urgh, I wish the fanboys would take a stick and shove it down an orifice of theirs.
The only thing keeping your precious console alive is the other guy. Like it or not. If Sony steps out, what's keeping Microsoft from improving the 360 now? Sure the Wii is technically a console and technically a competitor, but the Wii demographic isn't really the target audience of the 360. And don't tell me Kinect is, because that's just a lousy knock-off that's more useful in the hands of the community than game developers who just rehash everything the Wii did already.
Eoraptor
March 01, 2011 at 8:04am
Why is no one actually commenting on the content of this article? This is just one more case of patent trolling, and LG wants a cut of Sony's pocketbook. Why? well, for one thing, disk-based media is dying off and LG makes a currently huge but declining profit on low-priced optical drives in everything from PCs to entertainment centers and autos, and two... ~greed~ cause patent trolling is essentially free money.
That, or LG wants to get into the dead-as-a-doornail console market itself, but only owns enough patents to go after Sony, since neither Nintendo nor Xbox use native blueray.
you may dislike Sony's console, but that's no reason to support patent troll tactics that keep innovations limited to ultra-mega-conglomocorps who have the legal departments to fight them off or buy them off.
Darksyde
March 01, 2011 at 11:43am
Yes and no. There is possibly a case of pattent trolling as you put it but not on the part of LG. In an article back on Feb 8 it was explaned that the injuctions were first filed in response to patent claims by Sony against LG. By all rights Sony threw the first stones so I have a hard time throwing them any simpathy.
Engelsstaub
February 28, 2011 at 10:01pm
Sony can kiss my bare ass as well. They don't sell any consoles anyway. They were too busy still pushing PS2s and their games while Nintendo and Microsoft were innovating. Then they just ripped off everyone else's ideas. Too stupid to invest in their own console-future in a timely manner because they wanted to milk every last quick dollar from the PS2.
First the rootkits...then the crap about constantly "updating" the functionality of the hardware their consumer-base paid their hard-earned big bucks for. I used to respect the name Sony. They still (usually) make quality products but the way they treat the consumer is disgusting.
Sony deserves everything they get and then some more.
kevaskous
March 01, 2011 at 12:46am
Um not to be a dick, but Sony funded the project that they eventually abandoned and Microsoft finished for the proc in the 360 (I could be mistaken but I don't think so.) you'd be wise to choose words a bit better, but Sony is a worthless company in general.
kevaskous
February 28, 2011 at 9:48pm
The hell that got to do with this article? Fanboys are so ignorant.
Anyways that has got to be painful. But it serves the company right tbh, they've fucked the little guys for quite awhile, especially their customers, MS and everyone got theirs, time for Sony's!
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