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Italian court: PS2 modchips are legal

23 January 2004 14:27 by Petteri "dRD" Pyyny | 1 comment

Italian court delivered the first major legal defeat to Sony by ruling that PS2 (Playstation 2) modchips are legal in Italy. Modchips are hardware modifications made to the original console that allow it to play games from other regions (Sony's games are region coded, a bit like DVD movies, meaning that normally you cannot play Japanese import games on a European console, etc), allow it to play game backups, self-made programs -- and also pirated copies of PS2 games.

The court went further than just declaring modchips legal, it also said that Sony's restrictions are "absurd" and said "It's a little like Fiat marketing its cars while banning them from being driven by non-European citizens or outside towns".

The court also stated that as the product, Playstation game console, has been purchased by a consumer, Sony doesn't have any legal ways to state what consumers can or can not do with the device as the consumer owns the device, not Sony.

The decision might prove to be difficult for other console manufacturers as well -- the prime example is Microsoft who doesn't allow users with "modded" Xbox consoles to access its Xbox Live online gaming platform.

Source: Silicon.com

Permalink to this article

UK man convicted for chipping Xbox consoles (4 July 2005)

Xbox and PS2 modchips legal in Spain (28 April 2004)

Sony released first specs and pics of PSP (5 November 2003)

PlayStation 3 will be compatible with PS2 & PSOne titles (3 September 2003)

Mod chips ruled legal in Australia (29 August 2003)

Lik Sang settles mod chip case with Sony (26 August 2003)

Lik Sang makes a move to fight the lawsuit (23 November 2002)

Australian court allows Playstation chipping (26 July 2002)

XBox MOD chip developer to cancel their operations (27 June 2002)

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Rodgers (Inactive) 24 January 2004 8:43
I salute the Italian court for standing up to the big guns and interpreting that the customrer who owns the box can do whatever they want to with it. Now if we can get some American liberal justices to follow suit, it would be wonderful. Best to All! Rodgers [ + quote]