James Delahunty
17 Dec 2010 2:56
Sony's efforts to obliterate the PSJailbreak USB dongle that enables homebrew code to be launched on some PS3 consoles have been dealt a blow in Spain.
After already scoring some victories against PSJailbreak, including a notable victory in Australia, Sony's efforts have been impacted by a court in Spain.
Sony's decision to kill the OtherOS functionality in the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console may have hurt it badly in this case. The feature had originally been killed off due to concerns about the system's security, which remained strong at the time with the known information.
However, the court No 8 Mercantil de Barcelona noted that Sony originally was selling the PS3 console with the ability to run an operating system that would support some level of homebrew software. More importantly however, the court seems to have been of the opinion that if you buy a games console or similar piece of equipment, then you own it and should be free to do what you like with it, including modify it.
To add insult to injury, Sony has also reportedly been ordered to pay damages to stores that had products seized and suffered a loss in sales as result of the ongoing case.
Documents from the court are available online in Spanish or with the use of Google Translate, in rough English.