Neowin.net

An Australian court has given Sony PlayStation owners the right to "chip" their consoles to play imported and copied games, prompting cheers from the competition watchdog but sharp criticism from the Japanese firm.

The judgement by the Federal Court, handed down on Friday, contrasts with recent rulings in Britain and Canada, where Sony won copyright infringement cases against people using so-called mod chips to bypass regional coding.

Sony Computer Entertainment Australia, a unit of Sony Corp, said on Monday it was considering an appeal.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), however, hailed the ruling as a victory for consumers because regional coding of games -- and by extension DVDs -- limited consumer choice and access to competitively priced goods.

"Australian consumers can now enjoy games legitimately bought overseas, as well as authorized back-up copies, by legally having their games consoles chipped," ACCC chairman Allan Fels said in a statement titled "Game Over for Sony PlayStation."

News source: Yahoo! News

The ACCC had intervened to support Sydney PlayStation retailer Eddy Stevens after he was sued by Sony for installing code-breaking chips in consoles and selling them.

In a separate case that has yet to be judged, Sony has also accused Stevens of selling pirated PlayStation games.

PIRACY

The electronics giant argues that regional coding, under which it sells different consoles to three geographically exclusive zones, prevents piracy.

But Justice Ronald Sackville of the Federal Court said Sony failed to prove that the regional coding was simply aimed at copyright protection, and that mod chips were therefore in breach of copyright legislation.

Sony Computer Entertainment Australia said it had the right to appeal and was in discussions with its parent company.

"We're obviously very disappointed," managing director Michael Ephraim told Reuters.

Ephraim lashed out at the ACCC for what he said were "misleading" and "distorted" comments to Australian consumers about competition and regional coding.

He said PlayStation 2 games sold in Australia at the same price as in the United States and at up to 20 percent less than in Britain.

The court case was purely about piracy, he said.

"Piracy is a major problem," Ephraim said.

Citing independent surveys, he said the cost of piracy to Australia's A$680 million (US$367 million) a year computer games industry amounted to A$50 million per annum.

Pirated PlayStation 1 games sell on the black market for as little as A$5 compared to a retail price of up to A$49 while PlayStation 2 games can be bought for around A$30, against the normal retail price of around A$100.

The Sony executive said that rather than being designed for commercial motives, regional coding came about because of different television formats in Australia and the United States.

Furthermore, he said there was nothing in the court ruling that allowed consumers to legally play back-up copies, as suggested by ACCC chairman Fels.

"There is no such thing as an authorized back-up copy," Ephraim said. "The copyright act makes it clear that making back-up copies of games is illegal."