The European Court of Justice has recently ruled against Sony in a lawsuit that has been ongoing for several years, dealing a major blow to the company. However, despite this significant defeat, legal experts caution that software designed for cheating may still be considered illegal in many cases.
The European Court of Justice has ruled in favor of UK-based peripheral manufacturer Datel in a legal case brought by Sony regarding Datel’s Action Replay cheat software. Despite this victory for Datel, experts are quick to point out that third-party software used for cheating or modifying games is still likely to be considered “unlawful in many situations.”
This case, which dates back to 2012, involved Sony suing Datel in a German court for its Action Replay product, designed for use on the PlayStation Portable. The lawsuit highlighted examples such as offering infinite boosts in the game MotorStorm: Arctic Edge as one of the ways Action Replay was used.
Sony argued that Action Replay infringed upon its right to control alterations to its game software, citing the European Parliament’s 2009 directive, which provides legal protection for computer programs.
However, according to a press release from the European Court of Justice, the German Federal Court observed that Action Replay “does not alter or reproduce the object code, source code, or the internal structure and organization of Sony’s software.” Instead, “it merely changes the content of variables temporarily transferred by Sony’s games to the console’s RAM during gameplay.”
The German court sought clarification from the European Court of Justice regarding the interpretation of the 2009 directive, and the European Court agreed with this assessment.
“The Court finds that the content of the variable data transferred by a computer program to the RAM and used by that program during its operation does not fall under the protection granted by the directive, as this data does not allow the program to be reproduced or subsequently recreated,” the ruling stated.
Sony had asked for Datel to be prohibited from marketing its Action Replay products and sought compensation for alleged damages. However, according to a report by GamesMarkt, as a result of the European Court’s decision, the case will now be closed under German law.
Dr. Andreas Lober, a partner at ADVANT Beiten, told GamesIndustry.biz: “No doubt developers and publishers of cheat software will rejoice. [But] they should not get too excited about this ruling.”
“For procedural reasons, the Court only ruled on one single ground: whether merely changing variables in a computer program qualifies as an unauthorized modification. Today, when publishers of multiplayer games act against providers of cheat software, they typically rely on other legal instruments that are not affected by this decision, such as breaches of End User License Agreements (EULAs) and unfair competition laws,” he added.
Kostyantyn Lobov, a partner at Harbottle & Lewis and co-head of its Interactive Entertainment group, offered similar insights, stating: “This ruling concerns one very specific point, namely whether the variables temporarily stored in a device’s RAM can be copyrighted, as opposed to the game’s code itself.”
Ampere Analysis expert Piers Harding-Rolls also weighed in, reminding us that there are numerous reasons why the development, promotion, sale, and use of third-party software that interacts with a game’s code could be considered illegal. “This ruling addresses only one of those reasons,” he explained.
“This decision, for example, does not change the fact that the development, distribution, and use of such software often involves other acts of copyright infringement and breaches of a game’s Terms of Use. Additionally, the enforceability of other intellectual property rights, such as utility patents and trademarks, remains unaffected by this decision,” Harding-Rolls concluded.
Cheat software has come a long way since the days of Action Replay and the PlayStation Portable. Earlier this year, Bungie secured a $4.3 million victory in a lawsuit against AimJunkies, a cheat software provider, while Activision was awarded $14.4 million in damages after its legal battle with EngineOwning.
Source: Gamesindustry.biz
