What’s Happening in the Class Action Against Sony About Removing OtherOS?

“I thought you’d be interested to know what’s been happening in
the litigation against Sony filed by customers upset that Sony took
away the OtherOS capability on their PlayStation3’s. Sony Computer
Entertainment America, or SCEA, filed a motion to dismiss [PDF] the
lawsuit. The court granted in part and denied in part. It has
dismissed [PDF] all the claims against Sony except for one — but
with the right to amend — and the one claim that survived is the
one alleging that SCEA violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Right to amend means the plaintiffs can fix the deficiencies, if
they can.

“Some of you may conclude that there may be more justice in this
world than you thought, when you reflect on the fact that now both
Sony and George Hotz face claims of violating the Computer Fraud
and Abuse Act.

“The plaintiffs have 20 days to refile an amended complaint, but
no matter what happens with those claims, the case will now proceed
because the CFAA claim was *not* dismissed. And interestingly, this
litigation is being heard in the US District Court for the Northern
District of California in San Francisco. That’s the same court
hearing SCEA’s litigation against Georg Hotz, but a different
judge. And the plaintiffs have been following the SCEA v. Hotz
case, and they noticed what they believe are contradictions between
what Sony says in that case and what it says in this one.”

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