59w ago - Recently a Northern California district court sided with Sony (PDF) on their TOS change requiring disputes to be resolved through arbitration, while LulzSec hacker Cody Kretsinger pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer.

To quote from TechDirt.com (linked above): "Some folks were not at all happy about this and sought to file a class action lawsuit against Sony for the change -- but that lawsuit has been (pretty quickly) rejected by the court, suggesting that the main guy suing failed to show evidence of any harm.

In an interesting move, the court found that the fact that you lost access to the network if you didn't agree to the new terms isn't evidence of any harm, but rather a choice."

Also from TheVerge.com on the LulzSec Sony Pictures Entertainment hacking last year,...

87w ago - Last week we reported that the PSN Terms were updated followed by how to Opt-Out of the new Class Action waiver, and today Sony confirms to CNN (linked above) that the AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion (PDF) US Supreme Court ruling earlier this year spurred the recent PlayStation Network TOS change.

To quote: "Sony said this week that the new terms-of-service changes were made, as some analysts suspected, in response to a Supreme Court decision in April. In that case, AT&T Mobility was permitted to include and enforce a clause in employment contracts that bars workers from bringing class-action suits.

"The Supreme Court recently ruled in the AT&T case that language like this is enforceable," a spokeswoman for Sony's PlayStation unit wrote in an e-mail.

"The updated language in the TOS is designed to benefit both the consumer and the company by ensuring that there is adequate time and procedures to resolve disputes."

Like AT&T, Sony prefers...

182w ago - Nintendo has been making quite an effort to fight against several DS flash carts.

However, their complaints against devices such as the R4 card have been dismissed by Spanish Judge D. Gregorio Alvarez who ruled that the respective devices can actually add functionality to the Nintendo DS meaning it's not all about piracy.

To quote: "A judge in Salamanca, Spain has taken a much more nuanced view of it in a case pitting Nintendo against Grupo Movilquick, who produced alternative cartridges for Nintendo DS devices.

The judge's ruling (translated from the original) appears to find that the alternative cartridges do, in fact, circumvent Nintendo's DRM and can be used for "pirating" games, but also extend the utility of the devices for perfectly legal purposes.

For that reason, the judge dismissed the lawsuit (translation from the original) noting that it doesn't make sense that the law would be intended to say that only Nintendo can expand the functionality of its devices, and the fact that Nintendo doesn't offer similar functionality shouldn't preclude others from doing so.

There are areas where Nintendo...

209w ago - What can only be summed up as California taking notes from George W. Bush on how to get the masses distracted and angry at something other than a crippled economy.

The State of California is appealing to a bill that would ban the sales of violent video games in the state. The battle for this bill (despite the you know... crippling economy in California and all) has cost the state almost a quarter of a million dollars in tax payers money.

The original author of this bill State Senator Leland Yee (pictured below, so you all know who to not vote for again next election) has petitioned the Supreme court to review the fight over the law.

In 2007, a circuit court judge struck the law down as unconstitutional but had admitted that he was "sympathetic to what the legislature sought to do".

In February of the same year an appellate court judge also agreed that the law was unconstitutional and also struck it down, but unlike the circuit court judge this one didn't comment.

The bill was signed into law by the Governator but was swiftly challenged in court before it could come into play. The bill sought to ban the sale or rental of "violent video games" to children. Under the law a "violent" game was defined as a "game in which the range of options available to...

214w ago - Last we heard, the Pirate Bay trial verdict was due on April 17, 2009. That day is today and a Swedish court has jailed the four guys behind The Pirate Bay in the landmark case.

The Four men behind the site were found guilty of breaking copyright law and were sentenced by the judge to a year in jail. The group were also ordered to pay $4.5m (£3m) in damages according to the BBC.

To quote: Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde were found guilty of breaking copyright law and were sentenced to a year in jail.

They were also ordered to pay $4.5m (£3m) in damages. Record companies welcomed the verdict but the men are to appeal and Sunde said they would refuse to pay the fine.

In a Twitter posting, Mr Sunde said: "Nothing will happen to TPB, this is just theatre for the media."

Mr Sunde went on to say that he "got the news last night that we lost".

"It used to be only movies, now even verdicts are out before the official release."