Cheating Software: Sony Loses Against Datel at European Court
Under German law, Sony had sued the cheating software provider Datel for damages. The Bundesgerichtshof had enquired at the European Court, now both courts have decided: The software isn't illegal because it doesn't change Sony's operating system, it merely runs along games.
In a court case that the German Bundesgerichtshof (BGH) relayed to the European Court as a pre-decision enquiry last year, Sony Interactive Entertainment had tried to sue the company Datel on the base of a cheat software for PlayStation consoles. Datel, who had settled a similar case with Microsoft in 2012 (article in German), offers the software in question, a PlayStation Portable programme that enables cheat codes in selected games. “Sony is of the opinion that the software on which its game is based has been modified using these Datel products, thereby infringing its exclusive right to authorise such modifications. It therefore applied to the German courts to prohibit Datel from distributing the products in question and to order Datel to pay compensation for the damage it claims to have suffered,” the court document explains the case of the console provider.