The controversial court battle between Sony Computer Entertainment America and George Hotz has reached a somewhat conclusion, after both parties reached a settlement in a lawsuit that was filed against Hotz earlier this year.
SCEA filed the lawsuit against Hotz back in January, after
it was alleged that he hacked the Playstation 3’s security system, before
releasing the information online, which allowed anyone to install homebrew
applications to their own Playstation 3’s, including the ability to play pirate
copies of video games. Sony stated that the lawsuit was made against
21-year-old Hotz, as his actions were under violation of numerous copyright
infringements, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Full details of the settlement remain uncertain. All that is known at this time is that Hotz did consent to a permanent injunction, which was signed in federal court on Monday. What this means is that SCEA has agreed to drop the lawsuit, under the condition that Hotz will drop all future attempts to hack the console, or publish such information.
In a statement made by Hotz, he said that he never intended to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier. Despite this, he also makes it clear that he denies any wrongdoing on his part.
The General Counsel for SCEA, Riley Russel, said “Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal."
"We want our consumers to be able to enjoy our devices and products in a safe and fun environment and we want to protect the hard work of the talented engineers, artists, musicians and game designers who make PlayStation games and support the PlayStation Network. We appreciate Mr. Hotz's willingness to address the legal issues involved in this case and work with us to quickly bring this matter to an early resolution."
The lawsuit that was made against Hotz resulted in heated protests made by the internet community, which led to an infamous hacker group, known as “Anonymous” hacking Sony’s Internet services and Web pages for a short period of time in early April.
United States District Judge Susan Illston, who is presiding over the case, must still approve the settlement for it to be final.
Both Russel and Hotz stated that they are happy that the litigation is now behind them.