Court Orders ‘Jailbroken’ PS4 Seller to Pay $16,800 in Damages

[Satanica]

A California man has been ordered to pay $16,800 in damages to Sony Interactive Entertainment, for selling jailbroken PS4 consoles filled with pirated games. In a default judgment, the Federal Court sided with the gaming company, ruling that the man's activities violated the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions.

Following up on some earlier experiments, the release of a jailbreak version brought PS4 piracy to the masses.
[....]
Copied games were suddenly being shared all over the Internet. And for those who preferred not to do any tinkering themselves, it wasn’t hard to find a jailbroken console for sale, often with dozens of games included.

Sony Interactive Entertainment (Sony) was not happy with this change of momentum. Although the jailbreak couldn’t be easily undone, the Japanese gaming giant did take the matter to court.

In a case filed at a federal court in California last October, Sony accused a local resident of offering jailbroken PS4s for sale, filled with pirated games. According to the complaint, defendant Eric Scales used the handle “Blackcloak13” to sell the consoles preloaded with pirated games on eBay.

The man was further accused of running a separate website (now offline) where he advertised his services and products. The website stated that he’d been jailbreaking and modding consoles for more than a decade, and encouraged people to “stop buying games.”

Despite the allegations and possible damages, Scales did not respond to the complaint. This left Sony with no other option than to file for a default judgment, which United States District Judge Jesus Bernal signed last week.

The court agreed that the requested amount of damages – $800 for two consoles and $200 for each of the 76 pre-installed pirated video games – is appropriate in this case.

“Sony may seek a maximum recovery of $390,000 in statutory damages for DMCA violations concerning the two modified consoles as well as the 76 pre-loaded unauthorized game copies,” the order reads.

“Accordingly, the sum of money at stake is appropriate, as Sony requests $16,800 in statutory damages. This factor weighs in favor of granting the Motion.”

As requested, the damages were not issued for copyright infringement but for circumventing technical protection measures, which violates Sony’s rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The PS4 consoles were modded in such a way that they could circumvent anti-piracy measures. This is a classic case of a circumvention product. In addition, Judge Bernal also agreed with Sony that the pirated games can be seen as circumvention products.

“Even though Sony provides no citation to support its contention that the unauthorized game copies are also circumvention products, the Court is persuaded that the unauthorized game copies qualify as circumvention products,” Judge Bernal writes.

In addition to the damages, the court also issued a permanent injunction which prohibits Scales from developing, marketing, and selling any infringing PS4 games or code. Nor is he allowed to offer any jailbreaking or modding services and products related to the PS4.

Sony also requested a more broadly worded ban on infringing Sony’s copyrights or violating the DMCA’s circumvention restrictions for Sony products, but this was rejected for being overbroad.

All in all, however, the judgment is definitely a setback for Scales. In addition to the injunction and the $16,800 in statutory damages, he must also pay $1,608 in attorneys’ fees, and $1,250 in costs.

https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-jailbroken-ps4-seller-to-pay-16800-in-damages-190330/

 

[ghosttruck]

I hope they prosecute him to the full extent of the law! How dare he use his intellect and ability to outsmart a multi-billion dollar company out of a few thousand!

 

[Keepalowprofile]

I know this is different but I once bought 4 DVD's off the internet.
Redheaded stranger with Willie Nelson.
I bought four because they were going to be gifts.

When they came, they were ordinary discs someone had written the title with a black sharpie. (It gets better) the movies were filmed right off of the TV. Not even copied with a vhs and converted to DVD. Nope. Someone set up a camera and straight out taped it. You could see the TV and the wall around it. It was complete with commercials and that little AMC icon in the corner of the screen.

I never could get my money back or find any gov institute that gave a flying fuck.

 

[LarzlovesJahi]

I know this is different but I once bought 4 DVD's off the internet.
Redheaded stranger with Willie Nelson.
I bought four because they were going to be gifts.

When they came, they were ordinary discs someone had written the title with a black sharpie. (It gets better) the movies were filmed right off of the TV. Not even copied with a vhs and converted to DVD. Nope. Someone set up a camera and straight out taped it. You could see the TV and the wall around it. It was complete with commercials and that little AMC icon in the corner of the screen.

I never could get my money back or find any gov institute that gave a flying fuck.

My hunny used to get bootleg movie DVDs from one regular customer on the charter boat. Hilarity ensued when we could watch people getting up for popcorn/bathroom breaks in the movie theatre where they were filmed.

 

[Keepalowprofile]

My hunny used to get bootleg movie DVDs from one regular customer on the charter boat. Hilarity ensued when we could watch people getting up for popcorn/bathroom breaks in the movie theatre where they were filmed.

Yes. I got a movie at a yard sale that was like that. I could hear people chomping popcorn and see the outline of people.

 

[Flask]

This is how people get to play P.T. on a PS5.

 

[Metalfan]

My direction has flipped,now that I'm older and more conscious of my actions. Not only video games,but many musicians have lost their livelihood over pirating and make next to nothing on the tyranny of streaming. But also I know that one can always donate to the artist directly,that's a minor thing but it's something I guess.

 

[Flask]

This is one game he shouldn't have played.