A legal spat between Sony and LG, which claims that the PS3 Blu-ray technology infringes upon its patents, has resulted in at least a 10-day halt of the popular consoles being shipped into Europe.
Tens of thousands of PS3 consoles have already been seized by customs officials in the Netherlands, after a Hague civil court ruling granted a preliminary injunction requested by LG. A Dutch warehouse is currently stockpiling the consoles until it is clear how the case will progress.
At this point, it is possible for LG to apply not only for an extension on the import ban, but also for a court order to have the seized consoles destroyed. It is also possible, however, for Sony to appeal to the European patents office to have the injunction lifted. In any case, it is clear that if the injunction remains, it will result in a dramatic hit to Sony’s EU sales.
The Guardian UK reports that European retailers only carry two to three weeks’ worth of PS3 stock. Considering that Sony imports around 100,000 of the consoles per week, stockpiles of 6,500 PS3s in Germany and 10,000 in the UK aren’t going to go very far toward fulfilling customer demand. In fact, since many of the consoles are shipped to fulfill preorders rather than sit on shelves, an extension of the injunction would leave potential buyers empty-handed in just a couple of weeks.
"We are currently looking into this matter, and cannot make any comments at this point in time," said a Sony PlayStation EU spokesperson.
Sony and LG are currently involved in at least seven different patent disputes with each other. LG has also attempted to halt shipments of PS3 consoles to the US, which some believe is in retaliation to Sony’s attempt to halt shipments of LG phones to the US.
The PS3 is also currently the center of some other high-profile legal actions. The console manufacturer has initiated cases against PS3 hackers George “Geohot” Hotz and Alexander “graf_chokolo” Egorenkov for their roles in reverse-engineering the console and spreading information on reinstating the “other os” capabilities that the company had initially supported but later removed. These legal scare tactics have recently led to other well-known console hackers to announce that they are no longer involved in the PS3 hacking scene.
Right now it would seem that Sony has bigger issues to worry about than whether PS3 owners are using their consoles in ways that violate the company’s terms of service. If LG is successful in extending their injunction on shipments of PS3 consoles into Europe, the hit to Sony’s bottom line is going to be a major one.
