News

PlayStation 3 banned in Europe
Posted: 28.02.2011 23:14 by JonahFalcon Comments: 37
Sony's legal mobile phone feud with LG, Inc. may be too costly for the hardware giant, as European customs officers have been ordered to seize shipments of Playstation 3s and all other Blu-Ray devices after LG won a preliminary injunction in a countersuit claiming the Blu-Ray tech infringes on several LG patents.

All new PS3s have to be confiscated as they are imported into the UK and the rest of Europe for at least 10 days. If the injunction is extended, it could mean a PS3 shortage, as retailers state they have roughly two to three weeks worth of stock. Tens of thousands of PS3s have already been seized by customs officers last week in the Netherlands.

Sony is understandly desperate, trying to get the ban lifted, while LG could apply for a court order to get the consoles destroyed - this is a highly unlikely circumstance however.

The entire mess has arisen from a legal battle between the two Asian companies. Sony initated it when the company had brought lawsuits on the South Korean company LG, claiming their mobile phones, notably the Lotus Elite, Neon, Remarq, Rumor 2 and Xenon models, were infringing on seven Sony patents. LG is the third largest producer of mobiles.

LG’s counter-suit against Blu-Ray devices is based on the fact that the Blu-Ray’s patents, which deal with high-definition receivers, and receiving and processing signals that are a way of dealing with multiple data streams (such as different camera angles, as well as a system to reproduce data that’s stored on a read-only device) infringe on four of their patents.

LG, Inc. is also setting their sights on having the PS3 embargoed in the US as well.

Comments

By chiefone (SI Veteran Member) on Feb 28, 2011
chiefone
Fight Fight Fight!
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Feb 28, 2011
JonahFalcon
The past three months for Sony have been... dismal.
By MindCoil (SI Veteran Member) on Feb 28, 2011
MindCoil
I'm so glad I never bought a PS3...
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Feb 28, 2011
JonahFalcon
Better buy one now. They could get rare :D
By neilmike (SI Core) on Feb 28, 2011
neilmike
this is really A one big mess up!!
By djole381 (SI Elite) on Feb 28, 2011
djole381
Guess they should back off from Geohot case and focus all their resources on this one.
By Jake_SI (SI Elite) on Mar 01, 2011
Jake_SI
This is just getting hilarious now.. poor Sony.
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Mar 01, 2011
JonahFalcon
Sony attacked LG, Inc - LG, Inc hit back, hard.
By VHugoSama (SI Core) on Mar 01, 2011
VHugoSama
LAME!
By Gyorn (SI Core) on Mar 01, 2011
Gyorn
And thats why the current copyright situation is ****...
The only 'good' thing is that they brought this upon themself by starting this suing madness.
By PowerJack (SI Elite) on Mar 01, 2011
PowerJack
Glad I already have 1
By Jasca_Ducato (SI Core) on Mar 01, 2011
Jasca_Ducato
Good.
By Ilyas93 (SI Veteran Member) on Mar 01, 2011
Ilyas93
Wow i never expeted this.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Mar 01, 2011
SirRoderick
Well....didn't see that one coming.
By Mercy (SI Core) on Mar 01, 2011
Mercy
... Oh man I hope U.S doesn't banned it I still want killzone 3 and I still don't have a PS3.
By Eversor (SI Elite) on Mar 01, 2011
Eversor
Looks like Sony is just getting deeper and deeper down the crapper. Oh well.
By stuntkid (SI Elite) on Mar 01, 2011
stuntkid
Bet customs have PS3's hooked up in a storage room and they game there
By Chosen_One (SI Elite) on Mar 01, 2011
Chosen_One
LOL )))) Fall Of Sony )))
By chiefone (SI Veteran Member) on Mar 02, 2011
chiefone
I can't wait to see the PS3 community in a few years! Depending on if Sony if forced to abandon the PS3. I can just see - instead of PSN - a community run network. Wouldn't that be awesome?
By K3Spice (SI Core) on Mar 02, 2011
K3Spice
I feel kind of bad for Sony. Although it is kind of their fault for starting this suing rage. I am assuming they are now SERIOUSLY thinking about the PS4.
By Ilyas93 (SI Veteran Member) on Mar 02, 2011
Ilyas93
I wonder then how many years will it take to make PS4 because Sony was making PS3 for long time.
By djole381 (SI Elite) on Mar 02, 2011
djole381
Don't celebrate just yet because this is only a ten day ban.
By VHugoSama (SI Core) on Mar 02, 2011
VHugoSama
PS4 here we go!
By PyrettaBlaze (SI Veteran Member) on Mar 02, 2011
PyrettaBlaze
There is the biased-ness based on consoles I talked about lol. Oh well, I'd still buy one, before it becomes rare because I have the old one :(
Hate on me if you want, I could really use a new one right now lol.
By PowerJack (SI Elite) on Mar 02, 2011
PowerJack
When the PS4 gets out ill buy the last version of the PS3 and start buying the games for PS4 until it drops the price.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Mar 04, 2011
herodotus
LG - one of the worst brands on the market. I've owned several of their products and all have died within 12 months.
That's my rant over.
By VHugoSama (SI Core) on Mar 07, 2011
VHugoSama
LG sucks, Samsung is better in my opinion.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Mar 07, 2011
herodotus
IKEA would have made a better product...or given you the plans and the bits to make it yourself anyway. Still better than LG.
By DAmicoThunder (SI Core Veteran) on Mar 09, 2012
DAmicoThunder
Who cares about the PS3? It's not like it's really any better than the PS2. And SOny pretty much f***d themselves when they made the PSP.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Mar 10, 2012
herodotus
I take it you're not getting the Vita then, DAmico:)
By DAmicoThunder (SI Core Veteran) on Mar 10, 2012
DAmicoThunder
What is this Vita of which you speak?
By DAmicoThunder (SI Core Veteran) on Mar 10, 2012
DAmicoThunder
and no.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Mar 10, 2012
herodotus
PS Vita - the latest in the long line of handhelds. Groan....they never end.
By DAmicoThunder (SI Core Veteran) on Mar 11, 2012
DAmicoThunder
Hey. The Nintendo Gameboy was good. Until the DS. But Pokémon is still a very fantastic game. Only available through nintendo.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Mar 12, 2012
herodotus
Yeah well, I'm a bit long in the tooth to have gotten into the Pokemon scene. I let my kids have fun with that when it came out, not belittling any adults who play it. Just not my thang....or anyone else with half a brain. Sorry, I didn't mean that....sniggger....
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Mar 12, 2012
SirRoderick
Handhelds in general sort of defeat the point of what I think of as gaming. Personally couldn't care less about the whole market.
By DAmicoThunder (SI Core Veteran) on Mar 12, 2012
DAmicoThunder
Handhelds are not gaming. I completely agree. Gaming is defined as playing a computer-based game off a console, and Handhelds are called "devices" not "consoles" sooo they do not fit the bill