LG Suit Forces Seizure of Thousands of PS3s

[Scott Bullock]

LG Suit Forces Seizure of Thousands of PS3s

After European courts approved a 10 day injunction against importing new PS3s into Europe, tens of thousands of the consoles were seized in the Netherlands by customs officials.

Due to litigation by LG Electronics claiming that Sony Blu-Ray players, including those built into the PS3, infringe on 4 of its patents, no PS3s will be imported into the European continent for at least 10 days, maybe more. The first batch of impounded PS3s are being held until the injunction expires, and with only about 2 weeks worth of stockpiled consoles left on the continent, things are looking dire for Sony.

The trouble started when Sony began making claims that several of LG's smartphones infringed on Sony patents, and called for their sale to be banned in the US. LG counter-sued in the US, and began asking the International Trade Commission to ban the sales of PS3s and other Sony products in the US. It then went to European courts to ask the same thing, and after a preliminary hearing, the court ordered an injunction against the import of any more Sony Blu-Ray players, PS3 included.

For Sony, which imports about 100,000 consoles into Europe a week, this news is disastrous. The company may attempt to appeal the ruling in European courts, but LG also has the option to try and get the 10 day injunction extended, and could even try to have all the impounded consoles destroyed, though that is rather unlikely.

Both Sony and LG have refused to comment on the matter.

Source: MCV [http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/feb/28/playstation-3-lg-legal-dispute]

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[mad825]

Ouch, very nasty of LG. That shall keep the European PS3 fanboys at bay for at least 2 weeks

 

[CezarIgnat]

Sony started it...LG continued it...I love both of these companies (I own a lot of their products) but damn...patent trolls.

 

[Daemascus]

Its kinda funny to see Sony on the wrong end of a lawsuit.

 

[KeyMaster45]

oh for god's sake this is just childish. Both companies are making money hand over fist, why on earth are they squabbling over f'ing patents?

 

[mjc0961]

I can't help but wonder if GeoHot is enjoying this news considering that Sony did the same thing to a bunch of his stuff.

 

[Infernoshadow211]

Seriously. Banning PS3's? LG is gonna have a lot of cocktails thrown through their windows.

 

[Cousin_IT]

Think LG just called Sony's bluff

 

[Nazrel]

oh for god's sake this is just childish. Both companies are making money hand over fist, why on earth are they squabbling over f'ing patents?

Not sure about LG, but not so much for Sony last I checked. 437,000,000 loss last year, 1,002,000,000 loss the year before.

 

[utopaline]

Sony has not turned a profit in years, the PS3 is bleeding them dry. Also with them losing more TV market share every year as well, they need to smarten the hell up and stop that mentality of "it's Sony...they will buy it".

I'm still an Xbox guy, but they need to smarten up

uto

 

[Illyasviel]

We need Sony more than LG. Seriously, everything LG does Samsung handily one ups. So if you call yourself a gamer, start stuffing LG's corporate letter box with threats to boycott their products. Fight for your games.

Also, iirc, a couple of years ago, some stupid Californian company happened to purchase a patent from Pioneer, I believe, and then took Sony to court over patent infringement over the bluray. The patent, of course, was extremely vague. Literally, the patent's description was for an optical, double-sided, disc-based storage medium. As in CDs, MDs, DVDs, HD-DVDs, blurays and probably the UMD as well. The second they got their hands on it, they went straight for Sony. Pretty sure those trash poachers lost the case.

Man, that bluray has proved itself ridiculous amounts of legal trouble.

 

[manythings]

We need Sony more than LG. Seriously, everything LG does Samsung handily one ups. So if you call yourself a gamer, start stuffing LG's corporate letter box with threats to boycott their products. Fight for your games.

Also, iirc, a couple of years ago, some stupid Californian company happened to purchase a patent from Pioneer, I believe, and then took Sony to court over patent infringement over the bluray. The patent, of course, was extremely vague. Literally, the patent's description was for an optical, double-sided, disc-based storage medium. As in CDs, MDs, DVDs, HD-DVDs, blurays and probably the UMD as well. The second they got their hands on it, they went straight for Sony. Pretty sure those trash poachers lost the case.

Man, that bluray has proved itself ridiculous amounts of legal trouble.

It's the next thing so everyone wants a piece of that pie. Funny fact; the reason BluRay has won out? The pornography industy picked it.

 

[Illyasviel]

It's the next thing so everyone wants a piece of that pie. Funny fact; the reason BluRay has won out? The pornography industy picked it.

The pornography industry initially, very adamantly, supported HD-DVD [http://www.dailytech.com/Pornographic+Film+Industry+Still+Firmly+Behind+HD+DVD/article10369.htm].

That said, the pornography industry's last second change of allegiance was definitely the nail in the coffin.

But that's besides the point.

If you call yourself a gamer, even if you don't identify with the Playstation brand, tell LG to keep their noses out. This three way fight we got going between Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony? Its very, very good, and we, the consumers, benefit the most from it. We kinda need Sony. LG, on the other hand, is just little Samsung.

 

[duchaked]

Sony had it coming...

but this could negatively affect the 360 and Wii in the long run too if LG wins it out...potentially

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Oh, LG I would be very, very, VERY paranoid right now if I were you. Not of Sony, because they can't "do" anything, but of the tens of thousands of gamers you have just ticked off--whether they have a PS3 or not. I give it two days before their websites are hacked, buildings vandalized, death threats sent, and all around bad stuff starts going down. Remember, many gamers also qualify as hackers. Start worrying.

 

[murphy7801]

Think LG just called Sony's bluff

And they won too for now. Love it, Sony deserved it.

Sorry but havent won anything its like saying just because a person is in jail before trail starts due to not getting bail. This probably take either a very short time or years to sort.