Sony versus Hotz court case and decision - Article Example

Sony versus Hotz Court Case and Decision Sony versus Hotz Court Case and Decision The Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinationalcompany, with its headquarters in Konan Minato, Japan. The conglomerate is widely known for its manufacture of a wide variety of electronic products. The PlayStation 3 is one of Sony’s key products. George Francis Hotz, on the other hand, is a hacker of American descent, famous for the unlocking of the iPhone and the PlayStation 3, contrary to the manufacturers intent (Grazzini, 2011).

George Hotz announced his plans to hack Sony’s PlayStation 3. He managed to hack the machine and was able to access, read and write the system memory of the PlayStation 3. His hacking also enabled him to have access to the PlayStation 3’s processor. It was Hotz’s actions that made Sony take him to court. Through the lawsuit, Sony sought to get a temporary restraining order against Hotz. Sony sued Hotz for allegedly violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), being involved in decryption of keys, and violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

At some point, the court granted Sony temporary injunction against Hotz. This was to prevent him from making public, information about how he hacked into the PlayStation 3 console. The court also granted Sony the right to know all those who had visited the website of the hacker (Hotz). After a long court battle, the matter was finally settled out of court when both parties reached an agreement based on certain terms and conditions. Hotz agreed to stop distributing the files he used to hack into PlayStation 3 and swore not to repeat the same actions ever again (Grazzini, 2011).

In my opinion, the ruling whereby Hotz was required to stop publishing information about the files he used to hack into the PlayStation 3 was fair. This was because Hotz broke the law by hacking into the PlayStation 3 and deserved to be punished for it. I am of the opinion that he should have gotten a stricter punishment. The decision of the court to allow Sony to know all those who had visited Hotz website was not fair because it would infringe on the privacy of others. I do not think it was the visitors were on the wrong.

They simply accessed information that had been put online for the public to see.ReferenceGrazzini, M. (2011). Sony v. Hotz: Controversies Regarding DMCA, Jurisdiction, Search Warrant and Subpoenas. Berkley Technical Law Journal. Retrieved from http://btlj.org/?p=1156