Don’t pretend you are surprised to hear that Sony is being sued over its decision to remove Linux support from its PS3 game console. Attorney Rebecca Call was first to find a disgruntled PS3 owner who was willing to file suit and go along with a class action status. The allegation? The removal of Linux support is a forced downgrade to an inferior product and Sony enriched itself by charging the same price for a product with less value.
Playstation 3
What makes this suit somewhat interesting is that the argument is very conclusive, well, with some of the usual exaggerations, and Sony’s rather clumsy way to announce the removal of its “Other OS” feature from the PS3 may have opened the door to a class action suit that could cost Sony quite a bit of money.
The suit (PDF) builds its case by quoting Sony executives over several pages how the PS3 is not a game console, but a computer and how its marketing was initially built on the superior feature set of the PS3, which included the option to run Linux on the console. This option represents considerable value, according to Coll, and her client Anthony Ventura purchase the PS3 only because of its capability to run Linux – which Ventura apparently used to play Linux games and access the “Blu-ray data drive.”
The suit asks the court to determine whether Sony’s decision to remove Linux support with the v3.21 firmware update on April 1, 2010 violates half a dozen laws, including a violation of contractual covenants, good faith, unfair competition law and California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act. The suit builds a case in which it claims that Sony may have enriched itself by removing a crucial feature from the device – resulting in less value – and charging the same money for it. As a result, PS3 buyers may be entitled to damages, Coll indicates.
The suit briefly touches Sony’s note that the removal of the Other OS feature was necessary: In a blog post, the company said that “due to security concerns, Sony Computer Entertainment will remove the functionality through the 3.21 system software update. In addition, disabling the “Other OS” feature will help ensure that PS3 owners will continue to have access to the broad range of gaming and entertainment content from SCE and its content partners on a more secure system.”
No, Sony, we did not buy that and this was an open invitation for a suit. Coll claims that the removal had nothing to do with the interests of users, but with Sony’s own interest to alleviate fears that hackers could use the Other OS feature to “copy and steal content”. Even worse, Coll says Sony engaged in anti-competitive action by telling people they would have to upgrade to an inferior version in order to be able to access other core features of the PS3 in the future.
The Electronic Frontier foundation already reacted to the suit, stating that “consumers should not have to sit idly by when the devices they have purchased are retroactively downgraded without their consent. We look forward to seeing how this lawsuit turns out.”
Conceivably, this could be one expensive move for Sony.
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