Sony Computer Entertainment v Paul Owen and others

Date

23 January 2002

Legislation

Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, ss. 22, 50, 50A, 50C, 97(2), 296
Civil Procedure Rules 1999, Part 24
Council Directive 91/250, Article 5

Keywords

copy protection device; circumvention of copy protection; encryption

Counsel

A. Speck, Mr Dean

Solicitors

Bristows; Harding Evans

Judge

Jacob J

Court

High Court (Chancery Division)

Reported

[2002] ECDR 27; [2002] EMLR 34; [2002] EWHC 45

Summary

This was a summary judgment application and thus was not subject to a full trial.

The defendants imported a computer chip from Russia called "The Messiah Chip" which could be inserted into Sony Playstation games consoles and enabled them to play disks from any region as well as circumvent various copy protection encryptions on the disks.

Sony asserted that the sale of the chip was contrary to section 296 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as it constituted a means for circumventing copy protection.

The defendant's case was essentially that the device extended beyond mere protection of copying of copyright works. If you put a Messiah into a Sony PlayStation, the PlayStation would be able to run with independent software devised by people who have no connection with Sony or with copies said to be backup copies which some people might wish to make of any Sony game they have got in case the disk they have got becomes corrupted or destroyed. They would also be able to play games imported from outside Europe, whether made with Sony's licence or not.

Decision

Jacob J. held that:

• the encryption on the disks that the Messiah was intended to circumvent was clearly a copy protection device;
• none of the exceptions to infringement in the act applied to protect the defendants; and
• that thus the liability under section 296 was made out.

This case was applied in Phonographic Performance Ltd v. Reader [2005] EWHC 416.