Since 2012, Sony has been embroiled in a legal dispute in the European Union with Datel, the parent company of Action Replay cheat software. Sony contended in the European courts that Datel had infringed on its copyright, but the legal battle has now concluded with the court siding in favor of Datel. The European Court of Justice has determined that Datel's cheating software did not alter the source code or the internal structure of Sony's games. Since Action Replay only temporarily modifies content for cheats, it does not infringe upon Sony's intellectual property as protected by European law. This ruling is a win for Datel, but it may not pave the way for a surge in cheating software.
"Undoubtedly, developers and publishers of cheat software will be pleased. [However,] they should not be overly optimistic about this judgment," remarked Dr. Andreas Lober, a partner at the international law firm ADVANT Beiten, in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. "For procedural reasons, the Court only addressed one specific issue: whether changing variables in a computer program constitutes an unauthorized modification. When publishers of multiplayer games take action against providers of cheat software today, they usually rely on other legal mechanisms that are unaffected by this decision, such as breaches of EULAs and unfair competition."
Lober further explained that third-party software designed for cheats or mods could still be seen as copyright infringement under other legal provisions. Any company planning to commercialize such software is likely to face further lawsuits from Sony or other game publishers. Even though Sony lost this case, it retains numerous legal avenues to pursue against potential infringements from other firms.
Source link: https://www.gamespot.com
