Australian Federal Court Overturns Legal Modchip Sales

An anonymous reader writes "Yesterday, the Australian Federal Court overruled the previous ruling on modchips in Australia. I am pretty sure the overruled case is the mainstay for the 'legal' use of modchips in Australia (predominantly Linux on the Xbox). Haven't seen this hit the media yet, with the exception of the Australian Financial Review referring to it in the Free Trade Agreement context. The ruling can be found here. Although not a lawyer, it appears the original judgement was made on the basis that Sony did not provide a copy protection system. Also noted is that there is limited commercial use for the mod other than circumvention. Wonder what will happen to modchips for the Xbox, given that it can be argued that running Linux could easily be seen as commercial."

Reader silne adds "According to the article in The Australian's IT section, it's not illegal to possess or use a mod chip, just illegal to sell them. Looks like another win for Sony. Hopefully the ACCC is going to appeal this one." Bigthecat supplies a link to coverage at news.com.au, as well.

Comments

their press release is encouraging

[Trepidity]

Their press release covering this ruling is headlined Consumers Lose in Playstation Decision, which hardly sounds conciliatory.

also at theregister:

[spiny]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/32088.html

some content in this one this time too :)

So what?

[rasteri]

You don't really NEED a modchip these days anyway. Solder a couple of points on the motherboard (MUCH easier than soldering in a modchip) and use the 007/Mechassault/Whatever hack to flash the TSOP. Worked for me, worked for my friends, worked for (probably) hundreds of other people.

EFF in Australia = EFA

[SpiritedAway]

EFF in Australia is actually called the EFA