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

what is wrong with australia?

[Anonymous Coward]

It really seems as though they don't care about civil rights at all, or at least their version of rights are totally different than the rest of the Western world. I'm not trying to be a troll, but their internet access is totally restricted, they have wacked computer rules, and now this? Is there no EFF in Australia, or does it not even make a difference?

Toldja so.

[NanoGator]

" However, his Honour said that on the evidence he would have held that the chips had only a limited commercially significant use other than that of circumventing or facilitating the circumvention of Sony's device. Accordingly, if that device had been a "technological protection measure", the chips would have been circumvention devices."

I said it before, I'll say it again: Come up with the legitimate reason before making large-scale attempts to mod game systems!

Now ya'all got a legal precedent against you. Sorry to sound inflammatory but man, choose your battles wisely, seriously.