You may remember back in February 300,000 Sony Playstation 3 consoles where seized and impounded in Holland after LG filed legal proceedings against Sony for as they believed (and I am sure still do) Blu-Ray technology used in the PS3 was in direct infringement of a patent they owned.
At the time LG were given the benefit of the doubt and authorities in Holland took an entire shipment of PS3 and impounded them indefinitely. The Hague’s civil court has now ordered LG to release all of the consoles for distribution throughout Europe. This doesn’t mean the legal proceedings are over but has resulted in LG supposedly being hit with some pretty hefty fines.
LG will have to pay all of Sony’s legal fees, reportedly €130,000 and a €200,000 fine for each day that the consoles remain in storage but it is highly unlikely the Korean electronics giant will take this lightly although one has to assume they are now in the driving seat.
IP expert Florian Mueller was philosophical about today’s news: “This means Sony can resume the distribution of PlayStations across Europe for now, but there will be a full-fledged legal proceeding to determine whether there is an infringement – and if so, how much Sony owes LG for it.”
If Sony are found to be in breach of the patent it would certainly cost them more than the fine LG had to pay.
Source: Inside Gamer
