George Hotz Case Settled with Sony

Sony Computer Entertainment America and George Hotz put out a joint statement, most likely a requirement of the settlement, that details the case closing and that’s about it. Geohot Jailbreak

It’s quite interesting. SCEA was coming after Hotz quite hot and heavy in the beginning and now they have folded their case? Some new evidence must have come to light that weakened their case or Hotz must have simply agreed to all of their terms. However, there was no mention of either aside from Hotz agreeing to a permanent injunction against the publishing of any materials pertaining to circumventing the PS3 security.

The quiet nature of the settlement and the fact that it took SCEA 11 days to draft and release the information sounds to me like they were going to lose the case or found that they would have simply had to pay far too much to make it worth their while since Hotz agreed to a permanent injunction. According to the docket, the case was voluntarily dismissed after an Order on Administrative Motion to File Under Seal meaning, we might never know.

Here’s the full release:

Joint Statement

Sony Computer Entertainment America (“SCEA”) and George Hotz (“Hotz”) today announced the settlement of the lawsuit filed by SCEA against Hotz in federal court in San Francisco, California. The parties reached an agreement in principle on March 31, 2011. As part of the settlement, Hotz consented to a permanent injunction.

Both parties expressed satisfaction that litigation had been quickly resolved. “Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us,” said Riley Russell, General Counsel for SCEA. “Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal.”

“It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier,” said Hotz, “I’m happy to have the litigation behind me.” Hotz was not involved in the recent attacks on Sony’s internet services and websites.

In the action, SCEA accused Hotz of violating federal law by posting online information about the security system in the PlayStation 3 videogame console and software that SCEA claimed could be used to circumvent the security system in the console and allow the playing of pirated videogames. Hotz denies any wrongdoing on his part. Hotz’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction was still pending before the federal court in San Francisco but a preliminary injunction was issued requiring Hotz to take down the postings challenged by SCEA.

“We want our consumers to be able to enjoy our devices and products in a safe and fun environment and we want to protect the hard work of the talented engineers, artists, musicians and game designers who make PlayStation games and support the PlayStation Network,” added Russell. “We appreciate Mr. Hotz’s willingness to address the legal issues involved in this case and work with us to quickly bring this matter to an early resolution.”

Here’s a link to GeoHot and the case docket.