Re: SONY v. Connectix

On 2/27/99, Shelly Warwick <swarwick[_at_]sprynet.com> wrote:
>
> Saw this [link to Sony vs. Connectix info] posted in Bytes in Brief
> and thought it might be of interest to the list.

Probably only to those who are interested in following utterly frivolous claims brought by bullies.

This is the case in which Sony, maker of the Playstation, sued Connectix, a maker of software for the Macintosh, for creating software that permits owners of Playstation-compatible games to play those games on the Macintosh rather than on a Playstation.

Sony accuses Connectix of copying Sony code (I doubt it; it's too easily reverse-engineerable; why would anyone copy it?) and claims that Sony's reputation suffers because the games don't look as good on the Mac as they do on the Playstation. (I guess Steven Spielberg should sue every theater with a small screen and every maker of black and white TV's because his reputation is damaged everytime "Jaws" is shown on anything other than a huge screen with Dolby surround sound.)

The case is also notable, I suppose, for being the first to be brought under the "technical circumvention" arm of the new copyright statute, as Sony has seemingly not noticed that circumvention is permitted for reverse-engineering-to- achieve-interoperability purposes.

This suit should offend all right-thinking people.

Going out on a (really thick) limb,

Ari

Ari Kahan
<akahan[_at_]netcom.com>