Last December, The São Paulo Court of Justice ordered Sony to “unblock” PlayStation 5 consoles that it banned for violations of its terms of service. Sony had “bricked” PS5 consoles that violated its ToS by exploiting a loophole that allowed users to unlock the PlayStation Plus Collection for PS4 buyers for a fee. The company asked the court to overturn the ruling because it had “legally” banned the consoles. However, the court wasn’t convinced and pointed out that Sony’s stance on the matter was not “crystal clear” to users.

As reported by ResetEra, the court found that although Sony did make it clear that sharing games from the collection is prohibited, the punishment for doing so wasn’t made clear to the user. In announcing its decision, the court also ordered Sony to pay R$ 1,500 to cover the plaintiff’s lawyer’s fee alongside bearing the cost of the lawsuit.

The initial verdict passed by Judge Anderson Antonucci last December noted that there was “danger of irreparable damage or difficult repair” when it comes to removing Sony’s “lock” on the consoles. The PS5 costs R$ 5,000 in Brazil so Sony’s bricking of the hardware was frowned upon.

“It is as if you were accused of violating the terms of use of a streaming service – such as Netflix, for example – and were punished by permanently turning off your television, without being able to turn it on to watch open TV,” a legal expert told Metropolis after the initial sentencing.

Share your thoughts on the verdict with us below.



Posted: May 07, 2021 7:46 am
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2021/05/05/ps5-ban-brazil-ruling/