PS Jailbreak Deemed Illegal By Australian Court

by Mike Bendel September 3, 2010 @ 12:11 am


Judgment day has arrived for the PS Jailbreak, a USB dongle pre-loaded with exploit code that allows users to run unsigned code and copied Blu-ray disc games. The Federal Court of Australia today issued a permanent injunction against the device, ruling that it cannot be sold or imported into the country until further notice. This comes following yesterday’s emergence of a free open-source alternative to the hack dubbed PSGroove.

Suppliers and respondents named in the judicial order are prohibited from distributing the device, as outlined by five bullet points in an order filed by Justice Dodds-Streeton today:

(a) importing them into Australia with the intention of providing them to another person;
(b) distributing them to another person;
(c) offering them to the public;
(d) providing them to another person; and/or
(e) otherwise dealing in them.

Further, the court order identifies China Sun Trading Limited of China as the primary distributor of the PS Jailbreak. It also requests the first and second respondents — OZ Modchips and Ryan Emmanuel Caruana — notify the aforementioned supplier that all units ordered are to be shipped to Blake Dawson to the attention of Peter Chalk.

It’s pertinent to note that the filing only mentions “PSJailbreak” by name, meaning devices that offer similar functionality are in the clear. In essence, that means a cloned copy of the device that mimics the PSJB in functionality could still hit the market, under a different name.

At any rate, it’s a given that hobbyist boards like the Teensy are safe from Sony’s legal wrath as they have legitimate uses outside of PS3 hacking. We can’t say the same for those eying to market a pre-flashed USB solution, though.

Court Hearing — September 3 [CCP]

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