The EU Court ratifies the right to sell accessories for PlayStation, to the detriment of Sony

This article was originally published in English

Third-party add-ons for Sony games PlayStation that offer players additional options do not infringe EU copyright law, according to the European Court of Justice.

The highest Court of the EU ruled against the video game giant in a case considered crucial for a game modding ecosystem valued in hundreds of millions.

“The Directive on the legal protection of computer programs does not allow the holder of that protection to prohibit marketing by a third party of ‘software’ that is limited to modifying variables temporarily transferred” to working memory, the judges said in a statement.

“The directive only protects intellectual creation as reflected in the text of the source code and object code of the computer program,” they added. Datel, based in the United Kingdom, sold software that allowed players to achieve infinite accelerations in the racing game ‘MotorStorm ‘ and control the console using a motion sensor.

Luxembourg judges were asked whether that violated 2009 EU laws on game copyright, given that, in principle, Datel plugins do not alter the source codebut are limited to changing variables that run in working memory. Sony had alleged that the Datel ‘software’ “clings… like a parasite” to the PlayStation game.

But in a non-binding opinion prepared for the EU Court in April, Advocate General Maciej Szpunar said that There is nothing illegal about using a copyrighted work against the creator’s intentions..

“The author of a detective novel cannot prevent the reader from skipping to the end of the novel to find out who the murderer is, even if that spoils the pleasure of reading and ruins the author’s efforts to maintain suspense,” said Szpunar, who also ruled against Sony.

Some have accused Sony of overreaching try to control the way others modify or “modulate” their productsa practice on which a large part of the ecosystem of the video games. “In how many other industries would this be acceptable behavior,” video game activist Ross Scott told Euronews.

In his opinion, Altering PlayStation games is like adding highlights to a book or changing the wheels on your car.adding that allowing users to cheat in a single-player game is a “victimless crime“. Scott is the organizer of another EU petition to Prevent video game companies from removing online games and deprive customers of their product.

The petition, launched after French company Ubisoft will stop supporting ‘The Crew’an online-only racing game with some 12 million players, has already garnered more than 370,000 signatures, although Scott acknowledges that are not sufficient to force the European Commission to take action. A broader view of copyright law, such as Sony’s, “could endanger many large-scale computer programs“he says.

“If you removed all the games that could trace their origins to modding, I’m sure It would be hundreds of millions of dollars.” he added, citing hugely popular games like Fortnite that evolved from older antecedents.

Representatives for Sony and Datel did not respond to requests for comment..