The EU Court of Justice ratified the right to sell PlayStation accessories to the detriment of Sony

This article was originally published in English

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

EU’s highest court rules against video game giant a case that is considered decisive for the game modding ecosystem are estimated at hundreds of millions.

“Directive on the legal protection of computer programs” does not allow the holder of this protection to prohibit marketing by a third party “software” that is limited to changing variables temporarily “moved” into working memory, the judges said in a statement.

“Only a directive protects intellectual creativity as reflected in the source code text and object code of a computer program,” they added. Datel, a UK-based company, sold software that allowed players to achieve infinite acceleration in the racing game MotorStorm and control the console using a motion sensor.

The Luxembourg judges were asked whether this violated EU games copyright laws adopted in 2009, given that in principle Datel plugins do not modify the source code.but are limited to changes in variables that are executed in working memory. Sony claimed it was Datel “software”.clings… like a parasite” into the PlayStation game.

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

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

Some accused Sony of going overboard try to control how others modify or “modulate” their productsa practice in which most of an ecosystem video games. “In many other industries this would be acceptable behavior,” video game activist Ross Scott told Euronews.

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

Petition filed after French company Ubisoft will stop supporting The Crewthe online racing game, with approximately 12 million players, has already amassed more than 370,000 signatures, although Scott admits that insufficient to force the European Commission to take action. A broader view of copyright law like Sony’s.”may compromise many large-scale computer programs“, he says.

“If you removed all games whose origins could be linked to modding, I’m sure It will be hundreds of millions of dollars.” he added, referring to extremely popular games such as Fortnite which developed from older predecessors.

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