The bitter war Sony has waged against PS3 hacker George “Geohot” Hotz has finally come to a close. According to the PlayStation blog, the company decided weeks ago to settle out of court with its now infamous enemy. “Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us,” SCEA general counsel for the SCEA Riley Russell said. “Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal.”
Color us surprised, but less than a month ago Sony filed papers claiming Hotz had fled to South America as part of his “attempts to dodge this Court’s authority.” Hotz responded accordingly, assuring his followers “that not a dime of legal defense money would ever go toward something like this. And of course Townsend [Sony’s law firm] loves the idea of painting me as an international fugitive.” This bitter discourse is exactly why it’s somewhat shocking that Hotz and Sony are playing nice.
Well, sort of. According to Sony, Hotz is pleased to resolve that case. “It was never my initentiont o cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier…I’m happy to have the litigation behind me,” the PlayStation blog quotes him as saying. However, Hotz seems to feel otherwise. “As of 4/11/11, I am joining the Sony boycott. I will never purchase another Sony product. I encourage you to do the same. And if you bought something Sony recently, return it,” his own blog reads. He also promises that “there is much more to come on this blog.”
Sony also made it clear that Hotz is not tied to the hacking efforts of Internet vigilante group Anonymous. The company’s statement affirmed he “was not involved in the recent attacks on Sony’s Internet services and websites.”
So while the legal battle appears to be over, it sounds like Hotz isn’t quite done talking. We’re betting Sony will either threaten him into keeping quiet or send some hush up money his way. But we’ll be keeping an eye on his blog in case he can’t be deterred.
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