Sony Asks For “Other OS” Lawsuit to be Dismissed

Sony lawyers have asked a California court to dismiss the class action lawsuit which sees the company being sued for removing the “Other OS” feature from the PS3 by way of a firmware update. The original suit claimed that as it was an advertised feature, removing the ability to install operating systems such as Linux meant that the PS3 wasn’t fit for the buyer’s needs. It was originally filed in back in April and was then bunched up into a class action suit (where it represents anyone who bought the console).

The reason for Sony’s dismissal request comes from the fact that they claim to have only ever licensed the software to consumers, not sold it, meaning that the company has the right to alter it at their will. This echos a court ruling from last week which said that if a company only licences its software it can control the resale of it too. That emphasis on licensing means that companies have more freedom to control their products because consumers never actually ‘own’ the software.

GamesIndustry.biz notes how Sony even says this in the PS3′s warranty which it included in the court documents obtained by IGN (.pdf):

You acknowledge and agree that some services may change your current settings, cause a removal of cosmetic stickers or system skins, cause a loss of data or content, or cause some loss of functionality.

As well as in the software license:

You do not have any ownership rights or interests in the System Software.

Sony has also argued that they have never pushed the “Other OS” feature in a mass-market advertising campaign.

The plaintiff’s lawyers told IGN: “These types of motions are fairly common at this stage of the litigation and we believe we have strong arguments for why they should be denied” as well as noting that “we have requested that Sony turn over its internal documents about why the ‘Other OS’ feature was removed and we look forward to reviewing those materials.”

The court date is set for November 4th 2010.