More than 300,000 PlayStation 3 consoles that were being stockpiled in the Netherlands can now be distributed across Europe after a Dutch court ruled in favour of Sony.
In February, the Korean electronics firm LG won an injunction against Sony which led to shipments of PS3 consoles being seized by Dutch customs officials.
The action stemmed from a legal case instigated by LG, which alleges that Sony has infringed patents in the manufacturer of the PS3 console's Blu-ray drive. Meanwhile, Sony is also taking action against LG for allegedly infringing its own patents in the production of smartphones.
It seems that LG must now pay legal fees of €130,000, a figure that may rise if not dealt with promptly. However, although the seizure order has been lifted by a court at The Hague, LG's patent infringement case against Sony is unaffected and is still going ahead.
According to patent news blog, FOSS Patent, the first session in that case has been scheduled for November 18. LG is seeking royalties on every PlayStation 3 console sold so far, as well as all sales going forward.
LG wants to receive a patent royalty between $2.50 and $2.55 for each Blu-ray device sold by Sony. Sony has already sold more than 47 million PS3s, and there are other Sony products implementing the Blu-ray Disc standard. In the total of PS3 and other Blu-ray product sales, LG estimated that Sony already owes it patent royalties amounting to $150-180 million for past infringement, plus more money for future sales.
The FOSS Patent post also mentions another action by a US-based LG subsidiary named Zenith against alleged digital TV patent infringements by Sony. The console manufacturer also pursuing a legal case against hacker George Hotz, for allegedly obtaining and distributing the PS3 'root key' allowing pirated software to run on the machines.
