Any other intermediate copies made by Connectix do not support injunctive relief, even if those copies were infringing.
The intermediate copies made and used by Connectix during the course of its reverse engineering of the Sony BIOS were protected fair use, necessary to permit Connectix to make its non-infringing Virtual Game Station function with PlayStation games. We reverse and remand with instructions to dissolve the injunction.
CONNECTIX VGS CODE
The district court enjoined Connectix from selling the Virtual Game Station or from copying or using the Sony BIOS code in the development of other Virtual Game Station products.Ĭonnectix now appeals. The district court concluded that Sony was likely to succeed on its infringement claim because Connectix’s “intermediate copying” was not a protected “fair use” under 17 U.S.C. Sony claimed infringement and sought a preliminary injunction. In the process of producing the Virtual Game Station, however, Connectix repeatedly copied Sony’s copyrighted BIOS during a process of “reverse engineering” that Connectix conducted in order to find out how the Sony PlayStation worked. The Virtual Game Station does not contain any of Sony’s copyrighted material.
CONNECTIX VGS SOFTWARE
The defendant is the Connectix Corporation, which makes and sells a software program called “Virtual Game Station.” The purpose of the Virtual Game Station is to emulate on a regular computer the functioning of the Sony PlayStation console, so that computer owners who buy the Virtual Game Station software can play Sony PlayStation games on their computers. Sony has asserted no patent rights in this proceeding. Sony owns the copyright on the basic input-output system or BIOS, which is the software program that operates its PlayStation. Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc., which brought this copyright infringement action, produces and markets the Sony PlayStation console, a small computer with hand controls that connects to a television console and plays games that are inserted into the PlayStation on compact discs (CDs). In this case we are called upon once again to apply the principles of copyright law to computers and their software, to determine what must be protected as expression and what must be made accessible to the public as function. [Editor's note: This case is discussed in Legal Protection of Digital Information in:Ĭhapter 2, Section V.C. Sony's request in late January for a temporary restraining order to halt sales of the Virtual Game Station was rejected.Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "We are going to appeal."Ĭonnectix introduced Virtual Game Station 1.0 at January's Macworld San Francisco. "It's unfortunate, and we do not agree with the decision," Connectix President Roy McDonald told MacWEEK.
CONNECTIX VGS MAC
In addition, Connectix will continue to offer VGS support, and updaters for older versions are still available from the company's Web site.Ĭonnectix also said it is continuing development work on both the current Mac software and a planned Windows version. District Court Judge Charles Legge in San Francisco.Ĭonnectix said the order does not apply to units that it has already shipped, which remain available for resale. The 28-page ruling was handed down by U.S. won a decision to stop Connectix from distributing the Mac version of VGS, now at Version 1.2. on Wednesday said a court decision has temporarily stopped shipments of Virtual Game Station, its $50 Sony PlayStation emulator for Power Mac G3 models.Īccording to a Connectix spokesman, PlayStation developer Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.