14 DAY TRIAL // Sony accuses George Hotz in court filings of intentionally rendering two submitted hard drives non-functional and then leaving the country for South America.
At the beginning of this year Sony filed a complaint against iPod and PS3 hacker George "geohot" Hotz claiming violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) after he reverse-engineered the private key used to sign all software running on the PlayStation 3 console.
The company's lawyers obtained a temporary restraining order against Hotz forcing him to remove all content related to PS3 hacking from his online properties.
The judge also ordered the hacker to provide Sony with all of his computer equipment and storage devices for evidence gathering purposes.
Hotz's lawyers want the complaint dismissed for lack of jurisdiction because Sony filed it in Northern California instead of New Jersey where the hacker lives.
In filings against Hotz's motion, Sony's lawyers claim that he "removed integral components from his impounded hard drives, rendering them completely non-functional," therefore thwarting the process of jurisdictional discovery.
Stewart Kellar, one of the hacker's attorneys, told Wired that the incident involved the drives' controller cards, which have since been provided.
Sony also noted that "Hotz conveniently traveled to South America in the midst of jurisdictional discovery, including his court-ordered deposition," which prompted rumors of the hacker fleeing the country.
Hotz later posted on his blog that "it's true I'm in South America, on a vacation I've had planned and paid for since November. I mean, it is Spring break; hacking isn't my life." However, he does make sure to mention that this is not funded from money gathered via donations for his legal defence.
The hacker also re-enforced his commitment to the case and interests of all PlayStation 3 owners who want to run homebrew software on their consoles. "I have been in contact with my lawyers almost every day; I would not let the case suffer," he says.