14 DAY TRIAL // The first hearing in the trial which pits hardware maker and video game publisher Sony against George aka “Geohot” Hotz has exposed some problems with the process, with the judge saying that New Jersey, the state where the hack of the PlayStation 3 happened, would be a better venue for the legal action than California.
The first hearing took about 20 minutes and technology-oriented magazine Wired is reported that Susan Illston, who is the United States district judge presiding over the suit, has said that Califonia might not be the best venue for the trial.
James Gilliland Jr, representing Sony, has said that the jurisdiction is justified because George Hotz has used both Twitter and Facebook, who are based in California, in order to distribute the keys that allow code from other entities than Sony to be run on the PlayStation 3, but the judge countered by saying that this could actually mean that the “the entire universe” is “subject to my jurisdiction.”
The judge has said that a ruling on jurisdiction will be offered later and also delayed a decision on whether Hotz needs to give up his computer as evidence in the trial.
Sony is aiming to get a temporary restraining order against Hotz and the other hackers who have managed to breach the protection of the PlayStation 3 and have then offered instructions for others to hack the home console.
Initial reports suggested that the hack was so complete that Sony actually had no way to distinguish between those PS3s that are running only official releases and those who are using files from other entities, so it makes sense for Sony to try and stop the distribution of the hack methodology by going after those who know the information.
The hackers have claimed that their hack only aims to open up the PlayStation 3 for OtherOS features and homebrew applications.