Slightly alarming news for anyone who doesn’t already have a PlayStation 3 but wants one. Or, for that matter, anyone who has just suffered the Yellow Light of Death. It’s even slightly alarming if you were thinking of upgrading to a nice slim model.
Word has it, via MCV, that EU Customs officers have seized PlayStation 3 consoles at the request of LG Electronics who are currently embroiled in a heated legal dispute with Sony over the use of LG patents in the PlayStation 3 and in some Bravia televisions.
LG have asked European courts to halt the import of certain devices and now the civil courts of justice in The Hague have relented and agreed to seize any new units being imported into Europe. This will leave retailer’s stock levels under intense pressure as units sell out of shops and can’t be replaced.
According to the MCV report, Sony imports 100,000 consoles per week to Europe and, following these seizures, there may only be two or three weeks worth of stock left.
Time for a panic buy so you’re safe for the obviously impending zombie apocalypse? Probably not, these legal battles have a way of being worked out fairly quickly once profits are halted.
Update: We should have made it clearer that the injunction is only for ten days at this point so don’t worry too much…
Source: MCV
skibadee
LG are going to make them selves hated.
HandBanana
I remember something that someone I know told me a few years ago. He said, and this is a direct quote from a TV repair-man from comet (or curry’s, cant remember)
‘LGs are the Skodas of televisions’
lolololololol
bigdon23
And video/dvd player, phones, well everything they make is tosh, in my experience.
The Lone Steven
Why? IF sony did break a few patents then why have they waited so long to sue them? this is getting fucking riduclous now. What next ording every PS3 to be remotely fried? I shall now refuse to be a LG related product unless it is very very cheap.
alpherah
And why now for sony?
Why did they decide to sue LG over tech in their smart phones dating back some 3 years.
Its a bit tit for tat but LG are far from the bad guy in all of this.
cam the man
I thought it was getting quiet on the lawsuit front for Sony. Knew it wouldn’t be long until another surfaced.
bigdon23
Karma?
1.
Hinduism, Buddhism . action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation: in hinduism one of the means of reaching Brahman. Compare bhakti ( def. 1 ) , jnana.
2.
Theosophy . the cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person’s deeds in the previous incarnation.
3.
fate; destiny.
4.
the good or bad emanations felt to be generated by someone or something.
JKL6939
Sony is the one that pioneered blu ray technology, so fuck off lg
alpherah
BD group pioneered blu ray technology.
Sony might of ‘pushed’ the tech by putting it into the PS3, but contributed little in its development compared to LG and Toshiba.
shields_t
“Update: We should have made it clearer that the injunction is only for ten days at this point so don’t worry too much…”
You are assuming that the zombie apocalypse won’t kick off in the next ten days though……
The Lone Steven
Has anyone seen a vial that contains the T-virus laying about? i have misplaced and if the virus gets out then a zombie apocalypse may happen.;=P
alpherah
You have to laugh at the comments here, are you all spotty teen’s blinded by fanboy-ism ?
How exactly are LG the bad guys?
Sony’s suit against LG regarding their smart phones dates back to tech used some 3 – 4 years ago, and their suit was only done fairly recently.
Sure its all a bit tit for tat, but sometimes companies like Sony need to be shown they cant simply boss everyone around on reputation alone, especially when they are the ones in the wrong overall.
rossthebassist
I think your sony bash there is also uncalled for, this is not unheard of in all of buissness, its generaly not sony or LG directly it will be the legal teams, the thing is for all tech to get released it needs to go through legal or at least i thought it did so that any claims to patents were sorted first thing, mobile phones is tricky because they have been out years, so when LG release a phone, it probably wasnt sonys legal teams first priority.
NOW when sony announced PS3 with Blu-Ray. LG KNEW it had patents and this could have been sorted pre-release, LG have activly sat back and used it as ammunition for revenge.
both are entitled to the patent royalties they deserve HOWEVER both should have done it pre-release of product. if the PS3 has been on the market for 5 years i think its a little late in the game for LG to say, well actually we dont want sony using our patents. thats just petty.
xdarkmagician
It’s funny how much blind love people have for Sony. LG was/is part of the group responsible for the development of Blu-ray. It’s very possible that Sony misunderstood the licensing agreement and is at fault. But just because it’s Sony people will automatically side with them. It’s kinda like electrical racism. And LG waited until now because Sony will now have to pay for every PS3 sold, a total that is alot more today then 4 years ago, hence LG will get alot more money for waiting… if they’re in the right. If LG would have filed this before the PS3 shipped they wouldn’t have any bargaining power, Sony could have changed the PS3, but now Sony’s hands are tied if they lose they will either pay what LG asks or LG could try to have every PS3 sold recalled, a move that will kill the PS3 and Playstation brand.
The Mysterious Phantom Bear
I would rather buy a Bush CRT from the classifieds or a spanking new Beko from Asda ahead of their awful product range.
No idea who’s right or wrong in this dispute but felt I must mock LG after having had less informed relatives fall victim to their glossy brochures.