Sony and PlayStation 3 jailbreaker George Hotz settle out of court
After a short but rather storied history, infamous PlayStation 3 jailbreaker George "GeoHot" Hotz and Sony Computer Entertainment of America have settled their legal dispute, with a statement on the PlayStation Blog stating the two parties "reached an agreement in principle" around 10 days ago. According to said agreement, Hotz has "consented to a permanent injunction," meaning he super swears he won't do it again (legally speaking, of course), though no other terms are given. We were told by an SCEA rep that the terms of the settlement (beyond what was disclosed) are confidential.
Unsurprisingly, both Hotz' legal team and Sony's were excited to resolve the legal dispute so quickly. "It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier. I'm happy to have the litigation behind me," Hotz said in the announcement.
Previously, Hotz had strict terms for a potential settlement. "Let's just say, I want the settlement terms to include OtherOS on all PS3s and an apology on the PlayStation blog for ever removing it," Hotz wrote on his website during the trial. "It'd be good PR for Sony too, lord knows they could use it," he continued. "I'm also willing to accept a trade, a legit path to homebrew for knowledge of how to stop new firmwares from being decrypted." Apparently the case spooked Hotz enough to reconsider.
The settlement announcement also absolves Hotz of any potential wrongdoing associated with recent PlayStation Network attacks. "Hotz was not involved in the recent attacks on Sony's internet services and websites," the statement reads.
To fully drive the point of the blog post home, SCEA general counsel Riley Russell said of Hotz, "We appreciate Mr. Hotz's willingness to address the legal issues involved in this case and work with us to quickly bring this matter to an early resolution."
For his part, Hotz announced via his blog this morning that he is "joining the Sony boycott," and that he "will never purchase another Sony product." It could be that he's mad after the legal case ... or it could just be that he's broke.
