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LA Times tackles Sony's "used games" patent
The LA Times, a couple months late to the story, has reopened the festering wound we like to call "the Sony used games patent." Rumors that the PS3 would incorporate technology that would prohibit the later sale of used games -- technology that was patented (#6,816,972) by Sony in 2000 -- have been making the rounds (and being denied) for some time. So what's left to talk about?LA Times reporter Dawn C. Chmielewski gathers some exciting quotes from familiar names like Michael Pachter, P.J. McNealy, and even an anonymous cryptographer! "I actually think they're toying with this idea ... Maybe they'll copy protect movies or music downloads." --Michael Pachter "While we believe it is unlikely that [Sony] will ban PS3 pre-owned games from being sold by the same chains that sell new PS3 games, we believe this issue remains under consideration." --P.J. McNealy "In the video game business, it would be suicide for someone to do this. It's actually possible Sony filed this because they wanted to keep people from doing that." --anonymous cryptographer Gotta love that little conspiracy theory at the end: maybe Sony gobbled up this tech to prevent other companies from taking advantage of consumers? Yeah, cause Sony -- a giant conglomerate with their fingers in everything from content to technology to life insurance -- they're cool like that.[Via /.]
