Settlement Finally Reached After Six Years in PlayStation Class Action
By: Elizabeth DiNardo, Esq. | Associate Counsel
Sony Computer Entertainment America (“Sony”) has settled class claims made by about 10 million PlayStation3 (“PS3”) console owners who accused the company of engaging in deceptive business practices and breaching the sales contract between the company and its customers.
Irate users of PlayStation3 brought the class-action suit, which has been in litigation for six years, in 2010 when Sony issued a mandatory firmware update that disabled the “install other OS” feature. This feature allowed users to support the Linux operating system, which Plaintiffs argue was a major selling point of the product. Plaintiffs allege that when they purchased the product, they were unaware that the defendant had the right to disable the feature and, had they known, they would not have purchased the product.
In the settlement, Sony agreed to pay each class member up to $55 if they either attest under oath to their purchase or provide the company a serial number, PlayStation Network sign-in and some form of proof that prior to the update they were using the other OS function. If a user cannot produce the above-mentioned proof, Sony has offered to pay $9 to each class member who can attest that they were injured in some way by the update.
The class includes all U.S. gamers who purchased a PlayStation3 between November 1, 2006 and April 1, 2010. Class members have until December 7, 2016 to be excluded from the settlement.
The case is: In re: Sony PS3 “Other OS” Litigation, Case No. 4:10-cv-01811-YGR, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
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