The São Paulo Court of Justice has apparently ordered Sony to “unblock” PlayStation 5 consoles that it banned for violation of its terms of service.
According to a report by Metropolis (translation via ResetEra), consoles that were used to violate Sony’s ToS were essentially bricked. Instead of merely banning accounts, Sony ensured that the consoles no longer worked. It’s unclear if this only applies to the PS5 Digital Edition or not. Metropolis’ report doesn’t specify whether both versions of PS5 were somehow affected, but did say that “the device stops working and cannot be used for any purpose” following the punishment.
“It is as if you were accused of violating the terms of use of a streaming service – such as Netflix, for example – and were punished by permanently turning off your television, without being able to turn it on to watch open TV,” a legal expert told Metropolis.
In his decision, Judge Anderson Antonucci noted that there was “danger of irreparable damage or difficult repair” when it comes to removing Sony’s “lock” on the consoles. Metropolis claimed that this decision is “unprecedented” in Brazil, where the PS5 costs around R$ 5,000.
In late November, reports emerged that Sony was actively banning accounts caught exploiting a loophole that allowed users to unlock the PlayStation Plus Collection for potential buyers for a fee. Metropolis’ report doesn’t mention if these consoles were involved in exploiting the loophole or were banned for other reasons.
Sony has yet to respond to the ruling. We’ll update our readers when we have more information.
[Source: Metropolis via ResetEra]
