Kabushiki Kaisha Sony Computer Entertainment v Stevens [2003] FCAFC 157

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

KABUSHIKI KAISHA SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT & ORS

v

EDDY STEVENS

N 929 OF 2002

SUMMARY

In accordance with the practice of the Federal Court in certain cases of public interest, we have prepared this brief summary to accompany the Reasons for Judgment that are being delivered today. But the only authoritative pronouncement of our reasons is that contained in the full Reasons for Judgment. This summary is necessarily incomplete.

This appeal concerns amendments made to the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) ("the Copyright Act") by the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000 (Cth) ("the Digital Agenda Act").

Section 116A of the Copyright Act, which was introduced by the Digital Agenda Act, gives a right of action to the owner or exclusive licensee of the copyright in a work or other subject matter which is protected by a "technological protection measure". The right of action is against a person who makes, sells, or does certain other acts in relation to, a "circumvention device" capable of circumventing, or facilitating the circumvention of, the technological protection measure.

The Sony companies ("Sony") manufacture and sell PlayStation games which are capable of being played on ordinary domestic television sets by means of a PlayStation console, which Sony also manufactures and sells. The games are embodied in computer programs which are contained in CD-ROMs ("CDs"). Sony owns the copyright in the computer programs. Insertion of a PlayStation CD into the PlayStation console enables the game to be played.

There is an "access code" contained within a track on each CD, and a chip described as a "Boot ROM" is located on the circuit board of the PlayStation console. They have the effect that a game can be played only with the authority of the owner or licensee of the copyright. The reason is that an unauthorised copy of a Sony PlayStation CD does not replicate the access code and therefore the Boot ROM of the console denies it access: it cannot be used in the console.