Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. v. Connectix Corporation
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
203 F.3d 596 (2000), 531 U.S. 871
- Written by Sarah Holley, JD
Facts
Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. (plaintiff) manufactured and sold the Sony PlayStation console and owned the underlying software program (BIOS) that operated its console. Connectix Corporation (defendant) made and sold a software program called the Virtual Game Station that made it possible for those that did not own a Sony PlayStation console to use Sony videogames on a personal computer. To create the Virtual Game Station, Connectix repeatedly copied BIOS during a process of reverse engineering in order to ascertain how the Sony PlayStation console functioned. The resulting Virtual Game Station, however, did not contain any BIOS material. Sony brought suit against Connectix for copyright infringement and sought a preliminary injunction. The district court ruled that the intermediate copies made and used by Connectix during the course of its reverse engineering of BIOS was not protected fair use and enjoined Connectix from selling the Virtual Game Station or otherwise using BIOS. Connectix appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Canby, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
