PlayStation 3 Hacker Case Delayed

Sony's lawsuit against PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz (a.k.a. "Geohot") has been delayed over confusion regarding jurisdiction. GamesIndustry.biz reports that at the initial hearing of the case, San Francisco district court judge Susan Illston expressed uncertainty over the case being held in California.

The actual security breach was performed in Hotz' home state of New Jersey, making Illston pose the possibility that the case should be held there. Sony's lawyers argued that the widespread dissemination of the hack was on Twitter and YouTube, both of which are hosted in California. They also allege that Hotz received donations from from PayPal, also based out of California.

Regardless, Judge Illston pointed out that such loose definitions of jurisdiction could lead to problems. "If having a PayPal account were enough, then there would be personal jurisdiction in this court over everybody, and that just can't be right," she said. "That would mean the entire universe is subject to my jurisdiction, and that's a really hard concept for me to accept." The case has been pushed back while the court determines the proper jurisdiction.

This move from Sony isn't surprising. Though the company is taking legal action on Hotz himself, its ultimate goal is to block the hacks and remove all traces of the code from Web sites. So far Sony has had little luck stuffing the genie back into the bottle, and this delay only leaves more time for the offending code to be copied.