PS3 Threatened By LG?

Sony and the PS3 are threatened right now, not by Nintendo, not by Microsoft, but by a non gaming company LG. As most of your are aware (and for those of you just finding out) LG (Life’s Good) was able to have a seizure ban placed on Sony PS3′s in Holland due to copyright infringements.The  Korean based company of LG claims that the blu-ray technology inside the PS3 is their’s and they are not being compensated for it.

This all started on Dec 28th  of 2010 when Sony filed for certain LG smartphones to be banned from shipping to the U.S. due to the fact that they infringe on several of their technologies. The phone models are the Lotus Elite, Neon, Remarq, Rumor 2 and the Xenon.  Siting that 8 of their patents are being infringed on. These patents pertain to signal transmission (ok that one I can see) way to display contact listings, and directional keys on a mobile phone (REALLY?!?!? There is a patent on these things?). LG is the third largest smartphone manufacturer behind Nokia and Samsung. And Sony is working on entering the smartphone market with their partnering with Ericsson.

Sony also has been in the legal process of suing LG over Blu-ray patents already. With LG of course fighting back. LG’s first victory came last week with their 10 day ban on the importation of Sony PS3′s in Holland, which has shut off PS3 distribution in Europe. How is this possible you ask? Well major cargo shipments are still done by boat, and Holland has the distribution facilities in such a scale that Sony has used them as the hub of their European supply chain. Now what the ban means is that not only can Sony not bring PS3′s into the Holland port, but all PS3′s in the their distribution warehouses have been seized as well.   The 10 day ban is coming to it’s end, and if LG wants it to continue they are going to have to file for a continuance. Which of course they are.

LG is not just stopping at a continuance. They are attempting to get home consoles seized as well. That’s right, you read that correct, they attempting to have all PS3′s in Holland (and the country of Denmark) seized. Meaning if you live there you could have the police busting down your door like you were growing your own “medicinal” marijuana.   And to also add insult to injury LG is also attempting to have all currently and future seized consoles DESTROYED.  Oh yeah you read that one right. Straight up destroyed. Meaning the po-po could come into your house (in Denmark) with a bat and bust up that PS3 right in front of you.

Sony and LG go to their 1st official court hearing tomorrow (3/11/2011) over the patent issues. LG got the no import ban and seizure order passed before the first official hearing stating that Sony could move the “illegal” property. Now the judge (sorry I’m not going to out him) may not necessarily think LG is right, but that there is enough there for the ban and warehouse seizures before the hearing. Either way it goes the loser is looking at losing a lot more than just the case. If LG wins Sony will be paying out ass-tons of money. Easily up to the billion dollar range. This is to cover: 1) court costs, 2) whatever the court decides as legal compensation, and 3) back royalties on all PS3 sales period. If Sony wins…………well let’s just say LG is seriously screwed. They would have to cover all the same costs minus the royalties, but this would also seriously hurt them in the previous dispute over their “infringement” of Sony’s Blu-Ray technology, and their smartphone patents.

Personal View:

I for one have yet to have seen anything out of LG to really make me care about them or their products. I have yet to own a smartphone, and any that I’ve looked at have mostly all been Samsung. I find their tv’s though good to be inferior to Sony and Samsung. Especially since you can on the whole get better deals on both companies tv’s if you look a bit. Also Sharp tv’s in opinion are better bargain screens to go with than LG. Also even if LG wins they are still going to lose. Should they win in Holland they will of course move on to other regions. Meaning they WILL come to the North American market and attempt to do to us what they did in Denmark. Which of course is going to cause a backlash. How much did I spend on my PS3? With the controllers, and games, and peripherals, and your trying to just take them from me? No compensation? I’m sorry but as a gamer, a predominately PS3 gamer, LG is forever blacklisted from my consumer choices. I’ve not known anyone that has praised anything they got made by LG. Mostly I hear, “It’s alright. Does ok for what I got, but not all that I was hoping for.”.

Now of course I am sure there are those of you who have LG tv’s, phone, and other electronics, and you love them. But for anyone that doesn’t, or has yet to buy anything from them, they have effectively shot themselves in the foot on this issue.  Your thoughts?