Sony made to wait over injunction decision

Following last week’s injunction issued to ElectricBirdLand Sony may have believed that future injunctions would be easy to achieve. This, however, does not appear to be the case. Sony is claiming Nuplayer has infringed trademarks and therefore breaking the law by selling import PSPs, but the judge residing over the case has said he must examine the details of the case further, possibly delaying the verdict until next Monday.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Nuplayer’s Kamal Sharma said. “Sony thought they were bringing an open and shut case to court, but the judge found that it wasn’t black and white,” and added. “They were trying to throw mud but it didn’t stick at all.“

Nuplayer had offered to resolve the trademark issue by removing all infringing trademarks from their website and PSP packing. In response Sony are believed to have accused the retailer of defacing their products. Sony had hoped to use the case brought against Tesco for selling imported Levi’s Jeans as a precedent for trademark infringement, but Nuplayer argued that the Levi-Tesco case has no bearing on the Sony-Nuplayer case as.

“Trade marks are there to show the place of origin – that is their true meaning,” said Shamar, explaining how online retailers differ from retail stores. “You don’t actually see the trade marks until after you’ve made the purchase. You only find out it’s a Sony product when you open the box. This is a fundamental issue in trademark law.“

Nuplayer are not going to be defeated easily, having already spent £100,000 on legal fees. Should Sony’s claim be found to be false this case could be used as a precedent making it hard for Sony to win further injunctions against online retailers selling import PSPs. Lets not forget that Sony could still win and would therefore be in a strong position to go ahead with further injunctions.