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The Sony Class Action's First Amended Complaint, as text

By Pamela Jones et al.

Here it is as promised, all 98 pages of it, the Sony class action's First Amended Complaint [PDF] in In Re SONY PS3 "Other OS" Litigation, as text. This is the litigation by customers who are angry that they lost Linux functionality on their Playstation 3s. The judge ruled their original complaint was lacking in facts sufficient to state a claim, and he dismissed all their claims but one. However, he gave them the opportunity to refile and provide more facts. And provide some they surely have!

At the center of the plaintiffs' claims, if the judge allows them this time, is the idea of fairness, that people paid extra to get Linux functionality, and then they either had to give it up to keep gaming or retain OtherOS but lose gaming. Either way, they lost something of value that they had paid for. The PS3 wasn't sold as just a gaming console. It was advertised as a complete computer that could game and do everything else that a real computer could do besides. That's why they paid extra for it, rather than buying a simple game console. So when Sony issued the firmware "update" that presented the Hobson's Choice -- lose either OtherOS or gaming -- people lost what they paid for.

Full post as published by Groklaw on March 13, 2011 (boomark / email).