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Hotz Ably Fights for His Motion to Dismiss - Tells Court SCEA's Case Doesn't Belong in CA

By Pamela Jones et al.

George Hotz's lawyers are truly fighting hard for him. This case, SCEA v. Hotz, they forcefully tell the court in newly filed Objections [PDF], doesn't belong in California. One important reason is that Hotz is just an individual, not an international corporation with bags of money to spend on litigation, and it's obvious that New Jersey would be more convenient for him. He lives there. The actions complained of happened there. Having a blog on the Internet shouldn't make you suable in every state in the union.

Besides, SCEA doesn't make Playstation 3, the Objections point out, "the Playstation Computer and its firmware is made by Sony Japan", so Hotz wasn't directing his actions at SCEA. After all the discovery SCEA forced Hotz through, it still can't prove a link to California that would justify suing him there. There's no evidence that blickmaniac is Hotz. The serial number that SCEA claimed was blickmaniac's doesn't match the serial number that Hotz provided the court. As for blickmanic, Hotz's lawyers have found a blog posting on the Internet from someone saying *he's* blickmanic, not Hotz. There's no evidence Hotz ever accepted the Playstation Network terms of service or opened an account. Personal jurisdiction over Hotz in California would be "unreasonable". And Hotz's motion should be granted because SCEA "has abused the jurisdictional discovery process".

The Playstation Network Terms of Use, Hotz's lawyers point out, relate only to software, not hardware, and to software obtained via the Playstation Network, and "Hotz has affirmed that he did not obtain any software he is alleged to have circumvented through the PSN", and that, they tell the court, is fatal to SCEA's attempt to get jurisdiction over him via that route. All the over-the-top allegations, in short, that some journalists published last week after reading SCEA's filing are now answered ably, about blickmaniac, the Playstation Network, the California downloads, the serial number, SCEA's jurisdictional arguments, everything.

I confess, this is getting exciting.

Full post as published by Groklaw on March 27, 2011 (boomark / email).