Sony BMG sued over rootkit (again), Sony sued over Playstation, PSP

A BLIZZARD of lawsuits appears to be facing Sony in its different guises after Mark Russinovich revealed copy protection software installed rootkits on people's machines.

The US Electronic Frontier Foundation is also collecting information on the case.

But Sony is also being sued by a firm which alleges it has breached multiple patents with its Playstation and PSP.

We reported a law case against Sony BMG had started in Italy. Two separate class actions have started in the USA. The EFF in the US confirmed our earlier story that a number of titles are infected by the rootkit, and gives a partial list on its site.

Despite repeated attempts to contact Sony BMG for comment over the last week, the INQ has received no reply to the questions it has asked.

Microunity Systems Engineering filed a patent infringement suit against both Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment in a Texas district court just a few days ago. Microunity alleges the Sonys infringed patent number 5,742,840 called "general purpose multiple precision parallel operation programmable media processor".

Microunity claims that Sony infringed its patent by making, using and selling the Playsation Portable (PSP). It alleges that Sony is liable for infringement "except to the extent licensed as a customer of Intel products under licenses granted to Intel Corporation."

It also alleges Sony infringed patent number 5,794,060 which Microunity claims covers the Playstation 2 and the PSP. And it also claims its patent number 5,794, 061 has also been infringed, as well as patent number 5,809,321; 6,643,765; 6,725,356 B2; 5,630,096; 5,737,547; 5,812,799 and 5,867,735. That's a lot of patents.

Microunity wants damages from Sony. Intel settled a previous patent case Microunity took against it earlier this year, which explains the reference in the court filing to Chipzilla. µ

See Also
Sony sued over Rootkits
Sony CDs have had DRM problem for last 18 months
Sony BMG rootkit hides Warden hackers
Sony DRM is worse than you might think
Sony backs down on DRM Rootkit
Intel says it will fight Microunity tooth and nail
Intel settles Microunity case
Microunity sues Dell, Intel over hyperthreading, multimedia instructions