Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit

October 1, 2009

The case of a gamer who sued Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) over being banned from the PlayStation Network has been tossed out of court.

After being banned for “multiple violations” on PSN, the Resistance: Fall of Man player Erik Estavillo had sued SCEA for violating his First Amendment rights (for the PSN ban) and for money he had invested into the PSN Wallet Fund. He sought $55,000 and an injunction that would limit SCEA from banning any players in any form on the network.

Northern District of California District Judge Ronald M Whyte ruled that there was no plausible First Amendment claim for relief stated and dismissed the case.

The Technology & Marketing Law Blog (via Gamasutra) zeroed in on one specific comment of Whyte’s, that “Sony's Network is not similar to a company town.” Blogger Eric Goldman wrote:

…this opinion emphatically rejects a meme that has become pretty popular among virtual world exceptionalists. Some exceptionalists have favored the company town analogy because it enable virtual world customers to reduce an operator's ability to run its business capriciously.

A PDF version of the Order Granting Defendant's Motion To Dismiss is also available on the aforementioned blog.
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Comments

Re: Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit

Submitted by OmegaWarrior on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 15:31.

And here I was hoping that Sony would countersue for legal fees and slander/libel/defamation/etc and that the judge would rule for Sony.

 

Or at least rule that the little snot take a f***ing class in government!

Re: Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit

Submitted by PHOENIXZERO on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 13:26.

This idiot should have to pay Sony's legal fees for being a dumbass and his lawyer disbarred for taking on such an obviously wrong argument.

Re: Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit

Submitted by DarkSaber on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 12:10.

So does this mean MS have a green light to ban gays for saying they are gay in their ID?

--------------------------------------------------

I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

-------------------------------------------------- I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

Re: Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit

Submitted by BearDogg-X on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 10:37.

The judge that tossed this suit is the same judge that ruled California's anti-game law unconstitutional.

Geaux Saints, Geaux Tigers, Geaux Hornets, Jack Thompson can geaux chase a chupacabra.

Geaux Saints, Geaux Tigers, Geaux Hornets. Hell will stay frozen over for quite a while since the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV.

Re: Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit

Submitted by Zerodash on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 20:26.

...so can Microsoft start banning the homophobes and racists from XBL already?  This is kind of a green light for Sony, Microsoft and pruveyors of other similar services.

Re: Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit

Submitted by Kabyk on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 09:31.

If you banned all those people, Zerodash, the player count on the entirety of XBL would be down to about 23. As much as I hate those annoying...individuals, I don't want to have to play with the same 23 people every day.

Re: Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit

Submitted by Austin_Lewis on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 10:56.

You are, of course, assuming that you're one of those 23, eh?

Personally, I don't think swearing or using racial slurs and other slurs makes you a 'racist' or a 'homophobe' on XBL.  It just means that you chose one way to offend and annoy people over another.

Re: Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit

Submitted by JDKJ on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 22:48.

And kill all the geese that lay the golden eggs? Doubtful.

Re: Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit

Submitted by hellfire7885 on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 19:19.

Much like how claims came fro ma certai nex lawyer that GP violated his first amendment rights, he wasn't in a public park acting like an ass, so Sony had every right to ban him on their PRIVATELY owned network.

Re: Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit

Submitted by DarkSaber on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 18:21.

Remind me to not to forward anymore stories to GP.

--------------------------------------------------

I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

-------------------------------------------------- I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

Re: Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit

Submitted by Vake Xeacons on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 18:18.

Definitely. Online networks are just like any other buisness. How about a restaurant analogy? They reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, and the right to ban unruly customers from the premises.

Re: Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit

Submitted by Austin_Lewis on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 17:31.

Saw that coming. But really, good for that judge.  The complainant had it coming.

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