Lawsuit See’s American PS3 Owners Entitled To Compensation

PS3 Law Case Sees Owners Entitled To Compensation

When the PS3 was launched, Sony wished to make it very clear, it wasn’t a console, it was a computer. As such, initially, on release, the PS3 allowed users the option to install their own operating system. As such, many took this opportunity to put the popular free O/S Linux on their PS3. In a later update, however, Sony decided to completely backtrack on that promise and remove the option.

As such, a lawsuit was filed in America and following its success, owners of the original fat PS3 are entitled to money from a compensation pool.

Compensation Pool

Following the lawsuit, after the solicitors and the original claimants had their share, the remaining pool of money is in the region of $300,000 to $400,000. This is available for owners (with some conditions) to claim a slice of. Yes, simply because Sony decided to remove the option to install other operating systems.

So, how do you qualify for it? Well, firstly you have to be American, sorry if that’s not you. Secondly, you must have purchased a PS3 between November 2006 – November 2010. Finally, you must still have it because you’ll need its serial number from the back. If you are lucky enough to have all that, then congratulations, you qualify for a claim.

The claim form can be found at the link here. The only thing you have to do is legally swear that you were aware that you could install Linux. Whether you did install it or not is irrelevant, you simply must declare that you knew you could and I’m sure you all did. To be clear as well, you do not have to currently own it either, but there will, of course, be only 1 claim per serial number.

How much could be claimed?

Well, the claim will be based on the available money divided by the number of claimants. If there is £300,000 and there are 30,000 claimants, you would each get £10. If there are only 300 claimants, however, it could be as much as $10,000. It all simply depends on how many claim.

It’s strange because I daresay there are many people who do technically qualify for this but have since sold their PS3’s. If you do qualify, however, we wish you the best of luck!

What do you think? A fair decision? Could this be extended to the UK or Europe? – Let us know in the comments!

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