CJEU decision in Case C-159/23: Sony v Datel

On 17 October, the CJEU delivered a decision to the case C-159/23, that in a nutshell, clarifies the extent of legal protection afforded to computer programs under the Directive 2009/24/EC (Computer Software Directive. The parties involved were Sony, known for distributing consoles and developing video games for PlayStation, and Datel, a UK-based company that develops products to enhance the video game experience.

The dispute between the companies started in 2012, when Sony sued Datel in the German regional court of Hamburg, claiming that Datel had infringed its copyright in the software used in PlayStation Portable (PSP) consoles. Sony argued that Datel's products, including “Action Replay” software and accessories such as “Tilt FX”, allowed players to cheat and modify aspects of the game “MotorStorm: Arctic Edge”, for example by enabling infinite lives and other unauthorised benefits. The method involved connecting the PSP to a computer running the original game and using a USB to modify the console's interface to allow access to restricted options. Likewise, the Tilt FX accessory added a motion sensor to the PSP. 

The case therefore did not involve Datel modifying the software code underlying the game. Rather, both the Datel software ran simultaneously to the, temporarily modifying variables stored in the console's local memory (RAM.

After a lengthy legal process and due to the complexity of the case, the German Federal Court of Justice referred two preliminary questions to the CJEU, which had to decide: 1) if the modification of the content variables from the RAM without modifying the source or object code of the computer program could amount to copyright infringement under the computer software Directive; and 2) whether this alteration could be considered a "transformation" of the original work under the scope of Article 4 (1)(b) of the Directive.

The Court of Justice pointed out that Article 1 of the mentioned Directive protects the "expression" of a program, namely its source and object code, but not its underlying ideas, algorithms or principles. It is therefore concluded that the modification of temporary variables stored in the RAM of a computer does not constitute copyright infringement, since those values are transitory and are generated by the player's interaction, which does not affect the protected source and object code of the computer program, nor does it allow its reproduction or further execution. 

Since the first question was settled and it found that the facts of the case were not constitutive of copyright infringement, the Court did not address the second one.