Judge Charles Legge of the US District Court for the Northern District of California has granted Bleem LLC’s motion for leave to amend and assert counterclaims against Sony Computer Entertainment of America. Back in April 1999, Sony sought injunctions against Connectix Inc and Bleem. Both companies sell PlayStation emulators, software which lets its users play PlayStation games on Apple Macintosh computers or Windows PCs. Sony says it fears that widespread use of high-quality PlayStation emulators will stimulate a black market in PlayStation games, undercut sales of its own hardware platform and damage its brand. Los Angeles-based Bleem counterclaims that Sony has unlawfully acquired, maintained and extended a monopoly in the video game market through a combination of anti- competitive practices, including the misuse of copyright and patents. Further claims include restraint of trade, interference with contractual relations, defamation and unfair competition.
Bleem’s lawyers are particularly annoyed that Sony’s internal Legal and Business Affairs officers tried to modify an existing protective order in order to gain access to what Bleem describes as its most confidential business data. That data includes detailed reseller information, source code for the emulator, the identities of customers and information about negotiations with third-party software and hardware companies. Judge Legge remarked that the protective order appeared to protect David from Goliath and denied the greater part of Sony’s request to re- classify Bleem’s information. Bleem may have won this battle, but Sony is determined to prevail. On December 7, 1999, the company served subpoenas on ten of Bleem’s customers. Judge Legge has agreed to hear an expedited motion to quash the subpoenas, but with the PlayStation at stake, Sony’s lawyers will be ready to fight.
