Sony Hits Alleged Counterfeiters
This is an article from probably 1995/1996
Sony is cracking down on alleged counterfeiters of PlayStation games.
The company has filed several lawsuits under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act as well as trademark and copyright laws against companies allegedly selling pirated software and devices which allow for the copying of genuine games.
Sony has sued companies based in New York, Toronto, Miami and California. The companies are accused of selling and distributing games and devices via the Internet, e-mail and US Mail.
Riley Russell, director of legal and business affairs at Sony, spoke to Next Generation Online:
Why has Sony waited until now to make its move?
"After the launch of PlayStation it took about six months before we started seeing significant amounts of these products coming into the United States. Counterfeiters waited to see if the PlayStation would be a success or not. Since then we've been putting the case together. It's just taken this long."
How much of an impact does this have on your business?
"We believe it impacts significantly not only on our business but also on our third party partners. It's hard to estimate exactly how much but we feel it's multiple millions of dollars."
Where is this coming from?
"The source will probably prove to be from Asia but the problem manifests itself in that the products are distributed and sold in the United States and so it becomes a problem for us."
What tactics do you use to track down alleged counterfeiters?
"Surprisingly, it was much easier than you might expect. Most of the defendants were advertising on the Internet. Quite often, people came to us and said they saw something on the Internet so we followed through and made purchases."
Have you stopped these practices yet?
"We haven't been able to stop it already. The legal process will take some time. But we really won't know until they respond to the lawsuit."
Are there any particular games which are popular counterfeits?
"We've seen almost every game available. They are not stupid people so they copy the most successful games. You won't find the games that aren't selling well."
How difficult is it to set up a counterfeit operation?
"I don't think it's astronomically expensive. To counterfeit a single disk is not that hard if you have a CD-ROM burner. But to do it on a massive scale and supply retail outlets takes some planning so some of these are big organizations."
What do you have to say to potential purchasers of counterfeit software?
"The problems with that are two-fold. One is the slot method of changing the legitimate disc for a counterfeit product which can damage the motor of the PlayStation. You may be saving a few dollars on the game but you could be damaging your system. Second, ultimately if they were allowed to continue we would not be able to produce the games that we do. The counterfeiters are stealing our properties and don't create anything. It's not good for anyone."
The companies involved in the lawsuits are as follows:
NCS in Manhattan
Gamex in Long Island
Carl Industries in Miami
Super Collector in California
Nick Lazare's Video Games Plus in Toronto
