Playstation or PC? Make your mind up Sony!

Sony have been hunting down a rebate of €50 million in import duties by claiming that the PS2 was an ‘automatic data processing machine’, or in layman’s terms, a computer. However, this week a UK court ruled that the PS2 is actually what we all thought it was, a videogame console “of a kind used with a television receiver.“. If the PS2 was classified as a computer, Sony could have received the rebate of European customs taxes that they have paid since the launch of the PS2 in Europe.

The UK Court of Appeal ruled that the PS2 was a videogame console because it was not ‘freely programmable’ despite Sony’s 5-year struggle to grant the PS2 ‘computer’ status. Interestingly Sony have already started to claim that the PS3 is a computer and not in fact a games console.

In an interview with Japanese magazine NikkeiBP which we reported on last week, Sony President Ken Kutaragi said “As the PlayStation 3 is a computer, we might even offer it on a built-to-order basis, customized to the needs of each and every user”. Will this be enough to grant the PS3 ‘computer’ status? Does this mean it is freely programmable? Maybe, but one thing that’s sure is that Sony are trying to persuade the world, and the British court system that the PS3 is a computer. Funny, I thought Sony PC systems used the brand name Vaio, not Playstation.

Via Next generation

Sony have been hunting down a rebate of €50 million in import duties by claiming that the PS2 was an ‘automatic data processing machine’, or in layman’s terms, a computer. However, this week a UK court ruled that the PS2 is actually what we all thought it was, a videogame console “of a kind used with a television receiver.“. If the PS2 was classified as a computer, Sony could have received the rebate of European customs taxes that they have paid since the launch of the PS2 in Europe.

The UK Court of Appeal ruled that the PS2 was a videogame console because it was not ‘freely programmable’ despite Sony’s 5-year struggle to grant the PS2 ‘computer’ status. Interestingly Sony have already started to claim that the PS3 is a computer and not in fact a games console.

In an interview with Japanese magazine NikkeiBP which we reported on last week, Sony President Ken Kutaragi said “As the PlayStation 3 is a computer, we might even offer it on a built-to-order basis, customized to the needs of each and every user”. Will this be enough to grant the PS3 ‘computer’ status? Does this mean it is freely programmable? Maybe, but one thing that’s sure is that Sony are trying to persuade the world, and the British court system that the PS3 is a computer. Funny, I thought Sony PC systems used the brand name Vaio, not Playstation.

Via Next generation