The ongoing legal dispute between LG and Sony recently took a more severe turn. The Guardian is reporting that LG won a court order allowing it to seize new PlayStation 3s throughout the Netherlands. This order includes the ability to seize PS3s already in Dutch homes.
Several thousand PS3s were seized at Sony’s biggest warehouse in Europe. Last week LG won an injunction for customs to seize Sony’s consoles in the Netherlands. Sony is fighting back, however, and this Thursday an emergency hearing is slated for the Hague’s civil court. LG was also approved for an investigation by the U.S. international trade commission.
The dispute rests in patents for the playback of Blu-ray discs, which is the PS3’s game disc of choice, as you all know. If LG wins the dispute, Sony could be forced to compensate LG for each global sale of the PS3, likely resulting in a payment of hundreds of millions of dollars (or pounds — either way, it’ll cost Sony a bundle).
A representative for Sony said, “We consider these allegations unwarranted, and will take appropriate measures including filing a claim of opposition to courts in the Netherlands.”