Sony and GeoHot settle PS3 jailbreaking case

Sony Computer Entertainment America today announced that it has settled its contentious suit against infamous hacktivist George Hotz, aka GeoHot.

"Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us," said Riley Russell, general counsel for SCEA, in a statement. "Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal."

For those who haven't been keeping up, Hotz hacked Sony's PlayStation 3, jailbreaking it to run non-Sony-approved software and, potentially, pirated games.

The settlement itself was apparently reached on the March 31, but Sony only just made it public. Details of the settlement, however, weren't made available.

Hotz maintains that he hasn't done anything wrong, saying, according to the statement provided by Sony: "It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier."

On his personal blog, Hotz hasn't commented on the settlement itself, but he has announced that he's joining the current boycott of Sony products that seems to be gaining momentum and enjoins his fans to follow suit.

The litigation itself has been full of twists and turns, with Hotz's lawyers, for example, arguing details like where the trial should take place.

Had it played out, the case could have set precedent in the consumer tech space. Questions about hardware ownership, the restrictions of hardware ownership, and even what constitutes a hacker will have to wait for another case, it seems.