Judge in the Netherlands halts import of PlayStations

The Japanese electronics giant Sony announced that a large shipment of PlayStations 3 (PS3) has been stopped at the Dutch Port of Rotterdam due to an injunction order of the Dutch Court of The Hague. According to a spokesperson of Sony, the Dutch court has halted a shipment of ten thousands of these products since February. The reason is a complaint from the South Korean company LG Electronics. The spokesperson refused to go into details.

The Netherlands are a major European import hub for Sony, serving as a gateway to Europe. A spokesperson of LG Electronics stated that there is currently a case against Sony at the International Trade Commission in the US. It involves the patent on a technical part (the Blu-ray technology) of the PlayStation 3. The spokesperson went on to state that he did not have any information about the case against Sony in the Netherlands. He went on to emphasize that it is LG’s policy not to comment on any current court cases.

The injunction is by law for 10 days. The current stock of Sony’s PlayStation 3 will last for several weeks. Sony will quite likely opt for other ways to export to Europe.

Should LG be successful with its claim then Sony would be forced to pay LG royalties fo each PlayStation 3 console sold. There are currently around 50 million Play Stations sold containing Blu-ray technology.