Connectix ships PlayStation emulator for Windows

Release follows overthrow of Sony's injunction

Mac software developer Connectix began shipping the Windows version of its Virtual Game Station (VGS) PlayStation emulator today through its own online store and retail outlets. The Windows release comes almost a month after the US Court of Appeal overturned a preliminary injunction against VGS granted to Sony last April by the Federal District Court of San Francisco. That injunction banned Connectix from selling VGS for the Mac and the then as yet unreleased Windows version. Sony said that Connectix copied the PlayStation BIOS in order to test its pre-release versions of VGS. On that basis the Federal District Court issued the injunction. However, the Appeal Court said that since the final version of VGS did not contain Sony proprietary technology - a fact Sony itself admits - the use of the Sony BIOS was protected under 'fair use' law. Consequently, it ended the ban. Sony has been on Connectix's case ever since VGS was released in January 1999. Less than a week after the preliminary injunction was overturned, Sony initiated a new, separate patent infringement case against Connectix, part of which almost certainly contains a fresh request that sales of VGS be blocked. And if that case fails, Sony can still tie Connectix up further for copyright violation under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which specifically outlaws the creation of tools to circumvent copy protection mechanisms, something that Sony alleges Connectix has done in order to make VGS work. Connectix said VGS for Windows is being offered at a special introductory price of $29. The software runs over 100 PlayStation games, listed at Connectix's VGS Web site. ®